The United States was left with many problems caused by the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Some of these were major conflicts, others were minor, but they all contributed to the decision in 1787 to replace the system of government. The following map contains blue starbursts of the major incidents under the Articles of Confederation. To learn about each incident, begin the activity below by clicking on the yellow star. After you click on the yellow star, an incident will appear with a drop down choice to categorize the incident. After you have chosen a category, click on the next button to proceed. You will click on the next yellow star to see the next incident. Some incidents may fall into more than one category.

As you went through this exercise, you might have noticed that the inability of Congress to exclusively issue currency was not among the correct answers. This is because the economic harm and confusion of having multiple currencies cannot really be shown in one incident. It does play a role in the most significant event during the 1780s that demonstrated the weakness of the Articles of Confederation–Shays's Rebellion. Shays's Rebellion was probably the "straw that broke the camel's back" and produced the Constitutional Convention.