Articles of Confederation. Describe what they were and how they came about and what they were designed to address in the new American government. Why did they require replacement? Was the process of their replacement controversial? Was it necessary that the Articles were replace? The Articles of Confederation served as the first constitution of the US, it written on November 15, 1777 and formally ratified in 1781. The articles created a platform for a new government without an association between 13 states, this original constitution did not have a central government to oversee the workings of the states as a whole and instead operated on a “firm league of friendship”. The articles were known as a confederation since the system gave …show more content…
The states were in a bad state economically and many were debt ridden. The state legislatures did little to aid a situation that was to a great extent a direct consequence of the Articles of Confederation. The wealthy and elite at the time began to fear popular tyranny and after Shays Rebellion it was clear that the Articles of Confederation had to be replaced with a government that would be able to satisfy the will of the people. The replacement of the Articles of Confederation however, was considered to be an extremely controversial issue. Although Shays Rebellion was somewhat of a catalyst for the process, the framework for the Constitutional Convention had already been made and the proposal to have representatives from each state to discuss the nations weaknesses had already been adopted. Some delegates later refused to attend as they realised that the convention would be replacing the current Articles of Confederation rather then simply revising them. Some believed that supporting such a manifesto was against the purpose that Americans had just fought for in the war; likewise Anti-Federalist feared the unconstitutional created of a strong centralised government run by a wealthy elite that would not represent the majority. The states had just broken away from a monarchial form of government that they viewed as tyrannical, controversy simply