It was the mid-late 1700s, and America had finally achieved and received independence from Great Britain. Peace in America on the other hand, not so much. After gaining independence, the Articles of Confederation were made as a system of government for the United States, but gave very imbalanced power between federal and state levels. For example, on the federal level, the national government couldn't force a state to pay taxes. To try to amend the Articles, in 1787, a meeting made up of delegates representing the states was called up, but instead, what would be created is what we now know as the Constitution. But how exactly did this document remedy the flaws of the Articles, and prevent tyranny from unjust amounts and usage of power? The Constitution helped stop tyranny in government with a …show more content…
unique, new system of government inspired by Enlightenment figures of the time, and designed with politicians. This new government would include Federalism, three separate branches of government, checks and balances for those, and a fair balancing of power between the larger and smaller states of the United States. Federalism meant division of power between a national and state level of government. Both would share powers, and would have their own powers separate from the other entity. This would let the states have a bit of individualism, and the national government to rule over that. The national government would have powers concerning foreign relations, including trade, war, politics , etc, as well as power regarding currency for the nation. On the states’ side would be powers for more local relations, including local governments, elections for those, schools, etc. However, both would have the power to tax, borrow money, create courts, and make/enforce laws. The national laws and such would apply to all states of course. The state and national government would control each other with such and govern the nation at the same time with this. For the national government to avoid tyranny with so much control and power, these powers would be split into three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch would make laws for the country, and be made up of Congress, which was the Senate and the House of Representatives. The executive branch would enforce laws, and deal with foreign affairs, with the Cabinet to deal with the former and the President to deal with the latter. The judicial branch would interpret laws with the Supreme Court as its head. The three branches would help to prevent tyranny with division of power of the national government. While divided, these powers would need to balance each other out to be equal. Checks were created for each branch. The legislative branch could check the judicial and executive, and vice versa. For example, the laws Congress (executive) makes could be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (judicial). On the other side, the Congress can impeach judges and remove them from office. Congress could also approve the judges the executive branch nominates. Checks like these would help to guard against tyranny within the three branches. Finally, the states also needed some balancing of their own.
At the time, larger states like Virginia were creating an unfair amount of power for themselves that the small states didn’t have. In the new government, Congress was created to make laws, and was made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives would give states a number of Representatives they could have based on their population. This would give fair power deserved to the larger states. The Senate however would be two and only two Senators for each state, no matter how large or small, bringing some equality to Congress. With these different balances to control the powers throughout the new government, the problem of tyranny wasn’t as such of a problem as it was when the Articles of Confederation were in place. The states were now represented justly, the national and state levels of government fairly empowered, and the three branches within the national government were balanced. Even the three branches within balanced each other out, so one wouldn’t become too under or over powered. The new government created by the Constitution was a good answer to protect against
tyranny.
To begin with the unequal representation of the states in the Virginia Plan was of great concern and controversy while the New Jersey Plan retained equal representation of the states. Virginia proposed a bicameral legislature that included elections by the people and appointments by those elected. This system used both wealth and population as a determining factor in regards to the number of seats in both houses. New Jersey on the other hand proposed single house legislature that allow each state a single vote. Votes based on population would put small states at a disadvantage. The states that were more populated would be in control of the legislative branches, leaving small states without a voice. Concerns about who was to be counted in the population also ...
Before the Constitution was drafted, the United States’ budding government, now independent from Great Britain, acted under a dysfunctional constitution called the Articles of Confederation. Although this constitution kept the new nation running, there were still flaws that needed to be fixed. The Articles of Confederation lacked a developed executive or judicial branch and a method for the main government to collect taxes from state governments, according to the background essay of the DBQ Packet. An assembly of fifty-five men eventually gathered for a Constitutional Convention in order to write a new constitution that would better satisfy the people’s needs. The trouble of creating another constitution lied behind creating a document
During and after the turmoil of the American Revolution, the people of America, both the rich and the poor, the powerful and the meek, strove to create a new system of government that would guide them during their unsure beginning. This first structure was called the Articles of Confederation, but it was ineffective, restricted, and weak. It was decided to create a new structure to guide the country. However, before a new constitution could be agreed upon, many aspects of life in America would have to be considered. The foremost apprehensions many Americans had concerning this new federal system included fear of the government limiting or endangering their inalienable rights, concern that the government’s power would be unbalanced, both within
The thirteen states formed a Confederation referred to as the “league of friendship” in order to find a solution for common problems such as foreign affairs.The Articles of Confederation was the nation’s first Constitution. The articles created a loose Confederation of independent states that gave limited powers to the central government. Each state would have one vote in the house of Congress, no matter the size of the population. Members of the one-house Congress, such as Pennsylvania, agreed that the new government should be a unicameral legislature, without an executive branch or a separate judiciary. Under the articles, there wasn’t a strong independent executive. There wasn’t any judicial branch but Congress had the authority to arbitrate disputes between states. Congress was responsible for conducting foreign affairs, declaring war or peace, maintaining an army and navy and a variety of other lesser functions. But the articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws. Because of this, the central government had to request donations from the states to finance its operations and raise armed forces.
