Articles of the Confederation - Three Sample Essays

Further, in 1785 and 1787 legislation, the Congress provided for public education and prohibition of slavery in these lands, as well as for their admission to the Union as new states. The farsightedness and value of this legislation can hardly be overstated, but it is one of the few examples on Congress' achievements. In most other domestic policy matters, Congress was thwarted at every turn. The letter from the Rhode Island Assembly to Congress (Nov. 30, 1782) indicates one major problem of the Confederation government--it could not institute a uniform tariff. .
             Because no tariff would be favorable to 2/3 of the states, as this one was opposed by Rhode Island and probably the other state centers of commerce, it was virtually impossible to enact a national tariff. The Rhode Island letter also reveals a distrust in the appointed officers of Congress and a disinclination to surrender any power to Congress. These attitudes were common to each of the states, and explain why much proposed Congressional legislation was never enacted.
             Further, Congress did not have the power to tax the individual states, as indicated in the letter from Virginian Joseph Jones to George Washington (Feb. 27, 1783). Congress could ask for but not demand money--it could coax and cajole but not coerce. This weakness had severe ramifications. It meant that public creditors of Congress could not be paid, reducing the public's faith in the central government. Further, Congress did not have the money to set up an effective army and to pay its soldiers, looking ill for the defense of the young nation.
             The weakness of the army and the disunity of the individual states kept the Confederation government from making any notable successes in foreign policy. Foreign nations had no motive to respect Congress' demands since there was neither a unified country or a strong army backing these demands. In 1785, John Jay instructed the US minister to Great Britain to demand "in a respectful but firm manner" the return of frontier posts on US territory controlled by the British and the end of British restrictions on US trade.