Question

What was the national government’s biggest concern if facing a war, under the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 1

Under the Articles of Confederation, the national government was fearful that if the US went to war that the government would not be able to raise a military.

Further Explanation:

The Articles of Confederation was America's first constitution after becoming free from Great Britain. This constitution was made with a weak central government and gave a majority of power to state governments. This structure would cause several problems for the American federal government.

Technically speaking, the federal government could not tax citizens an could not raise an army. This is due to the fact that:

A) State governments were given the ability to tax, not the federal government.

B) State governments were not forced to follow laws passed by the federal government.

This worried the delegates within Congress, as this meant that state governments could ignore the federal government. It soon became evident, thanks to Shay's Rebellion, that a violent conflict or war could ruin the United States. Since the federal government could not put down a rebellion of American farmers successfully, the delegates could only imagine how unprepared the US would be if they got into a war with another country. This is one of the reasons why the Articles of Confederation would be replaced with the US Constitution at the Constitutional Convention.

Learn More:

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Key Details:

Topics: American History, Constitutional History

Grade Level: 7-12

Keywords: Articles of Confederation, weaknesses of Articles of Confederation, Constitutional Convention

Answer 2

The national government had no standing military army or rights to taxation.

The National Government’s biggest concern was that the Articles of the Confederation provided for a system of power-sharing between the Federal Government and the States, but it severely limited and compromised the powers of the Central Government in comparison to that of the State Governments. The Federal Government was not given any powers by which it could introduce new bills for taxation or for raising military services to fight the war on behalf of the United States. The Federal Government also did not have any powers to negotiate treaties or dictate foreign policy, which severely compromised the security and sovereignty of the United States. The States were allowed to retain their independence, which meant that they could declare themselves independent of the Union whenever they pleased to. This was eventually perceived to be a threat to the nation.

Further Explanation:

The primary aim of the leaders who fought in the Revolutionary war was to prevent the central government from becoming all-powerful and compromising the regional authority of the states. However, they failed to envisage the importance of a strong federal government, that would be able to legislate on all matters that would assume national importance. A strong federal government was an essential component in a strong sovereign nation, which was the image that the United States was aiming to maintain in the international front. The Articles of Federation had achieved their goals of uniting states into fighting together for the Revolutionary war, however, it was not adequate for the task of nation-building. The economic problems faced by the new nation was imminent, while the Federal Government was largely reliant on both financial and military assistance from the State Governments, who often faltered or were negligible in their payments. This was perceived as a great hindrance to progress and was attempted to be drastically rectified.

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Answer Details:

Grade: High School

Chapter: The making of the U.S. Constitution

Subject: History

Keywords:

The weak federal government, no standing army, dependence on state governments, financial and military assistance, no rights to taxation, no drafting foreign policy, independence of state governments