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Articles of Confederation Primary Sources

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The Writings of James Madison. Edited by Gaillard Hunt.<br/>James Madison, May 7, 1787. Vices of the Political System of the U. States. The James Madison Papers The Writings of James Madison. Edited by Gaillard Hunt.James Madison, May 7, 1787. Vices of the Political System of the U. States. Observations by J. M. April, 1787. Vices of the Political system of the U. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. As yet foreign powers have not been rigorous in animadverting on us. 4. 4. Paper money, instalments of debts, occlusion of Courts, making property a legal tender, may likewise be deemed aggressions on the rights of other States.

The practice of many States in restricting the commercial intercourse with other States, and putting their productions and manufactures on the same footing with those of foreign nations, though not contrary to the federal articles, is certainly adverse to the spirit of the Union, and tends to beget retaliating regulations, not less expensive and vexatious in themselves than they are destructive of the general harmony. 5. 5. 6. 6. 7. 7. 8. 8. 2. 9. 9. 10. mutability of the laws of the States. 10. 11. 11. 1. Weakness of the United States Government under the Articles of Confederation. [The Atlantic monthly. / Volume 57, Issue 343, May 1886] Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 - To Form a More Perfect Union: The Work of the Continental Congress & the Constitutional Convention (American Memory from the Library of Congress)

Between 1774 and 1789, 13 colonies became a nation - the United States of America. In 1774, Great Britain's North American colonies first came together to defend themselves against wrongs committed by their "mother country. " By 1789, these colonies had become independent states, joined by a new federal constitution into a single nation. Assembling representatives from every colony, the Continental Congress (1774-1789) began as a coordinated effort to resist the British. With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the Congress became the central institution for managing the struggle for American independence. Independence raised new issues. In 1783, with the war formally drawing to a close, the Congress faced a wider range of issues: the disbanding of the Continental Army, the large debts owed by each state, foreign debts owed by the Confederation, the governing of territories won from the British, and the establishment of formal relationships with foreign countries.

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