The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people.
As I stated earlier each state wanted to be represented according to different factors. The states with bigger populations wanted representation to be based solely off of population. The states with smaller populations wanted there to be a fixed number of representatives per state, regardless of size or population. The Connecticut Compromise resolved this issue by forming the two houses that we have today.
The Articles of Confederation were developed after the Revolutionary War, and were a good idea to help set standards for America. However, they had some major problems that needed to be solved in order for America to become a strong nation. After these problems were addressed the Constitution was developed.
A constitution is the system of fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed. Our founding fathers created the US Constitution to set specific standards for our country. We must ask ourselves why our founding fathers created the Constitution in the first place. America revolted against the British due to their monarchy form of government. After the American Revolution, each of the original 13 colonies operated under its own rules of government. Most states were against any form of centralized rule from the government. They feared that what happened in England would happen again. They decided to write the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified in 1781. It was not effective and it led to many problems. The central government could not regulate commerce between states, deal with foreign governments or settle disputes. The country was falling apart at its seams. The central government could not provide assistance to the state because there wasn’t a central army. When they realized that the Articles of Confederation was not up to par, they held a convention, known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As a result of t...
To say that the Articles of Confederation provided the United States of America with an effective government would be quite an over exaggeration. For most people in modern day, an effective government would be one that can govern mass numbers of people and still be politically correct in overruling decisions on matters while keeping the law in mind, yet keeping the benefit of common good front and center. But, the Articles of Confederation were not written in the present day, so these ideals of a competent government were not quite applicable. For most people, an effective government was one that could govern mass numbers of people, still giving the states and the people many rights, while still being able to keep all under control. This would have eliminated any possibility that a federal government could become too strong or resemble a monarchy.
The Articles of Confederation was the first government of the United States. The Articles had created a very weak national government. At the time the Articles were approved, they had served the will of the people. Americans had just fought a war to get freedom from a great national authority--King George III (Patterson 34). But after this government was put to use, it was evident that it was not going to keep peace between the states. The conflicts got so frequent and malicious that George Washington wondered if the “United” States should be called a Union (Patterson 35). Shays’ Rebellion finally made it evident to the public that the government needed a change.
Assuring the people, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison insisted the new government under the constitution was “an expression of freedom, not its enemy,” declaring “the Constitution made political tyranny almost impossible.” (Foner, pg. 227) The checks and balances introduced under the new and more powerful national government would not allow the tyranny caused by a king under the Parliament system in Britain. They insisted that in order achieve a greater amount of freedom, a national government was needed to avoid the civil unrest during the system under the Articles of Confederation. Claiming that the new national government would be a “perfect balance between liberty and power,” it would avoid the disruption that liberty [civil unrest] and power [king’s abuse of power in England] caused.
The United states was founded independence from Great Britain it’s founding fathers realized from their experiences that the a new document of law was needed. They thought that they should establish something to preserve the U.S. new found independence while maintaining order. However the first documation that was created by the founding fathers was called the Articles of Confederation. The Article of Confederation did preserve the U.S. new found independence but it did not maintain order. From my point of view the Articles of Confederation was created to satisfy the needs of every state. When they were abiding by the Articles of Confederation each state view it’s own authority and power as superior to the who was in charged. However, this lead to recurring arguments between the states. In addition, the states would not willingly give money to financially support the national government. As a result the government was powerless to enforce any acts that Congress passe. Furthermore, some states began to make individual agreements with foreign
The Articles of Confederation’s were written for a purpose, in the first place. This was done in hopes these articles would help guide and resolve problems that existed under the British rule. These articles were needed because the people were becoming increasingly disgruntled with the British government. The Revolutionary war had been fought because of anger and outrage for the British government. Thus, the Articles of Confederation were presented as a solution (Wilson, DiIulio, Jr. and Bose).
The primary people that received authorship for the Constitution include, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, and John Adams. In addition, George Washington is credited for taking responsibility for overseeing the Constitutional Convention. By 1786, Americans realized that the Articles of Confederation needed to be revised and edited. The Constitutional Convention took place from May 14th to September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The fundamental reason of this convention was to revise the Articles of Confederation but the delegates had much bigger plans. A secondary reason behind the convention was to decide how America was going to be governed. When there was ideas proposed to upgrade the Articles of Confederation, “The
Essay IV The Articles of Confederation was one of the first official documents of the United States. The purpose of the Articles of Confederation was to create a confederation of states whereby each state retained its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. Every state was as independent as possible, with the Federal government only responsible for the common defense, security of liberties, and the general welfare. There were many problems that soon became evident as the Articles took effect, the Articles contained more weaknesses than strengths which let the authority to get rid of them and create a new document.