Articles of Confederation and the Constitution Essay

A big difference under The Article of Confederation and the Constitution comes in the form of taxes. The Articles of Confederation did not allow the national

With the United States new found independence from Great Britain, its founding fathers realize from their historical experiences that a document of law needed to be crafted and established to preserve its new found independence, while maintaining order. However, the first document crafted by the founding fathers, the Articles of Confederation, did preserve the country new found independence but it did not maintain order. The Articles of Confederation described by many founding fathers to be a document that was crafted to satisfy needs of every state for its ratification, even when the document did not present a responsible democracy. The Articles of Confederation granted all national powers to the congress; however, it allowed each state

Though the articles did account for a President, he did hardly more than preside over the Congress, there was no power in the Presidency. The Constitution on the other hand gave power to the executive branch headed by the President to choose the Cabinet and be another check to the judiciary and legislature. The Amending document was changed as well between the two, before 13 out of 13 colonies were needed to amend an article, while later 2/3 of both houses of Congress as well as ¾ of State legislature or National Convention were needed. The representation of the States was drastically changed, under the articles each State received one vote regardless of size, in the Constitution the upper house (Senate) has two votes from each state and the lower house would be based upon population.

The Articles of Confederation were developed after the Revolutionary War, and were a good idea to help set standards for America. However, they had some major problems that needed to be solved in order for America to become a strong nation. After these problems were addressed the Constitution was developed.

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. They were written during the revolutionary war to create a more unified government, and to establish what the national government could and could not do. The Articles let each state keep “sovereignty, freedom, and independence,” and created a very weak central government. For example, Congress could not regulate commerce or impose taxes. The impact that the Articles of Confederation had on federalism for the next few years was: the federal government had very few powers, and most of the authority remained in control of each individual state.

The Articles provided no executive branch,so Congress had the complete authority to govern the U.S. The Constitution provided a president who would enforce the federal laws (Doc 5). The legislative branch was represented by one house, with each state having one vote. Also, no votes were needed to begin an important legislation. The Constitution created a bicameral legislature, and each state had equal representation in the Senate (Doc 5). Unlike the Articles where no votes were needed to enact a major legislation, the Constitution required a small amount of authority to proceed with a major legislation. The Articles of Confederation created no federal court system, so no states could sort out major affairs. The Constitution created national court system that could sort out the affairs between states and citizens. the different states had a changing population of Federalists and Antifederalists. One example of power regulation added into the Constitution is the checks and balances governmental system.This system of government in the branches made it so the three branches could regulate each other’s power. Another example of power regulation, is the addition of the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments of the Constitution which protected the individual rights of people. Again, the most major difference between the two guidelines of government was the shift of power. This shift of power altered the political environment of the United States as a young

The Articles of Confederation was the United State’s first constitution, it was written in an effort to unite the states after the American Revolution and served as a blueprint for the modern constitution. In order for the Articles to become official, they had to be approved by all thirteen colonies. Although Congress sent the Articles of Confederation to the states around the end of 1777 to become ratified, they were not officially adopted until March 1, 1781. Under these Articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. The American people feared a strong national government and as a result of this, the Articles of Confederation were specifically designed to be weak in the sense that each state maintains its own sovereignty and all rights to govern themselves, with the except of the rights exclusively granted to Congress. Since the Articles lacked many necessary components to keep a nation properly structured, they were eventually revised into the constitution we recognize today. Although, the Articles of Confederation seemed as though it only contained weaknesses, within the document, many strengths and accomplishments were made. Overall, the Articles of Confederation were proven to be both efficient and non-efficient during the time period they were in effect.

The simple difference between the Articles of Confederation and US Constitution is that the articles were not strong enough to hold our young nation together. The articles operated the US as separate states. Under the articles, it was very difficult to pass laws since the requirement of 9 out of the 13 states ' approval was needed for ratification. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The members of the Constitutional Convention signed the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787 in

A few hundred years ago, the United States first Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was created. This Constitution created a weak central government in order to give the people the rights that they deserve. This plan of government, however, proved to be too weak and it could not control the people or pay the debts that the country had acquired from the Revolutionary War.

