Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumWestward Migration, Frontier Conflicts, and Border Treaties

"Great Britain possesses the posts... as a pledge for the debts due to her subjects, which she alleges are not paid, and for the treatment of the Loyalists, which she alleges is contrary to the treaty. The United States cannot deny that some infractions have been made on their part... because the treaty of peace was not sufficiently respected by all the states."
—John Jay, Report to Congress, 1786

Which of the following best explains why the national government under the Articles of Confederation was unable to resolve the issue described in the excerpt?

  1. A
    Democratic-Republican lawmakers refused to allocate federal funds to pay British merchants due to their preference for a French alliance.
  2. B
    The Articles of Confederation required the executive branch to gain approval from all thirteen states before deploying frontier militias.
  3. The national government lacked the power to enforce state compliance with international treaties or compel the payment of debts.Answer
  4. D
    The national judiciary repeatedly ruled that federal treaties could not override state laws concerning loyalist properties.

Answer

The correct answer is that the national government lacked the power to enforce state compliance with international treaties or compel the payment of debts.
The correct answer is correct because the Articles of Confederation did not grant the national government the authority to compel state governments to comply with international treaties or collect taxes to pay debts. Because the states routinely ignored the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783) regarding Loyalist compensation and British creditors, Great Britain had a diplomatic excuse to maintain military garrisons on the United States frontier, which restricted westward migration and supplied Native Americans in conflicts with American settlers.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the historical situation described in the source.
The excerpt shows John Jay acknowledging that the United States violated the 1783 Treaty of Paris regarding Loyalist property and British debts because individual states did not respect the treaty, prompting Great Britain to refuse to evacuate its frontier military posts.
Understanding the core conflict of the stimulus (British retention of Northwest forts due to U.S. treaty violations) is necessary to evaluate the options.
2
Connect the diplomatic issue to the structure of the Articles of Confederation.
Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government had no executive to enforce laws or treaties, no federal court system, and no power to levy taxes directly or compel states to pay debts.
This establishes why the national government was powerless to force the states to respect the treaty obligations.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the one representing the structural weakness of the Articles.
The option stating that the national government lacked the power to enforce state compliance with international treaties or compel the payment of debts accurately explains this structural weakness.
This directly links the weakness of the Articles to the British retention of frontier posts, which continued to fuel conflicts in the Northwest Territory.

Key Concept

Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation in foreign policy and frontier diplomacy
Estimated Time:1m 30s
Rate this question

Topics

Westward Migration, Frontier Conflicts, and Border Treaties

More questions from this topic