Essay --

With the turning point of the American Revolution in the favor of the Americans being the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 and the eventual surrender of British General Cornwallis to George Washington in 1781, the Americans finally earned and gained the freedom they desired from the British. From the beginning when the Articles of Confederation were ratified by all thirteen colonies in 1781 through 1789 when the Constitution was ratified by nine states, the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an effective government. This experimentation with new government was very new in every sense of the word. New things are not always perfect just as new computer programs may have glitches but as with new computer programs; the Articles of Confederation could have been developed and improved to a stronger government. The Americans did not leave any room for improvement and development for the Articles of Confederation, which contributed to its downfall. Americans were fearful of trying something new and with the Constitution. They were afraid of turning back to a government extremely similar of the British government. As a result the Articles provided an effective government politically, economically, and diplomatically from 1781 to 1789. The political effectiveness of the Articles of Confederation is obvious in that it was written in the spirit of independence from the British government and was, as a result, written as a different government as opposed to the government of the British. The Articles explained that the union of the states as a confederacy, a loose group of independent states. This guaranteed that their new government would not include the politics of the past British government. â€Å"They said States hereby sever... ... the Constitution that it was necessary. Opponents to the new plan, anti-federalists, criticized it most on it creating a strong central government that will be abusive to individual liberty. It wasn’t even until the Bill of Rights was drafted by James Madison that people started to accept the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation may have extended much power to the states, which can be interpreted as a way of separating the states; the unity of the states under the Articles of Confederation should be interpreted as Aristotle observed that â€Å"the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.† The Articles of Confederation never got its fair chance to spread its wings as a government and show the world how high it could actually soar. However, during its term from 1781 to 1781, the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with and effective government.