Which of the following were major problems with the Articles of Confederation quizlet?

It was on this day in 1777 that the Articles of Confederation, the first American constitution, was sent to the 13 states for consideration. It didn’t last a decade, for some obvious reasons.

Which of the following were major problems with the Articles of Confederation quizlet?
On November 17, 1777, Congress submitted the Articles to the states for immediate consideration. Two days earlier, the Second Continental Congress approved the document, after a year of debates. The British capture of Philadelphia also forced the issue.

The Articles formed a war-time confederation of states, with an extremely limited central government. The document made official some of the procedures used by the Congress to conduct business, but many of the delegates realized the Articles had limitations.

Here is a quick list of the problems that occurred, and how these issues led to our current Constitution.

1. The states didn’t act immediately. It took until February 1779 for 12 states to approve the document. Maryland held out until March 1781, after it settled a land argument with Virginia.

2. The central government was designed to be very, very weak. The Articles established “the United States of America” as a perpetual union formed to defend the states as a group, but it provided few central powers beyond that. But it didn’t have an executive official or judicial branch.

3. The Articles Congress only had one chamber and each state had one vote. This reinforced the power of the states to operate independently from the central government, even when that wasn’t in the nation’s best interests.

4. Congress needed 9 of 13 states to pass any laws. Requiring this high supermajority made it very difficult to pass any legislation that would affect all 13 states.

5. The document was practically impossible to amend. The Articles required unanimous consent to any amendment, so all 13 states would need to agree on a change. Given the rivalries between the states, that rule made the Articles impossible to adapt after the war ended with Britain in 1783.

6. The central government couldn’t collect taxes to fund its operations. The Confederation relied on the voluntary efforts of the states to send tax money to the central government. Lacking funds, the central government couldn’t maintain an effective military or back its own paper currency.

7. States were able to conduct their own foreign policies. Technically, that role fell to the central government, but the Confederation government didn’t have the physical ability to enforce that power, since it lacked domestic and international powers and standing.

8. States had their own money systems. There wasn’t a common currency in the Confederation era. The central government and the states each had separate money, which made trade between the states, and other countries, extremely difficult.

9. The Confederation government couldn’t help settle Revolutionary War-era debts. The central government and the states owed huge debts to European countries and investors. Without the power to tax, and with no power to make trade between the states and other countries viable, the United States was in an economic mess by 1787.

10. Shays’ rebellion – the final straw. A tax protest by western Massachusetts farmers in 1786 and 1787 showed the central government couldn’t put down an internal rebellion. It had to rely on a state militia sponsored by private Boston business people. With no money, the central government couldn't act to protect the "perpetual union."

These events alarmed Founders like George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton to the point where delegates from five states met at Annapolis, Maryland in September 1786 to discuss changing the Articles of Confederation.

The group included Madison, Hamilton and John Dickinson, and it recommended that a meeting of all 13 states be held the following May in Philadelphia. The Confederation Congress agreed and the Constitutional Convention of 1787 effectively ended the era of the Articles of Confederation.

Which of the following were major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?

1) The state governments refused to sell weapons to other states in time of military need

2) The national army picked fights with the smaller, weaker state armies

3) The national government had to power to tax.

4) The national government had no power to regulate interstate commerce.

3) The national government had to power to tax.

4) The national government had no power to regulate interstate commerce.

Which system grants sovereignty solely to noncentral governments, thereby making the central government dependent on them?

Confederation system

A _________ system of government is one in which the power to govern is shared between a national government and smaller governments, with each retaining some exclusive power.

federalist

In the U.S system, which phrase best describes the relationship between the state governments and the local governments within the state?

The system is unitary because the states create countries and cities and grant them all their powers.

What did the supreme Court decide in McCulloch v. Maryland?

1) That the necessary and proper clause implies the power to establish a national bank

2) That the national bank is within congress's power to create, but maryland has the power to tax it

3) The national law overrides state law

4) That congress cannot establish a national bank because that falls outside its enumerated powers

1) That the necessary and proper clause implies the power to establish a national bank

3) The national law overrides state law

The constitution's commerce clause says that _________ shall have the power to "regulate commerce" among the states

congress

One drawback to federalism today is that

many people feel that the federal government has expanded too far into areas that should be controlled at a state or local level.

Which of the following happened during the New Deal period?

1) The new deal programs thrust federal power into policy areas previously reserved for the states

2) The supreme court struck down key pieces of the New Deal programs

3) The New Deal programs were not as popular with voters as they were with the supreme court

4) Franklin Roosevelt's programs lost him the 1936 election.

