Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution

1404 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What is the major difference between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution

Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution There were many differences between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. At the end of the American Revolution the free states needed some sort of control that would generate to a unified country. Issues arose such as: How should power be divided between local and national governments? How should laws be made, and by whom? Who should be authorized to govern those laws? How could the government be designed to protect the unalienable individual rights? Their first attempt at solving this issue was the Articles of Confederation, which was a failure for the most part, but not completely. After the failure of the articles, the state delegates tried to revise the articles, but instead, constructed the Constitution. There were so many changes made and very little remained the same. 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 states attempted to limit the power of the national government because they feared that it would become a monarchy. In an effort to limit the power of the national government, Congress created one without enough power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems. One of the main weaknesses under the Articles of Confederation was its incapability to regulate trade and levy taxes. The states controlled all of their “cash flows.” Sometimes, the states were in debt because of tariff wars that they would engage in with one another.

Show More
Related

  • Unraveling the Failure of the Articles of Confederation

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    In other words, the states will have all the powers that are not appointed to the national government, by the Articles of Confederation. According to Article 9, “The national congress will have the power to declare war, negotiate foreign treaties, settle disputes between states, regulate currency, direct the operations of land and naval forces, borrow money from the states.” (Williamsburg, 2009) An elaboration of this is that, the national government is limited to the powers, that are stated above, and has no control of anything else. Since the national government had little to no control over any of the states, laws that were past inside of these states became unjust and faced little repercussions from the national government, because of the limitations that were put into place by the articles of confederation.

    Read More

  • Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Anti-Federalists

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eric Foner claims the definition of Federalism refers to the relationship between the national government and the states. Unlike the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation came with many weaknesses. Some provided by our powerpoint include that the Federal government had no power to make the states obey the Articles and laws that were passed by the legislature. The states also had the power to tax, and the opportunity to print their own money. Our powerpoint focuses on the $10 million Congress owed to other countries, as well as the $40 million it owed to the American veterans. The Constitution differed. Foner states that not only did the Constitution enhance national authority, but it also permitted Congress to levy taxes, conduct commerce, confirm war, deal with the foreign nations and Indians, and rent and help the “general welfare”. According to the powerpoint, Federalists focused on the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

    Read More

  • Framers Of The U.S. Constitution

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Under the Articles of Confederation each state had its own sovereignty. And the central government was to provide thing such as national security, treaties, courts, and currency. However the government could not tax. If the states didn't pay their bills to the government there was nothing the government could do about it. This is just one of many reasons why the Articles didn't work. In 1786 Virginia tried to get the Articles modified by holding a meeting known as the Annapolis Conference. This meeting failed because only five states sent delegates. A few months later another meeting was held in Philadelphia.

    Read More

  • Federalist Papers 10 and 51

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Articles of Confederation was a plan of government that was based on the principles that were fought for in the American Revolutionary War. Even though The Articles of Confederation were based upon principles we fought for, it contained major flaws. The government had no power of national taxation and had no power to control trade. The biggest weakness of The Articles of Confederation was that it had no direct origin in the people, the states were in control. Each and every state had the power to collect its own taxes, issue currency, and provide for its own military. The Articles of Confederation was a transition between the Revolutionary War and the Constitution. Without The Articles of Confederation it would have been impossible to create the United States Constitution, mistakes were made with the first, and fixed later with the Constitution.

    Read More

  • The Articles Of Confederation And The Constitution: An In-Depth Analysis

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the key differences between the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation is in the way that they set up the Legislature. In the Articles, it is established as a unicameral legislature which it refers to as a Congress. The Constitution on the other hand establishes a bicameral legislature with an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house, the House of Representatives. The reason for this change was because different states wanted the number of representatives to be selected in different ways. Under the Articles of Confederation all States were represented equally and the bigger states felt that they should be getting more say in the decisions that the Country would be making. Needless to say the smaller states did not readily agree to this.

    Read More

  • Us Constitution Vs The Articles Of Confederation

    919 Words  | 2 Pages

    The United States Constitution and the Articles have several ever present difference that some considered to be too radical. In terms of levying taxes, the Articles Congress could request states to pay taxes while with the Constitution; the Congress has the right to levy taxes on individuals. The Articles government had no court system while the Constitution created a court system to deal with issues between citizens and states. The lack of provisions to regulate interstate trade the Articles possessed created large economic problems, leading into a depression in the mid 1780's. The Constitutional Congress has the right to regulate trade between states. The Constitution has a strong executive branch headed by our president who chooses cabinet and has checks on power of the other two branches; the Articles had no executive with power. The president merely presided over Congress. The Articles took almost 5 years to ratify due to the fact that 13/13 colonies needed to amend the Articles before it could go into affect, with the Constitution, 2/3 of both houses of Congress plus ¾ of the states legislatures or national convention had to approve. During the years under the Articles, foreign soldiers occupied US forts during our early years, we were unable to force them out due to the fact that Congress could not draft troops, and they depended on the states to contribute to the forces. Under the Constitution we have the ability to raise an army to deal with any sort of military situations. In terms of passing laws, under the Articles 9/13 states needed to approve legislation while under the Constitution, 50% plus 1 of both houses plus the signature of the president is needed to pass a law. The Articles had a huge problem when it came to state representation. Under the Articles every state only received one vote, regardless of its size, this hindered the power of the larger states. With the Constitution, the upper house (Senate) has 2 votes and the lower house (House of Representatives) is based on population. When two states had disputes the Articles had a complicated system of arbitration to go through before any resolution was reached, under the Constitution, the federal Court system handles disputes between states.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Articles Of Confederation And The United States Constitution

