The Articles of Confederation

The 1780s were filled with all kinds of problems for the young nation. The Articles of Confederation were a loosely structured government that was set up in 1781 to primarily address the issues surrounding the Revolutionary War.  When the war ended in 1783 the leaders of the new nation were confronted with a series of problems that forced them to consider either amending the current government or creating an entirely new government.

The goal of this lesson is to present students with the challenge of deciding if they would vote to scrap an existing government in order to create a new government.  Students should recognize that some decisions in the study of history had sweeping consequences.  Dismantling a government and replacing it with another is obviously a major issue.  This lesson helps students assess how the Founding Fathers responded to the major problems in the 1780s by role-playing the political representatives of the colonies.  We will frame the events that led to the Constitutional Convention by looking at the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and assess if the government responded appropriately to the events of the decade.