Weaknesses of the Articles (sep 1, 1781 – apr 1, 1789)

Description:

- Foreign Affairs: European powers had little respects for the United States, weak government could not enforce terms of the treaty, paying back debts, preserving loyalists' property, could not stop Britain from holding some ports limiting trade
- Britain and Spain threatened the United States
- Economic Problems: Congress had no depedable income source and had large debts
- States also had large debts
- Seduced foreign trade
- Worthless paper money
- Internal conflicts:
- The 13 states treated each other as rivals and put tariffs and restrictions on trade, boundary disputes, the central government was took weak to intervene
- Shay's Rebellion: 1786, Captain Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary war veteran, led other other farmers in an uprising against high state taxes, imprisonment for debts, and lack of paper money, stopped the collection of taxes and forced the closing of debtors' prison, put down in 1787

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