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    In comparing the Articles of Confederation with the U.S constitution that was produced by the federal convention in 1787, it is important to note that the U.S operated under both documents. During March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation went into effect when it was ratified by Maryland. However, the U.S constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation as soon as it was ratified on June 21, 1788 by New Hampshire. The main difference between the Articles of Confederations and the U.S Constitution is that the constitution didn’t force the laws, but established the why of the constitution. In establishing the why, it warranted the farmers to work on the government being better than the Articles of Confederations.

    Read More

  • Effectiveness Of The Articles of Confederation

    398 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Articles of Confederation were incapable of providing the United States with an effective form of government. The Articles of Confederation presided weakly over the government as it allowed little or no power to tax, control trade, and branches of government were missing. In addition to this, the thirteen states acted as separate nations and the national government had little control over them.

    Read More

  • The Articles Of Confederation And An Effective Government

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Articles of Confederation set up a government that consisted of a one house body of delegates, with each state having a single vote, acting collectively, could make decisions on certain issues that affected all states. There was no president or judiciary so any decision required nine of the thirteen states’ votes. At this point in time the United States of America ... ... middle of paper ... ... o consider the charms of liberty as imaginary and delusive.”

    Read More

  • Democratic and Undemocratic Aspects of the Constitutional Convention

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Creation Of The Constitution

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Constitution that was created had a strong central government and weaker state governments. Under the Constitution, Congress was given the power to levy taxes, regulate trade between the states, raise an army, control interstate commerce, and more. A three-branch government was established in which a judicial branch handled disputes in a federal court system, a President headed an executive branch, and a legislative branch. Conversely, the anti-federalists believed in weak central and strong state governments, as the way it was in The Articles of Confederation and believed in strict adherence to the writings of the constitution.

    Read More

  • From Declaration to Constitution: America's Path to Independence

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    Under the Articles of Confederation the individual states remained sovereign and maintained their independence, congress served as a last ditch effort to appeal disputes in addition to that congress was granted authority to build upon alliances, create treaties, maintain armed forces and coin capital. The weakness of the central government under the Articles of Confederation made the collection of states taxes and regulation of commerce incredibly difficult and nearly impossible to reinforce. The major weaknesses and downfalls of the Articles of Confederation necessitated the enactment of new federal laws. These new laws would be discussed and voted on, in the Constitutional Convention in 1787 in

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Articles Of Confederation And The Constitution

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    While the Articles of Confederation and Constitution have similarities they also have lots of differences. The Articles of Confederation had a very weak Federal government. On the other hand the Constitution had a stronger Federal government. In the Articles of Confederation they did not have an

    Read More

  • Exploring the First Constitution: The Articles of Confederation

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Articles of Confederation was technically the first Constitution for this new country. The fear was giving too much power to a central government as with Britain. Per Article II, “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, independence, and every power not specifically granted to the new Congress.” (The Articles of Confederation, 2015) Congress had the ability to create treaties and alliances with other countries, create post offices, create money, and build a central military. Since it did not want to levy the taxes as Britain had, it requested funding through the states. Commerce was regulated by the States. However, if war was deemed necessary, or treaties needed to be made, as well as an increase in production of money were needed, Congress would need 9 of the 13 states to

    Read More

  • Essay On Weak The Federal Government

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    The creators of the articles wanted states to be powerful and keep the federal government weak however it was too powerless and nothing would get done on the federal level. Another readily found problem was it required all states to amend the articles which was physically impossible when almost always there were not even delicates from all the states there to vote on an amendment. Which meant that when they found problems with the Articles of Confederation that they wanted to address they were unable to do so. Thirdly, the federal government was in extremely large debt from the war but they were not allowed to tax the citizens so they could not escape the debt. Without taxation their federal income was insubstantial. Strangely, all the states had their own money and currency. This meant you could be rich in one state but in another be in poverty with the same amount of one state’s cash. Lastly, there wasn’t any branch like today’s executive branch to enforce any federal laws so you could easily disobey their laws due to the fact you could not be prosecuted. This meant the little work the legislation was achieving was

    Read More

More about Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution

Open Document