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Date May 2017 Marks available 15 Reference code 17M.3op2.HL.TZ0.13
Level Higher level only Paper Paper 3 (History of the Americas) Time zone TZ0
Command term Evaluate Question number 13 Adapted from N/A

Question

Evaluate the effectiveness of the Articles of Confederation.

Markscheme

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.

Examiners report

[N/A]

Syllabus sections

HL options: first exams 2017 » HL option 2: History of the Americas » 7: Nation-building and challenges (c1780–c1870) » United States: Articles of Confederation; the 1787 Constitution: philosophical underpinnings; major compromises and changes in the US political system
HL options: first exams 2017 » HL option 2: History of the Americas » 7: Nation-building and challenges (c1780–c1870)
HL options: first exams 2017 » HL option 2: History of the Americas
HL options: first exams 2017

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