From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an effective government. Using the documents and your knowledge of the period, evaluate this statement.
The colonist, now with their independence needed a government to which they could use as an organizer for their new country. Eleven states drew up this document and Connecticut and Rhode Island revised all colonial charters. The Articles of Confederation was the document that was created. It was a loose union of states with a weak central government with no executive or judicial branch. The majority of the power rested in the hands of the state governments. The Confederation was inadequate in that it failed to create a well developed central government. The reason for the central government being so weak was that the colonist did not want a powerful central power like they had under George III. Other weaknesses included that the government could not issue taxes. The structure of the Articles of Confederation allowed Congress to request funds and borrow money but not impose taxes or collect tariffs. Congress had to either borrow funds from private suppliers or tax the states to finance the post-war reconstruction. This was a huge issue because America had some very large debts to pay off and its government had little ability to raise revenue; therefore there would be no way to pay off debts unless the states used taxes to pay of debts individually. Plus the government own large sums of money to the soldiers who fought in the war and it did not make sense to tax these soldiers and with that pay them their dues. Unable to tax without the approval of all 13 states, Congress turned to a wealthy, self-made Philadelphia merchant, Robert Morris, who in 1781 became the nation's superintendent of finance. Morris proposed that the states authorize the collection of national import duties at 5% to finance the congressional budget and to guarantee interest payments on the war debt.
