History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

History - Essay Example A severe depression between the 1784-5 made the situation even much dire leading to a destabilizing debt servicing standoff between farmers and the government of Massachusetts’ raising of taxes; an impasse that paved the way to a full-blown, armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts akin to the liberation war, the Shay’s Rebellion (woods 285). In the south were spiraling economic problems too with quite similar disruptive effects in the north. The revolution left slave traders, particularly in South Carolina and Georgia, counting a trail of losses with more than 60,000 slaves finding escape mechanisms. The financial breakdown was compounded further by Great Britain’s refusal to link up import trade with the British West Indies; a vital market destination that upheld economic prospects of most southerners. Even though liberation treaty had been signed officially freeing the unite states as a British protectorate, total takeover was a challenge marred by tensions plaguing certain areas with British troops refusal to surrender Detroit, Otsego and New York forts over unsettled Tories land issues. On the international front, the weakness of the new government was even much pronounced given its inability to effectively protect its interests. From the capture of an American merchant ship by the North African Pirates off the coast Portugal to the West Florida Controversy and Mississippi River crises, the government had no decisive powers to effect peace by exerting clear cut authority. Courtesy of a feeble union ratified under the Articles of Confederation, the new union was bombarded right, left and center, with the Continental Army uprising over unpaid dues tipping a pillar rapture to a short-lived unification as was evident in the Newburgh Conspiracy. Proposed and ratified in 1777 and 1781 respectively, the Articles of Confederation was document full of economic and political leakages that ended up piling more problems. With the reorie ntation of the British mercantile system, the sudden shortfalls of managerial cash were never factored in by the framers of the Confederation. There was no provision for a singular command point to enforce laws passed by Congress whenever necessary. A supposedly pluralistic Congress had no powers to tax, to control commerce, to sanction the usage of a common currency, to draft enough soldiers to counter any external aggression, and to generally steer effective governance (Wood 354). The Constitution succeeded in addressing many of the problems hitherto inherent the â€Å"loose confederation of states" that essentially revered state autonomy over effective governance.  The constitution restructured the provisions of the Article of Confederation to a federal system that gave more recognition to the national government with a subsequent delegation of powers hitherto tightly held-up by the state, while reserving and sharing certain functions. The newly created federation not only cre ated a national government with real, acceptably shared power both at the national and at the state level to effect a comprised taxation policy, draft federal troops, control commerce, etcetera, but also created a common command office, the office of the president and the and a federal court system, which were non-existent under the Article Of Confederation (Wood 412). The earlier fears of the framers of the confederation of an overwhelmingly powerful national governme