We must not have a strong central government! Then we would just fall under tyranny again!

But, we cannot afford complete anarchy at the federal level... So we must come to a compromise. We can write a document with laws to rule at the federal level; after all, a piece of paper can't become a corrupt tyrant!

America became independent from Britain because of tyranny from a strong central governing power, so naturally they created a series of weak laws called the Articles of Confederation, so that there would be some sort of federal government, even though the majority of power lied within the states.

However, the Articles of Confederation did not work as well as planned; every state adopted a different currency, and since they did not want to be like England and raise taxes, they just printed more money to pay for the war, which led to hyperinflation. Due to this and the new country's lack of unity, diplomacy and trade with foreign countries was very hard. The states also fought over land gained from the war with Britain, but the weak federal government could not settle their disputes.

NO, MY LAND!!!

MY LAND!!!

There was one good thing that came out of the Articles of Federation, though; the Northwest Ordinance. Since America gained some land west of the Proclamation Line after the war, the Articles of Confederation set some guidelines so that colonists could settle there, and with enough population, even establish a state. Settlers in this territory were granted rights such as freedom of religion and right to trial by jury.

Yoooooo, check out this sick new land duuude! Ima totes call it like Illinois or something.

Because of the Articles of Confederation's flaws, the federal government couldn't raise taxes to pay for the war, so the states did. This sent many farmers in New England into deep debt, causing them to lose their assets. An army of farmers in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays marched to shut down courthouses, but failed from defeat by the Massachusetts Militia. This rebellion encouraged made the concept of a stronger central government more popular, and therefore helped the Constitution be ratified.

Yoooo this government's about to get rekkkt!!!