Articles of Confederation

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Articles of Confederation
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Articles of Confederation

• Written during the American Revolution
• First American Constitution
• Introduced in 1777
• Ratified by all states in 1781

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Articles of Confederation

• Ratification official approval

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Articles of ConfederationStrengths

• First form of government for the new republic
• Created the Land Ordinance of 1785
• Created the Northwest Ordinance
• Outlawed slavery in the Northwest territories

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Articles of ConfederationNorthwest Ordinance

• An ordinance which described how the northwest
  territory would be governed

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Articles of ConfederationNorthwest Ordinance

• Adopted in 1787
• New states would be admitted equally
• Decided how territories could become states
• Guaranteed freedom of religion, civil liberties
  and free public education
• Forbade slavery
• Divided the land evenly using a grid system

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Articles of ConfederationWeaknesses

• No executive or judicial branches of government
  no power to enforce the laws
• Shays Rebellion showed that the government could
  not keep order and a stronger government was
  needed

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Articles of ConfederationWeaknesses

• No power to tax
• No power to regulate trade
• No army
• No foreign respect
• Territorial disputes

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Articles of ConfederationWeaknesses

• Needed unanimous vote to amend articles
• Decisions were not mandatory

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Summary/Reflection/Analysis

• The Articles of Confederation called for a WEAK
  central government. This was done purposely!!!!
• Why do you think this was?
• What were Americans afraid of?