After the American Revolution, the United States had to create a new government. The Articles of Confederation, written in 1801, shaped what this new government was going to look like. Power was mostly in the hands of the states and the federal government was one house of congress with representatives from each state. The Articles of Confederation however, created an ineffective form of government because it gave more power to the states than it did to congress, congress did not have the power to tax the states, and no foreign nation gave them any respect because of the disunity of the new nation. The best thing that the Articles of Confederation did was show America that a strong, centralized government was required to prosper. .
The Articles of Confederation were developed because of the fact that the American people as a whole were afraid of a centralized republic similar to that of a monarchy like the British had. The single body of government was congress, which had delegates representing each of the thirteen states. Because of the fear of monarchy, the Articles of Confederation made it practically impossible to amend or pass new legislation. Congress needed two-thirds vote to pass national laws and a unanimous vote (which was nearly impossible) to create an amendment. It was an extremely weak body of government because that states had more power. Even when laws were passed, states felt like they did not have to abide by them. This is evident in a letter written by Rhode Island to congress saying that they would not follow a tariff because they felt it was not in their people's direct interest (Doc 1). The intent of this letter was to show congress that Rhode Island had power over them and that they would refuse to pay the tax. There was also a growing fear within congress, mainly John Jay, that chaos would soon arise among ordinary people who would attempt to overthrow the government.
