Similarities Between The Articles Of Confederation And The Constitution

The founding fathers composed the United State 's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, which was put into effect in 1781. Moreover, this constitution was known as the “league of friendship” and had major faults embedded within it. Consequently, these major faults lead to the formulation of a new constitution, the United States Constitution, which was put into effect in 1789, in which we still use today. The constitutions are both similar in retrospect but when one compares them directly the differences out lay the similarities. Regarding both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, many differences lay between them, specifically, the principle of Federalism and the distribution of power between the state and federal

The Congress of Confederation was the only branch of government in place, there no was no executive or judical branches until the Constitution was put into effect. Under the Articles the only power the national government was granted was the ability to declare war, conduct foreign affairs, and make treaties. Furthermore, Congress did not have real power over the States, meaning all decisions made by congress could be ultimately be ignored by the states, leading to difficulties. Congress did have the power to established national control over land to the west of the thirteen states and devised specific regulations for its settlement. Under the Articles of Confederation, the power was concentrated with the states, however, with the new Constitution the power shifted more towards the federal government and less with the states. The Constitution varied significantly from the Articles of Confederation by giving no individual

The reason the Articles of Confederation developed a unicameral legislative and no executive or judical branches was because they were fearful that if too much authority was given to a centralized body of government it would lead to tyranny and despotism. Since Congress did have national control over the land to the west of the thirteen states, immediately after independence Congress took the position that by aiding the British, Indians would forfeit the right to their lands. However, Congress encountered conflicting coercion from settlers and land speculators regarding the western development. Once peace was established in the United States there was rapid settlement rampage into frontier areas. Consequently, many leaders were frightful that the unregulated movement of settlement across the Appalachian Mountains would arouse a constant warfare with the indians. Other reason the Articles of Confederation was accepted at the time was the Land Ordinances. The Ordinance of 1784 established stages of self-government for the West and “Jefferson proposed that new territories be incorporated into union as states on an equal footing with original thirteen” (Keene, Cornell, O’Donnell 140). Moreover, the Ordinance of 1785 regulated the land sales in