America’s FIRST government/constitution was called the Articles of Confederation (AOC).

What is the Articles of Confederation?

​A confederation has a weak central government while the state governments have the majority of all the power.

What Went Wrong?

Under the A.O.c. there were many weaknesses within our government:

1. Only ONE Branch of government a.k.a. Legislative Branch

   1. No Judicial Branch

   2. No Executive Branch

2. No Power to Tax

3. No Regulation of Trade between states

4. No Power to Enforce Laws

5. Unanimous Vote To Make Changes

Cause -> Effect

No Power to Tax -->

No Regulation of Trade b/w states -->

No Executive Branch -->

No Power to Enforce Law -->

Unanimous Vote To Make Changes -->

No Judicial Branch -->

Did not have money to support country, i.e. No army

Each state had their own policies which made it difficult manage

Unable to force states follow/obey

Making changes to AOC hard due to 13/13 had to agree

No National Court (Supreme Court) to settle disputes b/w states

Kept Central Government weak w/ no leadership

SO ... Do we still have the A.O.C?

NO! The AOC was replaced by the U.S. Constitution. 

What tipped the balance? 

Daniel Shays and his troops led a rebellion (Shay’s Rebellion), which resulted in violent resistances throughout Massachusetts. This event produced fears because there was no national army to put down the rebellion.