The United States was basically a failing experiment in 1786. Honestly, if you look at the primary sources from that era—letters from George Washington or Alexander Hamilton—they weren't celebrating a new era of freedom. They were terrified. They were watching a "firm league of friendship" dissolve into a chaotic mess because the country's first constitution was, to put it bluntly, a disaster.
Understanding the major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation isn't just a history class requirement. It’s a look at what happens when a government is designed specifically not to govern. After escaping the "tyranny" of King George III, the Founding Fathers were so scared of a strong central leader that they created a system where the federal government was essentially a beggar to the states.
It didn't work. It couldn't work.
The Central Government Had No Teeth
Imagine a government that can’t tax its citizens. It sounds like a libertarian dream until you realize that same government has massive war debts to pay to France and no way to maintain an army. Under the Articles, the Continental Congress could ask the states for money, but the states could—and frequently did—just say "no."
Between 1781 and 1787, the national government requested about $15 million from the states. They received less than $2.5 million. It was a joke.
The lack of a centralized executive was another massive hurdle. There was no President. There was no "buck stops here" person. Instead, you had a presiding officer of Congress who had about as much power as the chairman of a local garden club. Without an executive branch, there was no way to enforce the laws Congress actually managed to pass. If Virginia decided to ignore a federal treaty with Great Britain, the federal government had zero recourse. They could write a stern letter. That was about it.
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The Economic Chaos of Thirteen Different Currencies
If you think modern inflation or exchange rates are a headache, the 1780s would have been a nightmare. Because the federal government couldn't regulate interstate commerce, every state acted like its own little country.
New York taxed firewood coming in from Connecticut. New Jersey was squeezed by its neighbors because it lacked a major port. Even worse, the states started printing their own paper money. It was often worthless. Rhode Island’s currency was so depreciated that creditors would literally run away from debtors to avoid being paid in "rag money."
This created a massive barrier to trade. Why would a merchant in Massachusetts sell goods to someone in Georgia if the Georgia "dollar" wasn't worth the paper it was printed on? The major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation weren't just political theories; they were actively destroying the American economy.
Robert Morris, who was basically the Superintendent of Finance at the time, tried to fix this by proposing a national bank and a 5% "impost" (a tax on imports). It failed. Why? Because the Articles required a unanimous vote to change anything. One state—Rhode Island—blocked the whole thing. One tiny state held the entire nation’s credit rating hostage.
Shays’ Rebellion: The Final Straw
Things got real in 1786. In western Massachusetts, farmers were losing their land because they couldn't pay their debts in hard currency (gold or silver), which was in short supply. Led by Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary War veteran, these farmers picked up their muskets and shut down the courts.
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The federal government's response? Silence. They didn't have an army to send. They didn't have the money to raise one. Massachusetts eventually had to fund a private militia to put down the uprising.
This terrified the elite. Washington, who was happily retired at Mount Vernon, was aghast. He wrote to Henry Knox, saying, "If a government could be so far insulted... it is a proof that it is time to have one of more energy." Shays' Rebellion proved that the major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation weren't just inconvenient—they were dangerous. The country was on the verge of anarchy or falling back into the hands of a foreign power.
The Voting Problem and Legislative Gridlock
In the Confederation Congress, every state had one vote. Delaware had the same power as Virginia. This made the larger states feel ignored and the smaller states feel defensive.
To pass any major law, you needed 9 out of 13 states to agree. That’s a supermajority of nearly 70%. In a room full of people with wildly different regional interests—the shipping-heavy North versus the slave-holding, agrarian South—getting nine states to agree on anything was a miracle. And as I mentioned before, any amendment to the Articles themselves required all 13 states.
It was a system designed for paralysis.
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- No National Court System: There was no Supreme Court. If two states had a boundary dispute (which happened all the time), there was no neutral ground to settle it.
- No Power to Raise an Army: The "National" army was just a collection of state militias that didn't have to show up if they didn't want to.
- Foreign Contempt: British troops refused to leave forts in the Great Lakes region because they knew the U.S. couldn't force them out. Spain closed the Mississippi River to American trade, and the U.S. was too weak to do anything about it.
What This Means for Today
We often hear people argue for "states' rights," and that’s a debate as old as the country itself. But the Articles of Confederation serve as the ultimate "cautionary tale" of what happens when the balance tilts too far away from a central authority.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 wasn't just a group of guys wanting more power. It was a desperate "fix-it" mission. They realized that for a "United" States to exist, there had to be a "United" economy, a "United" defense, and a "United" legal framework.
If you want to understand why the U.S. Constitution looks the way it does, just look at the Articles.
- The President exists because the Articles had no executive.
- The power to tax exists because the Articles were broke.
- The Supreme Court exists because the Articles had no way to settle fights between states.
- The Commerce Clause exists because the Articles allowed states to ruin each other with tariffs.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs and Students
If you're studying this or just curious about how governments fail, don't just memorize a list. Look at the primary source documents.
- Read the Federalist Papers (specifically No. 15 and No. 21): Hamilton goes off on the Articles here. It’s some of the best political "trash talk" in history.
- Examine the 1783 Treaty of Paris: See how the U.S. struggled to fulfill its end of the bargain because the states wouldn't cooperate.
- Trace the transition: Compare the preamble of the Articles ("States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhode Island...") to the Constitution ("We the People..."). That shift from "States" to "People" is the whole story in a nutshell.
The major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation taught the Founders that a government must have the power to protect itself and its citizens. Without that, a constitution is just a piece of paper.
Next Steps:
- Review the text of the Federalist Papers to see the arguments for a stronger union.
- Compare the taxing power in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution against the Articles of Confederation.
- Research the Annapolis Convention to see the first failed attempt at fixing these issues.