The Articles of Confederation was the original U.S. Constitution which was ratified in 1781. Two of its weaknesses were its inability to levy taxes and regulate trade.
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The weakness in the Articles of Confederation was due to it's loose connection of the states, which gave the federal government little power such as the ability to tax. The Articles of Confederation weren't corrected instead The Constitution replaced it, which gave the federal government much more authority and power and strongly united the country.
Several documents were important to the writing of the US Constitution. For example, the Magna Carta, The Articles of Confederation, the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657, The Spirit of the Laws by Montesquieu, John Locke's Two Treatises of Government and Edward Coke's Institutes of the Laws of England.
There were disagreements on almost everything. It was all settled by compromise and a last minute rush to get a document together. The delegates argued over slavery, number of representatives each state would have, the powers of the President, a Bill of Rights, power of the states. There was little agreement on anything except that the articles of confederation were inadequate.
the answer is actually two. The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. It was in effect from 1781 to 1789. In 1789, our second (and current) Constitution went into effect after it was ratified by nine of the 13 states.
The ratification of these "Articles" by the thirteen original colonies lead to the formation of the United States. But more important than the formation of the US, was that over two hundred years later, the end result lead to the so called "bush-cheney-rove" disaster. Also know as the first "Oil War". In the end, political scientists and philosophers, began what is known as "The Great Debate On The Value Of The Democratic State".