Compare And Contrast The Articles Of Confederation And The Constitution

The United States operated under two different constitutions. The Articles of Confederation was placed into effect on March 1, 1781. There were many weaknesses with this system. After several years, this document was replaced by the Constitution on June 21, 1788. There were a few similarities within the documents, but mostly vast differences.

From 1781 to 1789, the newly created United States of America put its trust in the Articles of Confederation to adequately govern itself in times of war and distress. The Articles of Confederation was the United States’ first attempt at a guideline for creating an effective federal government. It was efficient in holding the new country together during the Revolutionary War and managed to help the country attend to pressing foreign and economic problems right after the war. Although the Articles helped bring about momentous and significant change in one decade, it was not the suitable framework for the federal government to effectively govern the new country over a long period of time.

The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution are two different types of Government. There are many differences between the two, for example, the Articles of Confederation were made for the original 13 colonies. The constitution was made for the United States of America.

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.

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.

The Articles of Confederation became the first guiding principles of the original thirteen states. However, the weaknesses embedded in the articles became obvious, outweighing its positive impact and they were ratified in 1781. George Washington sated that the articles were "little more than a shadow without the substance."1 They limited the central government’s ability to work smoothly and adversely affected the economy. Lack of power left the government in dismay and they sought a fix to their problems without becoming a tyrannical monarchy. The founding fathers believed that replacing the articles with The Constitution was the best way to give the central government enough power to carry out its tasks. In 1787 delegates from all 13 states met in Pennsylvania to begin amending the articles. This process revealed many of the similarities and differences that were contained within The Articles of Confederation and The Constitution.

The Articles of Confederation, which was considered the first constitution of the United States of America, and the US Constitution, which acts as the supreme law in the United States today, both are poles apart. In fact, it was only because of the weaknesses of the Articles that the present-day US Constitution was drafted. The Articles of Confederation or Articles was a written agreement which laid the guidelines for the functioning of the national government. It was drafted by the Continental Congress and sent to the thirteen original states for ratification in November 1777. Within a few years of its ratification, the Articles was subjected to severe criticism by the Founding Fathers of the United States. Problems with the document existed in plenty; the biggest issue being the fact that it left the national government at the mercy of states. Eventually, it was decided that this agreement had to be revised to suit the needs of the nation as a whole. The delegates at the Philadelphia Convention came to the conclusion that it was better to draft an entirely new constitution instead of revising the existing agreement, and thus came into existence the new US Constitution.

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution and served to form a type of government for the 13 colonies at the time. ”The Articles of Confederation is the original framework for the government of the United States, adopted in 1781 and superseded by the U.S Constitution in 1789. It established a “firm league of friendship” among the states, rather than a government “of the people” (Dye 66). When the Articles of Confederation were established the federal government lacked power, but most of the power was held within the states. “The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments” (Primary Documents in American History). The articles of confederation failed by giving state more power than the federal government. U.S. feared that if the federal government had

In the name the word "confederation" is used to describe governments with less centralized powers and more power located in local and state governments. Which is exactly what the Articles set up. This was a direct result of the tyranny that America had just endured as English colonies before declaring independence. With the American Revolution ending America was in need of its first written constitution. In 1781 the Articles of Confederation was ratified as the first United States constitution. This constitution set up a very weak federal government, and granted states a large amount of power. The central government lacked the ability to collect taxes and regulate commerce. With that being said congress was allowed to declare war, make treaties and alliances, and coin money. However each state was allowed to be mostly independent. Realizing that this type of government would not last very long the Federalist began to push for a new, stronger constitution. After the revolution the ability for the central government to tax was a necessity in order to pay of the debt America

The Articles of Confederation was the first form of Government the United States of America. Since this form of Government failed, the Founding Fathers of the United States of America met together to create a new form of government. There was no other government that was similar to the one they had created. Their new government gave power to the people. This meant that people living in The United States of America could vote and have a say in how the government worked.

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

Ever since the United States was born into existence, it has been indirectly ran under two significant documents, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. On March 1st, 1781, the Articles of Confederation were put into full effect after being ratified by Maryland. Unfortunately, it only remained in effect until June 21st, 1788, when New Hampshire upheld the Articles of Confederation and it was formally replaced with the Constitution of the United States. While they were both federal documents in which held the formal name of their nation as The United States of America, they were also quite unique to their own. Unlike the Unicameral legislature of the Articles of Confederation, the legislature of the Constitution was Bicameral in

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.

Though envisioned to be an improvement the Articles of confederation, the Constitution of 1787 bears essential differences both in the spirit and provisions, which made it a radical substitute of its antecedent instead of a successor. The Articles of Confederation, passed only eight months before the victory of the revolution, was a step made by the former colonies to establish themselves as a new country. After the hard-won war against the British crown to win freedom and self-determination, the residents of the colonies showed extreme alert about creating a central government, which in theirs eye could easily lead to infringement of privacy and property. Limited rights was given to the central government under the Articles of Confederation,