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Major difference between the articles of confederation and us constitution
Compare the articles of confederation and the constitution
Compare the articles of confederation and the constitution
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The ratification of the constitution has the potential to change the course of history. Nine out of the thirteen states has to ratify this document, in order for it to go into effect. Without the constitution we would have no strong national government. In order for our nation to succeed, we must ratify the constitution. Granted, some changes have to be made. As a federalist, a strong government is extremely important to me. We didn’t fight, and win a war against one of the most powerful nations in the world just to throw it all away by having a weak national government.
With the Articles of Confederation, tax from the states can not be collected by the federal government. Our country that we had fought so hard for is plummeting into debt. In Massachusetts, farmers protested the foreclosure of their farms, and succeeded in shutting down the courts in an uprising called Shays’s Rebellion. Under the Articles of Confederation our national government has hardly any power. To change that, a strong central government must be established. With the Articles of confederation, each state has a single vote, which could vote on certain issues that affected all the
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The six delegates there decided meet the next year in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. Rather than making minor adjustments to the Articles, they decided to start fresh and create the constitution. A strong national government was the main purpose of creating the constitution. With three branches of government, (judicial, executive and legislative) the government would be protected from despotism by the people and the government itself. After the Connecticut Compromise last year in 1787, the ratification of the constitution seemed to be the clear choice. This great compromise will give us a house of representatives based on population, and a senate where each state will get two
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
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.
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.
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.
The Articles of Confederation was America’s first constitution. The Articles of Confederation failed to create a strong central government, however. With the demise of the states in sight, the need for a stronger and more structured central government became apparent. An invitation was sent to all thirteen states in February 1787 by the Confederation Congress to resolve the matter. The events that took place over the next several months would create the United States Constitution. Going down in history as a revolutionary form of government, the U.S. Constitution would give life to a country that is still running strong over 200 years later.
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.
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.
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. They wanted the government
The U.S Constitution is recognized as a document that secures basic rights for citizens and structures the American national government. Before the Constitution, the states had all the power and the national government was very weak. Therefore, the creation of the Constitution was necessary to grant the national government power. Even though, the Constitution was signed in 1787, there was still debate in that the Constitution gave the national government too much power. Some of the individuals whom opposed the Constitution where Patrick Henry and George Mason. Patrick Henry became the leader of the opponents, because of his strong legal and rhetoric skills. On the other hand, George Mason was a patriot during the American Revolution, whom believed in the inalienable rights of the people. These two man were important figures that argued the dangers ratifying the Constitution would bring and that the Constitution would give too much power to the national government.
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.
During 1787 and 1788 there were quite a few debates over the ratification of the United States Constitution. The issues disputed are outlined and explored in the Federalist Papers, an assortment of letters and essays, often published under pseudonyms, which emerged in a variety of publications after the Constitution was presented to the public. Those who supported the Constitution were Federalists, and those who opposed were Anti-Federalists. Their deliberations concerned several main issues.
The Constitution is the foundation of our county it represents liberty and justice for all. We are able to live freely and do, as we desire because of the constitution. The constitution was, signed September 17, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. It took time and many debates were held before an agreement was achieved in both the drafting and ratification of the constitution. These disagreements came with several compromises before the constitution was fully ratified on May 29, 1790, with Rhode Island being the last and the thirteenth. The First, challenge was the Articles of Confederation; it was a sort of a draft of the Constitution but was weak and inadequate. Second, obstacle was the Anti-Federalists fight for more
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.
The Great Compromise, is also referred to as, The Great Connecticut Compromise, was headed by Franklin. The Compromise was discussed in meeting by a committee, at the constitutional convention was held in 1787. This was to accomplish and settle the interests for both the small and large states. It had allowed the for one to lead in the senate and the other in the House by an arrangement, that each of the states would have two representatives in the Senate no matter what the size of the state. However, any provisions, were further granted based on the populace of the house (Wilson, Dilulio, Jr. and Bose, 23).
The completion of the United States Constitution was no easy task. The Articles of Confederation that were written by each state were not reliable enough to work for the whole country so leaders from almost every state met secretly to work on them. They realized it would be easier to come up with a new document creating a government stronger than what had been proposed. In the Articles of Confederation, the states wanted a general government, but the leaders came up with a federal government. The federal government was the stronger option and contained three branches. It still gave the states the rights they were wanting and allowed the government to make decisions about important factors such as taxing and treaties. The Constitution was well