The Articles of Confederation placed most government power in the individual state governments, not in the national (central) government.

Core idea

  • Each state kept its own sovereignty, freedom, and independence , and any power not specifically given to the national Congress stayed with the states.
  • The national government was deliberately made weak, with a single Congress and no president or national court system, so that it could not dominate the states the way Parliament and the king had dominated the colonies.

What powers stayed with the states?

Under the Articles, states held the real governing power:

  • States kept the power to tax their citizens; Congress could only ask states for money, borrow, or sell western lands.
  • States controlled most day‑to‑day lawmaking, law enforcement, and regulation of trade within and between themselves, since Congress could not regulate commerce or draft soldiers.

What little power the national government had

Congress did have some limited, shared powers, but they were narrow and hard to use:

  • Congress could declare war, make peace, sign treaties, form alliances, manage relations with Native nations, and maintain an army and navy.
  • Major laws required approval from nine of the thirteen states, and amendments had to be unanimous, which kept effective power in state hands because any small group of states could block action.

Bottom line: The Articles of Confederation were designed as a “states‑first” system, where state governments were the main holders of political power and the national government was weak and dependent on them.