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Articles Of Confederation Analysis

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After the United States of America gained independence with the signing of Treaty of Paris in 1783, the creation of an agreeable government was a challenge. The major problem was the underlying separation and the difference of the states, to creating a system of government that would interest the different states. Each state’s constitutions had many similar principles, such as limiting the power of the government and the rights of citizens. However, there also existed major differences such as the grants of who gets to vote.The Articles of Confederation were adopted as the government system. However, it proved ineffective as the government lacked the power to solve various issues, such as its debt and taxation. Furthermore, each state had …show more content…

The most significant meetings began in May 1787, where 55 delegates met in the Pennsylvania State house. The Demographic make-up of Constitutional Convention delegates consisted of important leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton, as well as lawyers, merchants, and planters. From this meeting, the delegates agreed to create a new government. In order to solve the problem of unequal representation of states based on population, James Madison proposed the Virginia plan, which suggested a bicameral legislature, in which members of house would be elected based on population. This proposal was mainly objected by the smaller states, fearing the loss of influence to larger states. In the other hand, William Paterson proposed the New Jersey plan, where each state had an equal vote, which was favored by the smaller states. The complication was solved when Roger Sherman proposed the Great Compromise. It called for a two-house Congress. The upper house, or the senate would have equal representation, while the size of the population would determine the lower-house, or the House of Representatives. This proposal both satisfied the big and small states as the voters had the power to elect representatives while preserving the power of the

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