The Articles of Confederation was a document that had a statement of how congress would become the single branch

of the national government but have limited power in order to keep the liberties of the people safe. It was enforced for a period of time, and it did not work well. The federal government could not protect the ideal liberties that were stated in the Declaration of Independence because it lacked power. It was too weak and could not prevent the economy from plummeting. The government could not support the economy and could not control the states, all because of the states having too much power. The government was so weak that it could not even levy taxes. It was completely controlled by the states. According to the Social Studies Textbook, the government could not collect money to support the economy. After the Revolutionary war, many states had difficulties paying off debt. The government could not do anything, so the states caused inflation; which is basically a mass production of money --- leading to little worth in the money. The economy grew worse, but the government had no power to raise a finger against it. The trading with Britain also stopped, and stacked upon the bad economy of the states. A depression swept across the states, but the government still could not do anything. Shays Rebellion displayed the weakness of the government. The farmers of Massachusetts were stripped of their money from taxesnot by the government, but from state officials, loss of employment etc. after the Revolutionary War. Many of those farmers had participated in the Revolutionary War. They fought for a long period of time, and then returned to their homes with nothing but debt. The farmers had to sell their land and even labor. In August of 1786, farmers began to revolt. Daniel Shays, a poor farmer, led hundreds of farmers in a forced shutdown of the government in September, and the government threw threats at them. The farmers were not the slightest discouraged, but actually encouraged by their words and they created Shays Rebellion. Shays Rebellion showed how the government

could not do anything during a conflict because it had no power to. Such a weak government couldnt even carry any responsibilities, and the states were not handling things correctly. What did the colonists fight for? A broken, useless piece of trash as homeland? The government was controlled by the states. The government could not even command money and soldiers. It had to ASK the states for what they needed; and they obviously did not always get what they requested. The crisis in the economy could not be solved by the government, and the states werent helping; everything was about to crumble before them and they just sat there watching. Rhode Islands representatives wrote: Our federal government is but a name; a mere shadow without substance. The federal government was just for display, a thin and weak lie. The states did not have to pay attention to the federal government at all. According to the articles and also the textbook, even when the Constitutional Convention was called in May 1787 in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, some states representatives were late or did not even show up. The states did not want to give up the power they had, and banning slavery was definitely not in favor to the states that used a large amount of slaves necessary for manual labor. John Rutledge had said that it is practically impossible for the Convention to expect the states that used slaves (Southern states) such as North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia to agree to banning slavery; they did not have to give up what they had and did not intend to suffer from a loss voluntarily.

The states would not be able to survive with the federal government being such a weakling and state governments with power but cannot protect the states or manage the states. (Cannot support the states and cannot carry the responsibilities of taking care of the states and the

Americans) If state governments cannot do the job of managing things correctly, then it is about time for them to allow the federal government to try to do something to prevent the states from crumbling; to prevent the hard work they had done, what they had fought for from crumbling.

Bibliography

"ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION." History Study Center. Houghton Mifflin, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

Deverell, William, and Deborah G. White. United States History. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2007. Print.