Articles+of+Confederation

The Articles of Confederation are like a club for all of the states. Why do the colonists care so much about being states? Why are state taxes more acceptable than something from another ruling body? The Articles of Confederation: What Causes the Articles to Fail? All of these problems led people to think that the Articles of Confederation were not very good. This led to the Constitutional Convention.
 * The people cared because they wanted to be able to watch their government and know what is going on. They liked having the people that control the
 * This is why the people are very unwilling to give up any power to the Articles of Confederation.
 * A congress with a president whose sole purpose is to preside over the meeting for that day
 * The Congress can declare war, but had to ask for troops from states
 * They could make treaties with other countries (easier than making 13 different treaties)
 * They couldn't tax the states, they had to ask for money.
 * Even worse than not having money, they are in debt (from the war). They ask the states to help pay them, but some say no because they already paid their debt (Virginia said no because they already paid their debt).
 * No standardized currency, they aren't allowed to make one.
 * Congress could not regulate trade or enforce tariffs
 * Shay's Rebellion- farmers in Western Massachusetts get upset because the government in their state is made up of the fisherman and merchants in Eastern Massachusetts. They are led by Shay to try and take over the armory in Springfield. Massachusetts asks for troops from the Confederation, but none of the other states send anybody.
 * No standardized currency and a lot of national and state debt that couldn't be paid
 * The British still occupied forts in the Northwest Territory, and the Confederation Government couldn't make them leave
 * The government had no way to retaliate against foreign tariffs
 * Interstate commerce was unregulated