Compare And Contrast The Articles Of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation was the first federal foundational laws of the United States. It was composed due to the conflicting views of the politicians at the time and the need to unite the States during the war. Its development and resoluteness had a sluggish inception due to some Americans uncertainties of the government’s substantial central power and property demands by States. The Articles of Confederation was finally sanctioned on March 1, 1781. Under the Articles, each States stayed autonomous, with Congress having the final say over disputes. Congress was also given the ability to make accords and agreements, uphold armies and currencies. The Articles of Confederation did best with territorial expansion in the West, thanks to the Ordinances that were written for the Articles and the benefits they had. However, under the Articles, the central government had no power to impose taxes and manage commerce, because of this the government was consistently short of funds. Despite the lack of funding, money was still required for the war effort, and Congress' meantime solution was to print nearly $250 million paper currency, this led to major inflation in the States. This deficit urged legislators to find a solution; the Constitution of 1787. Both the Articles and the Constitution worked to preserve a free government, different from the tyrannical rule they have experienced from the British Parliament. Also, both documents allowed states the power to manage mercantilism,

The Articles of Confederation was first written in 1777. It was passed by the Confederation of Congress. Congress decided that they needed a firm government to organize the states as a whole. At least that was their primary goal. Since each state had separates rules. The Articles of Confederation was later ratified by each state in 1781. It was “America’s first federal constitution” (Keene 138). The confederation had a few strengths but many weaknesses. The nation faced many economic and political issues that lead people to controversy.

One thing in the story that shocked me is how different our perception of the Revolutionary War is from the reality. An example of this was how ill trained the American army was at the beginning of the war. The army was undisciplined, disobedient, and motivated only by their paychecks. Many perceive the soldiers as valiant, zealous men, but it wasn’t until much later in the war that the soldiers rose to the occasion and became the warriors that we remember today.

The topic of this paper is the Constitution. The paper will cover the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation, which was addressed in the Constitution. The paper will cover the how the Constitution addressed the complaints in the Declaration of Independence. Another topic of the paper will be the Great Compromise and how the representation of states in Congress was determined. Finally, the paper will view the treatment of slaves for the purpose of representation and the effects thereof.

It all started after the Declaration of Independence during the time America was busy fighting the Revolutionary War, when Congress realized that they needed to form a plan to move forward and unite the thirteen states as a nation.

Daniel Shays’ participated in wars early on in his life, but eventually settled in Pelham, Massachusetts, and owned about 250 acres of farmland. Continued financial difficulties from the war led Shays to sell over half the farmland, and later being sued for unpaid debts and had much difficulty in meeting his obligations. A prodigious amount of farmers in Massachusetts during this time were going through similar financial hardships; because of the Massachusetts legislature attempting to pay off its state’s war debts, they used hard taxation policies, causing situations to become worse. People petitioned for better relief and reforms but none came, the legislature in Massachusetts ignoring the fact that their citizens are petitioning and sending them resolutions to fix this problem. This led to the rebellion of the farmers against the government: Shays’ Rebellion.

The Government of the Articles of Confederation were not a complete failure. They started with the intent of showing a strong united country. With that front, they would be able to conduct trade with other nations. However, while the Articles presented this font and gave it other successful variables, it was ultimately weak. The Articles gave the government very limited power and most power was given to the states. The newly formed country had just been freed from a monarchical rule; they were afraid of another strong national government or ruler that would take away their rights. With this in mind, they purposely made the Articles weak. On the other hand, the government of the Articles of Confederation weren’t a complete failure. It set an

There were many differences in regards to economy under the Articles of the Confederation and the Constitution. In the Articles of the Confederation, the main source of revenue came from contributions from individual states, alternately in the Constitution, Congress had the power to raise money without relying on individual states. In the Articles of Confederation, money could be coined but Congress did not have the power to levy taxes or regulate commerce. In contrast under the Constitution, paper money could not be issues however, taxes could be levied. Under the Confederation there was no president or judiciary system, under the Constitution there were both.

Shays Rebellion began because of the economic depression, insufficient harvests, and high duties, lead to farmers being seized and thrown in jail if they were unable to pay their taxes. This angered a large group in Massachusetts and a man named Daniel Shay, a Revolutionary war veteran, to arrange protests against the government. The Whiskey rebellion was triggered when George Washington's government placed a tax on distilled alcohol and whiskey. Protesters showed their discontent by tarring and feathering revenue officers, similar to those during the anti-stamp act days. Although both rebellions were challenging the government, Shay's Rebellion revealed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation as the national government could not tax, enforce laws or raise money for an army. Already weakened by the Revolutionary War, the Articles of Confederation could not defend against the rebellion. Unlike the outcome of Shays rebellion, George Washington lead an army of militia to immediately put down the rebellion which lead to his government being strengthened and gaining respect.

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 defiance by account holder agriculturists in western Massachusetts, drove by Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays, against Boston banks. it started in 1786 and endured a large portion of a year, undermining the monetary interests of the business world class and adding to the destruction of the

Shays’ Rebellion occurred because the lower class backcountry farmers felt oppressed by the more wealthy gentry farmers that had control of the state governments. The gentry held control because of the ability to attend the governmental meetings, as the gentry lived were closer to the cities where the meetings that took place and also had servants to do the work on the farms for the wealthy gentry class. This control of government allowed for the gentry to create new laws and bills in order to assist the agendas of the upper class, while the lower class, who could not attend, had no say and could not vote otherwise. These previously mentioned laws and bills often resulted in the repossession of land owned by poor farmers who could not pay off their own debts.This oppression of by the upper class led Daniel Shay to gather a militia of his own to march on the United States Army arsenal in Massachusetts. While Daniel Shays’ movement itself was not successful, it led to rapid change because it spawned the Annapolis Convention and ultimately led to the revision of the Articles of Confederation, which resulted in the Constitution in place during the present

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. It was made for state unity reasons. This Constitution was a very important historical event that took place in the Constitutional Convention. There were many important people involved, many debates and compromises, and agreements during the making of the constitution.

With every new beginning there is bound to be blood, sweat, and tears. The process of struggle and failure is what gives us the determination to keep pushing forward. If we look at the beginning of the United States of America, the original 13 colonies were still governed by British authority. Once the Declaration of Independence was signed, this young republic still needed to be held together somehow after the American Revolution. In order to help the states work together, the Articles of Confederation were made, which were a set of laws to govern the states. The Articles did not work for long, and then the state’s delegates came together to make changes, but instead they formed the U.S. Constitution; this document is still used today. The

It is the year of 1787 the people in the new United States realized that the Articles needed to be fixed. The states called a convention where the delegates wrote a completely new plan for government. The new plan became the Constitution. The Constitution, with a few amendments, describes the relationship between the national government and you as a citizen of the United States. I am here to let you know that the new Constitution is better than the Articles of Confederation. You must be thinking why? Well I have an answer for you. The Constitution is better than the Article of Confederation because, the Articles had many weaknesses. The Federal Government created by the Constitution is very powerful. The Articles created a government that