The Articles restricted the government’s hold of western lands. This unsettled politicians, they did not want to hand over their power to the states. Congress allowed states to keep their original land rights, but that did not make the states on the outer west borders happy about it. Since Virginia and Rhode Island refused to ratify, the policies were delayed. When MA ratified, western MA’s citizens became enraged at high taxes, for war debts they couldn’t afford. They began to be forced to use