The articles of confederation appropriated little power to the federal government, leaving most to the states. Many problems arose that the federal government needed to but did not have the authority to correct. The articles of confederation lacked the power to govern efficiently.

The federal government did not even have the power to support itself. The federal government could not levy taxes. It could only make requests to the states for money, and very rarely did they receive their requests. They did not have the power to regulate commerce and trade. Also it could not settle disputes between states. Also, it did not have the power to necessary to deal effectively with foreign nations. There was very little the federal government could do, which is why it was so ineffective. The federal government needed more power. People like John Jay saw this is you can see in document G, and that is what lead to the creation of the constitution we have today.

Although this lack of power created an ineffective federal government it was effective at protecting the minority. The federal government was not given power in order to protect the power of the states. In this sense it was effective as you can see in document A, where Rhode Island was the lone state to reject a tariff proposal. Due to that, the proposal was not passed.

Although the articles of confederation were effective in establishing the type of government wanted by the colonists, it did not establish an effective government. The colonists found that in order for them to have an effective government the states ahd to concede more rights to the federal government.