Evaluate the effectiveness of the Articles of Confederation.

Candidates will make an appraisal of the effectiveness of the Articles of Confederation by evaluation of its strengths and limitations during the first constitutional period (1777-1789). Arguments for effectiveness may refer to the maintenance of independence from Britain, the settlement and eventual statehood of western territories and the passage of land ordinances that hastened settlement in the Northwest and limited the expansion of slavery. Arguments against effectiveness may mention the inability to enforce provisions of the Treaty of Paris allowing British occupation of some portions of the Northwest, incapacity to prevent indigenous tribes from attacking frontier settlements, inadequate powers of taxation, regulation of commerce or enforcement of foreign treaties and the inability to pay Revolutionary War debts. Candidates’ evaluations will vary as to the extent of effectiveness of the Articles.