     The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, although vastly different in their philosophies of governing the nation, both played a big role in setting the stage for America’s economy in the upcoming nineteenth century. A few years after the Articles of Confederation were drafted many politicians and economists, such as Alexander Hamilton, began to see problems with the decentralized form of government that was created by this document. These advocates of a more centralized government were referred to as federalists, and although they were not in favor of a dictatorship, like that of England’s, they saw the need for a central governing system to reside over

constitution had many differences as well. “The Articles were unicameral while the constitution was bicameral separating the house into representatives and the senate, the senate is smaller but they get to serve longer and the house of representatives is bigger with about 400 members but they serve for a shorter time.”( shoop) This was because states wanted for representatives to be chosen in different ways.” For the Articles each state could send between 2 to 7 delegates to Congress. In the Constitution the states were allowed 2 members in the Senate and 1 representative per a certain amount of people in the House of Representatives.” (123 ) Each state wanted to be represented in different ways. The states with more people wanted representation to be based on the amount of people. On the Articles of Confederation it would be one vote per state and in the Constitution each state was allowed one vote per senate. Voting changed because people thought that they should be represented by the house of representatives. Which is a good thing because if not the people would be upset and they would not follow the laws on the

“The Constitution devotes the national domain to union, to justice, to defense, to welfare and to liberty” (Maier 154). This quote, stated by William Henry Seward, displays the strength and stability that the Constitution had over the nation, and the liberty and justice it supplied for all of its citizens. Although the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation have similarities, they have many differences, which proved that the Articles of Confederation were a weaker document in comparison. It can be said that the Articles were the “rough draft” to the final living document, which significantly influenced and “ruled” our government, as it still does today.

When it comes to the Apportionment of members of Congress, the Articles of Confederation has no fewer than two and more than seven delegates per state; but for the Constitution representatives are apportioned by state population size; two senators per state. When it comes to the Selection of members of Congress, the Articles of Confederation appoints the members by state legislatures, but for the Constitution the Representatives are elected by popular vote; senators appointed by state legislatures. When it comes to Voting in Congress the Articles of Confederation had one vote per state but in the Constitution there is one vote per representative; one vote per senator. Also, when it comes to the Terms of Legislative office the Articles of Confederation used to be one year but for the Constitution it’s now two years for representatives; six years for senators. When it comes to Source of congressional pay for the Articles of Confederation the source is States but for the Constitution it’s the National Government. When it comes the Power to coin money in the Articles of Confederation it fell to National government and the states but for Constitution it falls to the National Government only. Lastly, when it comes to Taxes for the Articles of Confederation it used to be collected by the states that were apportioned by Congress but now in the Constitution it’s collected and apportioned by Congress only. [Norton, 10th ed.,

After the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States still had a major task ahead of them. They had to form a new government that would satisfy the demands of the people and ensure the success of their nation. The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government that was proposed and put into effect. This attempt at creating a system that protected the people form a strong central government ultimately failed but was an important step in the development of the current government system. The weaknesses presented by the Articles of Confederation helped lead to reforms that made the Constitution successful. Both the Articles and the Constitution demonstrate the struggles that the colonists went through with the British and

The American government was vastly different when it was administering under the Articles of Confederation compared to the Constitution. The biggest difference was shown in the economy. In fact, various major economical issues existed under the Articles of Confederation. The war had aggravated a great part of the American economy, inciting chaos. In the Atlantic Ocean, the British Navy had incredible dominance and obliterated most American boats, affecting trade vastly. At the point when the battling arrived at an end in 1781, the economy was in shambles. Travel and trade to Britain was limited. Further, British law denied trade with Britain's residual sugar colonies in the Caribbean. The American government struggled managing money. It lacked the authority to levy taxes, and it instead only had the power to request it from states. It also lacked a federal court system as well as the authority to regulate interstate trade. It was unable to resolve disputes between states effectively, and was unorganized to the point where they struggled to pay their obligations to other countries. Congress also lacked power to raise a military and deal with military issues federally - instead they relied on contributions by state. Representation was also