Constitutional Convention Dbq

The Constitutional Convention, which met from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is among the most important gatherings in America’s history. It is on this date that the modern day Constitution was spawned from the revisions of the original Articles of Confederation. These revisions were justified by the fact that the Articles of Confederation produced an inefficient government, lacking a strong federal branch and set of laws. The Constitution, however, produces an effective government by mending the flaws of the old Articles and by adhering to the peoples and states needs while also maintaining a strong federal administration through a system of checks and balances. The founding fathers agreed that the ratification

and creation of the Constitution from the original Articles of confederation was tremendously necessary to assure the thriving nation the United States is today.
First and foremost, the Articles of Confederation created an enormous amount of economic disorganization and inefficiency, too much for an effective government. This inefficiency led to financial disasters for the young nation. America was struggling to contend economically and repay the debts it had incurred when fighting for independence. “Without an explicit grant of constitutional power caused by the Articles of Confederation, the federal government would be in the strange position of not having the authority to pay off the debts still owed by the country” (Sikkenga). Due to the limitations of the Articles, Congress could not regulate trade, and as a result, America had been plagued by economic chaos. Under the Articles, Congress was only able to regulate trade and commerce with Native Americans and, even then, only if it did not impair an individual state’s ability to monitor its own trade. Not only this, but there was also no uniform system of currency. All forms of American currency could have been rightfully regulated by congress; but an established united currency did not exist due to the shortcomings of Articles, meaning that while the national government could print money, the states could as well. Consequently, America was without a uniform system of currency which caused trade between the States, and with oversea entities, to be more difficult and less efficient.
Taxation was a major issue as well. The states were the only entities that had the ability to enforce taxes and raise revenue. The Articles stated that congress had to request funds from the States. Via Article VIII, these funds “shall be supplied by the several States in proportion to the value of all land within each State.” All of these problems resulted in congress facing substantial revenue shortcomings.
Overall, it was the inability to achieve economic unity that brought forth many American economic woes while adhering to the rules of The Articles of Confederation. Because of this, the congressional body had limited useful means to administer its laws, raise revenue, and regulate economy.
In addition to all of the economic disparities the Articles created, America also had an extremely poor central government. The Articles placed all sovereign power with the States, initiating a leadership deficit. For one, there was no independent judiciary. The Articles of Confederation did not offer any system of courts in the jurisdiction of the national government. This assured that the entire judiciary branch would be dependent on the States, and permitted different states to interpret laws differently. “This led to disputes between states, which were difficult, if not impossible, to settle since each state relied on the ruling of its own courts, usually dismissing the others” (Smith). Since there was not a set of unified national court systems, people or states could not file objections against the national government. The States always had the ability to ignore anything they disagreed with, but if a citizen had a grievance with the national government there was not system in place to hear the lawsuit. Because the Articles failed to provide for central leadership, the young nation of America was unable to effectively participate in foreign affairs. Most apparently, the lack of a presidential figure or body left America unable to lead and conduct these affairs. All of this created a serious diplomatic disadvantage for the undeveloped nation. Additionally, the inability to deal with internal and external threats was another problem with the Articles. It is immensely counterintuitive that a section of government is tasked with declaring war, but not permitted to forge together an armed force. According to the Articles of Confederation, Congress had the complete ability to make peace and war, but did not have the proper jurisdiction to organize an army of its own: “The United States in Congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war.” Instead, the federal government had to depend on state militia. This caused Congress to fail to defend American from the rising threat of Britain following the Revolutionary War.
The last major failure of the Articles of Confederation was its burdening legislative inefficiencies.

Per Article V, “each State shall have one vote.” (Yale Law School: Lillian Goldman Law Library, Articles of Confederation: March 1, 1781.) As a result, small States and large States alike had the same voting weight in Congress and there was no proportionality in voting matters. This was not corrected until the Great Compromise which was later established under the Constitution. Since voting was an issue, it made it unimaginably difficult to pass laws. “No matter how many men stood up to represent a particular state, when it came time to vote they could cast but one. This is considered one of the flaws of the Articles for it created unequal representation of the people because small states had an equal say with large states” (Bradley). Since it took the consent of 9 of the 13 states to commend legislation, blocking a bill only took 5 states. An integrated population smaller than the single state of Virginia (i.e. Delaware, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Georgia, and New Jersey) could block every case of legislation proposed by congress. A small minority of American’s were able to stop bills from passing that could have potentially benefitted the large majority of Americans. In addition to that problem, the Articles spawned an impractical amendment process. Article XIII prohibited “any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.” A unanimous vote was required for and it made it extremely challenging to pass changes. This is why, eventually, the Articles were scrapped altogether in favor of an entirely new governing document- The

Constitution.
The most obvious difference between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution is that the Articles christened for a confederate form of governance, whereas the Constitution sketched a federal style of government. The divergence between confederate and federal models occurs when sovereign supremacy is gifted. Both documents have pros and cons, but the Constitution has been proven to be a much needed successor to the Articles. Without the Constitution, the United States of America would not be the thriving nation that.