Articles of Confederation: The Effects These Policies Had on the American Government

Introduction

The early years of America presented issues of a fragile nation that could easily plunge into retrogression. Various ideologies propagated by the first president shaped the direction to which the current state took. In view of the new nation, the early years rarely receive much concentration on. George Washington as the first president encountered a number of challenges owing to a lack of government structures that could support the growth and governance of the new nation. At the time of the early years when the nation was formed, there was a critical end of a period of the revolutionary wars that had in many ways shaped the political landscape of the United States. The time between the end of the Revolutionary period and the time to which the president was inaugurated is often referred to as a critical period (Malle, 2019). This is owing to the fact that various political developments took place at the time.

Challenges Facing Early America

The first problem which faced America in the early years of its formation is the struggle with the Great Britain. The Great Britain together with America signed a treaty. The treaty signed was the Treaty of Paris in 1783 (Fradin, 2006). During the signing of the treaty, it was meant to end the revolutionary war and some of the provisions included the provision that Britain were supposed to remove their troops around the area of Great lakes. The Britain did not remove their troops owing to the fact that America had also not honored the provision for them to repay loyalist for the property lost during the revolutionary war and also the remaining debt owed to the British merchants (Fradin, 2006). The congress at the time had no powers to force people to pay the debts and the state would not have paid debts on behalf of the people. The Great Britain would not allow trade to take place between America and Canada as well as the American ships could not dock in the Great Britain.

The second challenge facing the early America was the land issue. During the revolutionary periods, the American lands were managed by various states. Upon end of the revolution period, the land issue was given to the federal government (Entman, 2000). The congress had to make a decision on land more so claims presented on western lands. The land ordinances of 1784 and 1785 and the Northwest ordinance of 1787 gave a path for the settlement of these lands. Once there was enough population of people, they were eligible to apply for statehood. The new states that would be crated would have the same powers as the already existing 13 states (Entman, 2000).

America faced tough financial challenge. During the revolutionary war, America borrowed a lot of money. Upon establishment of congress, there was no law enabling them to tax and therefore, congress had to borrow money from the states. The states would at their own discretion decide on whether they would give money to the federal government or not. The congress decided and printed paper money that soon became worthless because it didn’t bear any value on it. The problems on the early America continued when the states decided to print their own money. The states also enforced taxes on goods flowing in their borders further discouraging interstate trading.

In general, during the early years of America, the US faced both economic and military crises. It also faced foreign and domestic crises. The major crisis was the economic crisis owing to the fact that the US economy was very weak. The US economy first plunged into depression largely because the US could not access the British markets. This meant that very many Americans were in debt. The result of this was unrest within America and was marked by rebellion for example the Shays rebellion. With regards to foreign matters, the foreign policies were at a very bad stake. Barbary pirates captured American ships and their occupants and demanded for ransom. The Spanish also had issues with the US owing to the territorial issues within Florida and Mississippi river area. Most importantly was the fact that the British cause a lot of trouble for the new state. The British kept forts in the American territory. The British in keeping forts supplied the Indians with arms in order to help them fight the settlers from moving into the Northwest (Fradin, 2006).

Solutions to the Challenges Facing Early America

The American people started by setting up a new system of government. The new government structures started as soon as independence was declared. Before the end the revolution war, each of the states had its own constitution. The state constitution provided for certain liberties for the people that included freedom of speech, religion and press. In the year 1781, the states agreed to set up a federal government under the guidance of articles of confederation. The challenges of the early America were solved as follows;

The initial solution was to solve the financial problems faced by the federal government. Americans were however divided on how to solve the financial problems that challenged the new government. One of the group led by the secretary of treasury wanted the federal government to take vigorous actions while the secretary of state wanted the federal government to stay away from participating in economic issues. The secretary to treasury proposed increase of taxes that would be used to pay off the debts of the various states as well as the debts of the federal government. It further proposed the establishment of a government controlled bank that would monitor the flow of government incomes and expenditures (Entman, 2000).

Foreign affairs issue was also another emotive issue that faced the federal government. In 1793, France went to war against Spain and Britain. France had helped America in the revolution war and that during the war; France expected the same assistance to fight against British and Spanish (Fradin, 2006). There were major disagreements on which America would support. Some of the leader wanted support for France while other routed support for Britain. The president stayed clear and stated that America would remain neutral in the European war. During the war period, the president sent diplomats to Britain and as a result, a treaty was signed that facilitated the new start of trading with them as well as the removal of troops from their territories. Further to this, the president sent diplomats to Spain to negotiate and a treaty of San Lorenzo was signed solving the problems on Florida and the Mississippi area (Entman, 2000). Spain gave access to US for free use of the Mississippi river. The American president sought to solve foreign affairs issues with France using diplomacy. At first diplomacy failed and some section of the government routed for war. The president was however adamant to declare war and instead sent other diplomats who settled on a deal to keep peace.

Some other problems were solved through key internal structures for example the formation of political parties two primary parties were formed. One was fronted by the northern that strongly supported the federal government hence forming Federalist Party and backed Britain in their international policies. The southerners also formed a party known as the Democratic-Republic party. The party wanted a weaker central government and offered support to France with regards to the international disputes.

The United States would have plunged into failure within the first few years of it existence were it not for the policies taken by the first presidents. As stated, early America faced challenges more so with regards to finances as well as foreign policy issues. The foreign policy was also tied to the finances because debts threated the existence of the state. During the process, British and Spain pressured the new government. Some of the fronts wanted the president to go to war with them in order to withdraw troops from their boundaries however, the president resorted to diplomatic means of solving the challenges. The state was likely to fail had it resorted to war. In its establishment, US had not had enough man power that would have fought in the war. The state did not also have sufficient money to help them fight in war and therefore it would have been detrimental for them to get to war.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe the potential was there for the United States to become a failed state. After gaining independence the Articles of Confederation contributed to a weak central government that did not afford the power to collect taxes or fund a strong military. Had it not been for the revision of these articles and the drafting of the Constitution the United States may have been too fragmented to fend off foreign attempts to regain control of the colonies. Additionally, the Civil War and the issues of slavery could have been an opportunity for the state to fail.

Reference

1. Entman, R. (2000). Declarations of Independence. BL Nacos (et. al.) Decisionmaking in a Glass House: Mass Media, Public Opinion and American and European Foreign Policy in the 21st Century. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 11-26.
2. Fradin, D. B. (2006). The Declaration of Independence. Marshall Cavendish.
3. Malle, S. S., Alimuddin, A., & Nirwana, N. (2019). UNFOLDING THE INDEPENDENCE DILEMMA OF THE INTERNAL SUPERVISION UNIT AUDITORS: PHENOMENOLOGY STUDY. Patria Artha Journal of Accounting & Financial Reporting, 3(1), 1-19.