Although the Articles of Confederation had many weaknesses, they were successful in that they were a starting point for government in the United States of America. Adopted by all thirteen states in 1781, the Articles of Confederation were the first written constitution of the United States. As with any new radical idea, they did not work as well as Americans would have hoped. After the American Revolution, the failures of the Articles of Confederation caused several problems during this critical period of the United States. The successes of the Articles of Confederation allowed this nation to survive through these difficult times and would eventually lead to the development of the Constitution.

The Articles of Confederation created a loose confederation in which government was disorganized and Congress was weak. The national government consisted of a one-house legislature, and there was no executive department or president. The judicial division was left...