Articles of Confederation Our First Gov't

Our First Gov’t Afraid of a gov’t with too much power, leaders created a gov’t that was too weak The Articles of Confederation established “a firm league of friendship” among independent states

Articles of Confederation Powers of the Articles Congress could… Declare war Deal with national finance issues Settle disputes between states Obligations of the States States “promised”… To obey Congress To respect the laws of other states

Weaknesses One vote for each state, regardless of size Congress powerless to lay or collect taxes Congress powerless to regulate foreign and interstate commerce No executive to enforce acts of Congress No national court system Amendment only with consent of all states A 9/13 majority to pass laws Articles only a “firm league of friendship”

The Result 1. Everything began falling apart rapidly 2.Delegates met to fix the Articles, but ended up creating a whole new gov’t! = The Constitution