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The central government was weak and gave states the power to make their own decisions and be very independent.

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The government having little power protected citizens and states freedom and independence.

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It was hard to come to agreements with national affairs when there was no court system. Each state could solve a crime or issue in different ways.

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The government had no national court system.

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This cartoon interprets the weaknesses of the Articles dragging down the US government.

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The Articles of Confederation was a very controversial document. Many people, such as the Antifederalists, wanted to keep it and revise it. More people, however, thought the Articles of Confederation was weak and wanted it to change.  The states had a lot of power, limiting the central government's rights. The congress had no right to tax, control states laws, and keep states under control. The country went into debt and had no army. It also caused Shay's Rebellion and the farmers protested because of the taxes. The US needed a new constitution to make a strong central government. At the Constitutional Convention they came up with a new constitution to better suite the needs of the central government.

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Having the congress as the highest power took away the possibility of a monarchy. The citizens feared a monarchy because of their past experience with a single ruler.

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The articles set the Congress as the highest body of power

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It was difficult to keep control of all the states and citizens with only one source of central power. This was even more difficult with the article because the government had many restrictions

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Another weakness was that there was only one branch of government.

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If the US went into debt the government could borrow money to support them. They could also resolve conflicts between states and prevent battles between them.

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Congress was able to issue coins and borrow money while resolving issues with states.

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Making treaties and good relationships gave the US allies in the case of war or arguments.

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If it was necessary to call for war the government would need to be able to do that. It would also be a problem if states could declare war because it could make enemies for the US as a whole.

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Congress could make treaties and have foreign relations.

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One strength was that Congress could declare war.

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Congress went into debt because they had no way to make money. Also, the US did not have a large, well-trained army because they had no soldiers nor money. If states

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States could refuse to give money and/or soldiers to the government.

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The congress was not able to tax the states.

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Similar to the weakness above, since states had the power to make their laws, the laws varied from state to state.

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Since states had so much power, congress was not able to pass laws. It was also difficult to have a national court system when each state had different laws. People traveling through different states would not know the different laws. With a constitution,  the national government could create and enforce the laws for the entire country.

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A major weakness was that the states had way too much power.

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The AOC had few strengths but the downfall was all of it's weaknesses.

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While the AOC had many weaknesses, it also had some strengths.

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Period 2
11-29-17