1. The Articles of Confederation 1781-87

2. This was very early in the Revolutionary War!
One day after the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a Declaration of Independence, they passed a resolution to prepare the Articles of Confederation.
This was very early in the Revolutionary War!

3. They knew they would need some kind of government since they were not longer obeying British control.

4.  Confederation - a loose joining together
of States which gave some rights to a central (national) government
(They didn’t want a strong central government because of their bad experiences under British control.)

5. What did the Articles of Confederation do?

6. They created a Congress.
What they DIDN’T do:
What they DID:
They created a Congress.
BUT there was not a Senate or a House of Representatives – just a Congress. .

7. So it was a unicameral Congress.
uni = one
“Cameral” actually means “house.”

8. They created a Congress.
What they DID:
What they DIDN’T do:
They created a Congress. .
BUT there was not a Senate and a House of Representatives – just a Congress. .
AND there was no President (or Executive Branch) and no federal court system (Judicial Branch). That meant that, on a national level, Congress had all the national power.

9. . . .which worked pretty well. 
What they DID:
What they DIDN’T do:
Congress set up a postal system. . .
. . .which worked pretty well. 

10. Congress had power to make war, including to
What they DID:
What they DIDN’T do:
Congress had power to make war, including to
-- declare war
-- raise an army &
navy
BUT they could only ASK states to send soldiers and ASK states to send $$ for the military. States could say “no!”

11. What they DID: What they DIDN’T do:
Congress had power to conduct affairs with other countries, including to
-- send ambassadors
to other countries
-- receive ambassadors
from other countries
-- make treaties with
other countries
BUT since they couldn’t make states pay taxes, they couldn’t even pay off their war debts to other countries (France, Holland, & Spain). This hurt their reputation with other countries.

12. BUT, each state could still print its own money, too.
What they DID:
What they DIDN’T do:
Congress had power to print money. This included the power to set standards of weights & measurements.
(Remember, money back then was backed by gold and silver, which was valuable by weight.)
BUT, each state could still print its own money, too.

13. So a bunch of DIFFERENT kinds of money were being used
So a bunch of DIFFERENT kinds of money were being used. It got CONFUSING!!! People became afraid to trust anybody’s money.

14. How do you think the new country dealt with these challenges?