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Read the text and say what kind of document the Articles of Confederation is.

After getting its independence from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War the new country needed to organize some form of governmental system. The Articles of Confederation represent the first constitutional agreement made between the thirteen American states. There was a need for unity among the new states that were created as a result of the American Revolution. The relative powers of the individual states and the Continental Congress also needed to be defined for the young country. These realities led Congress to entrust John Dickinson with the drafting of the federal Constitution. It was called the Articles of Confederation and was submitted to the Second Continental Congress on July, 12, 1776.

Because of the fear that resulted from the colonial experience under the centralized government of Great Britain, the committee had been careful to give the states as much independence as possible. The adoption of the Articles was a very complicated process. The disagreements were over such things as boundary lines and the conflicting decisions reached by the courts of the different states. The smaller states wanted equal representation in Congress with the larger states. The states that had larger populations did not want to pay an extensive amount of money to the federal government as the amount of taxation was based upon population. There was also wide disagreement over who would control the western territories. The states that did not have frontier borders wanted the government to control the sale of these lands so that all states could benefit. States with frontier borders, on the contrary, wanted to control as much of the territory land as they could. After much discussion the Articles of Confederation was adopted in 1777. It became the ruling document of the new nation. It created a nation that was “a league of friendship and perpetual union”. The state government retained most of the power with a subordinate position given to the central government.

`According to the document:

- Congress (the central government) was made up of delegates chosen by the states and could conduct foreign affairs, make treaties, declare war, maintain an army and a navy, coin money, and establish post offices. However, measures passed by Congress had to be approved by 9 of the 13 states;

- Congress was severely limited in its powers. It could not raise money by collecting taxes; it had no control over foreign commerce; it could pass laws but could not force the states to comply with them. Thus, the government was dependent on the willingness of the various states to carry out its measures, and often the states refused to cooperate;

- The articles were virtually impossible to amend, so problems could not be corrected.

As the need for a stronger federal government began to be realized leaders from throughout the sates got together to decide how to create it. The Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787 was responsible for drafting the Constitution of the USA, the document which took the place of the Articles of Confederation in 1787.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-03