The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution - Answer to a former DBQ (Document Based Question)for an AP US History class

Question: "From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the Unites States with an effective government. Use the documents and your knowledge of the period to evaluate this statement." Although the Articles of Confederation provided a working government for the United States, it was not necessarily an effectively working government; an effective government would be one that not only establishes control and authority, but one under which the nation flourishes. Certainly the Articles set down a …

…going wrong and they needed to change. Although the call was originally just for revision, it resulted in a new document, the Constitution. Although the Articles set down a basic government with the idea of a democratic republic, that's all it had: the idea. The basis set for an effective democratic republic was embellished and made to succeed in the Constitution. This demonstrated that the Articles' government wasn't completely flawed, but it certainly wasn't effective.