The Necessity of a New Constitution

The Articles of Confederation was a fairly loose agreement between the thirteen colonies that was created and ratified during the Revolutionary War. Its two most crippling weaknesses, the prohibition of taxes and commercial regulation by the national congress made it weak and ineffective until 1986, when Charles Pinckney proposed a convention for the amendment of the Articles of Confederation. The idea was further considered in the Annapolis Convention of 1786 until delegates from all of the thirteen …

…included, creating much more conflict between the new national government, the individual states, and the citizens of the states. Completely disregarding the Articles of Confederation, and writing a completely new paper to bind the states together was a good move for the fledgling country because it reflected the shift in goals experienced by many citizens in government after the Revolutionary war, and made an effective democracy on a national level possible for millions of people.