The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
The United States was almost forced to write the United States Constitution, as the Article of Confederation proved to be too weak and powerless. The Article of Confederation created a very loose, almost alliance like, country, in which all the states worked almost autonomously, with a severely weakened national government. The National government was not allowed to declare war, deal in foreign relations, impose taxes, or set any law. All power were left to the states and individuals. This left very little for the President and Cabinet to do, and was even said that many of them went home to work on their private life as it was more important then the federal government. To solve this, the Constitution allowed more power to the Federal government, and delegated some of the tasks left to the States to the Federal government to manage, such as certain taxes, foreign relations, and military. This gave the Federal Government more power and the ability to fund national interests, such as a standing army, secure borders, and foreign relations with other countries.
In Blackfeet Indian history, the tribes first came into contact with Europeans in mid -1806 when Lewis and Clark made their expedition. This opened interaction with white settlers and caused cholera and smallpox to spread among the tribe.
