An Inadequate Government

Britain and the American colonies fought a long and enduring war over independence. Britain was originally the mother country but Americans were persistant on obtaining independence. Therefore, the Revolution began. Great leaders led America to victory and the Treaty of Paris was established. Virginia's, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution in the second continental congress on June 7, 1776. Within this resolution he proposed that a government be established based on an accord of confederate states. The Articles of Confederatin was put into action in 1781. Americans soon came to find out that the Articles of Confederation was an inadequate form of government. The features of the government caused domestic problems because it could not address the economic need of the nation and individual states. Foreign affair problems occured because relations with European powers quickly deteriorated after the war.
Many features of the Articles of Confederation were considered weaknesses. It had an unicameral legislature, the congress had no authority to impose taxes, no national court system, and no authority for congress to regulate either interstaite or foriegn commerce. Many of the problems following the American Revolution can be traced back to these weaknesses.
The Articles of Confederation were unable to address the economic needs of the nation and individual states. It couldn't help in any way with inflation and depression so individual states were left to deal with these problems alone. States such as Massachusetts imposed a heavy tax on ther citizens to tackle inflamation. This only led to more economic problems.
Difficulties with foreign affairs was another burden, due to the deterioration of relationships with European powers. The U.S. brought some of its problems on itself by not abiding by the Treaty of Paris which upset Britain. Spain also saw an opportunity to exploit the U.S., fearful of its potential to expand its power. The two countries also quarreled over the undefined northern boundry of Florida.
The Articles of Confederation brought many problems in Domestic and Foreign affairs. Since the Articles of Confederation were not able to address these problems the political leaders wanted to revise it. They met in 1787 to do this but instead ended up creating an entirely new government