1) The new deal programs thrust federal power into policy areas previously reserved for the states

2) The supreme court struck down key pieces of the New Deal programs

Why is the "necessary and proper" clause also referred to as the elastic clause?

The national government can use the clause to stretch its enumerated authority.

The process by which the national government returns powers once held by state and local governments to these governments is called.

devolution

A key factor in the struggle between the national and state governments to define boundaries of federal-state power has been

public support for federal policies compared with state policies

Federal Laws that set up requirements for states without providing the money to pay for them are called _______ mandates.

unfunded

Who or what defines the purpose of a categorical grant?

the federal government

Which of the following best describes the limit that dual federalism places on national government power?

the national government is kept from extending its power into policy areas traditionally reserved for the states.

Which of the following are the two most important forces in the evolution of the American federal structure?

1) The country's changing needs

2) The strength of partisan interests that sought to change the balance of power between the nations and the states

3) The desire of the states to surrender power to the national government

4) The actions of some states to secede from the union

1) The country's changing needs

2) The strength of partisan interests that sought to change the balance of power between the nations and the states

Which of the following are true statements about the federal structure of the United States?

1) Madison and Hamilton argued that the states and national government would serve to check each other and thus protect peoples' rights

2) Montesquieu proposed a federal structure in order to protect its citizens from government abuses

3) Hamilton proposed that the American people had to commit their allegiance to either the national or state government and should not deviate

4) Madison felt people would shift their trust between the national and state governments, depending on their needs and interests at the time.

1) Madison and Hamilton argued that the states and national government would serve to check each other and thus protect peoples' rights

4) Madison felt people would shift their trust between the national and state governments, depending on their needs and interests at the time.

The constitution enumerates powers for which level of government?

federal

Which of the following best describes the doctrine of dual federalism?

The supreme court maintained a precise separation of state power and national power.

Which of the following statements are true of the U.S federal system?

1) The national government has steadily lost power since Harry Trunman's presidency

2) Dual federalism is no longer an accurate description of the American system

3) The national government has recently expanded its power in areas such as surveillance and education

4) There have recently been efforts to return some power to the states.

2) Dual federalism is no longer an accurate description of the American system

3) The national government has recently expanded its power in areas such as surveillance and education

4) There have recently been efforts to return some power to the states.

The necessary and proper, or elastic, clause of the constitution

allows congress to have powers that are not listed in the constitution but needed to exercise listed powers

Which post-civil war amendment required the states to provide their citizens equal protection under the laws?

fourteenth amendment

Which of the following has occurred under cooperative federalism?

...

In the U.S System, which phrase best describes the relationship between the state governments and the local governments within the state?

The system is unitary because the states create countries and cities and grant them all their powers.

The complex demands of contemporary society.....

have shifted power to the national government

Which of the following statements best represents the American constitutional model of federalism?

The constitution grants sovereignty to both the national and state governments

The supremacy clause of the U.S Constitution

makes national laws the supreme law of the land.

Which of the following is the primary challenge made by states as to the constitutionality of federal grant programs.

the grant programs intrude too heavily on the reserved powers of the states

In a unitary system, all sovereignty rests

with the national government

In 1965 the federal government partnered with states to provide health care to the poor as part of which program?

Medicaid

The Articles of Confederation created a union of

states

Supreme and final governing authority is known as

Sovereignty

In the 1995 court cause of United States V. Lopez, the supreme court struck down a federal law that prohibited the possession of guns within 1,000 feet of a school. Its decision cited the Tenth Amendment on the grounds that

the ban exceeded power granted under the commerce clause

Which of the following was a central issue from the earliest years of the constitution until the end of the civil war?

whether the union would survive

The expenditure of federal funds on programs run in part through state and local governments is known as

fiscal federalism

In Federalist No. 10, Madison said that American liberties would be protected by

a large repubilic

An increase in national authority is known as

nationalization

Which of the following was a major problem with the Articles of Confederation?

Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation Each state only had one vote in Congress, regardless of size. Congress had not have the power to tax. Congress did not have the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. There was no executive branch to enforce any acts passed by Congress.

What was the central problem with the Articles of Confederation quizlet?

A) The major problem with the Articles of Confederation was the lack of a strong central government. Each state was represented equally and the lack of a central authority made conflicts between the states difficult to resolve.

Which of the following was a weakness of the Articles of Confederation?

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress lacked the authority to regulate commerce, making it unable to protect or standardize trade between foreign nations and the various states.