Governing the Nation

One of the main disadvantages of the Articles of Confederation was that it encouraged a weak central government. Because nine out of thirteen states had to agree upon a law in order for it to be established, very few laws were passed. Amendments of the Articles of Confederation were never passed because the vote had to be unanimous. Not many decisions were made and the Congress generally only had the power to make treaties, deal with foreign affairs, and declare war. The Articles of Confederation read, “Each state shall contain its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right…” (Article II) The states had the most power and the Congress very rarely made decisions that affected the internal affairs of the states or country. There was only one house of Congress where each state only had one vote. This did not allow the bigger states with a greater population to have an advantage over the smaller states, which one could perceive as unfair in certain circumstances. Also, there was no judicial branch, which meant that if a case was not solved on a state level, it had nowhere to go. Fundamentally, the states held the most power. The lack of power within the Congress led to economic crisis.

The Constitution and the Articles of Confederation are the same in ways, but they are also, both different. Both of them founded our Government systems, but only one system still remains today. Both systems have their flaws, but also have their advantages. Without the Articles, there would be no Constitution, and the United States would be under the control of a tyrant. The Articles lead us to war, and separated us from Great Britain and now are our own country.

The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution are two very important guidelines of government that shaped the political minds of the Americans. Mainly because these guidelines limited, or expanded the powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branch. The Articles of Confederation were a series of laws that gave more power to the state government than the federal government. As a result, the federal government could not enforce laws or levy taxes. After Shay’s Rebellion, the Founding Fathers realized that a change was necessary. So the Constitution was created. The most important change of the Constitution was that the majority of power was then shifted into the hands of the federal or central government. This allowed the federal

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.

For instance, they were both written with the same intentions of creating new country of freedom for many people. It also contains the same ideals of government that the Articles had, just in a different format. Also, both central governments had the right to raise an army and build up a navy. However, this seems to be where more differences start to appear. One glaring difference between the two is that the Articles made the states seem like a friendly cooperation while the Constitution firmly defined the unity of the states. Also, the Constitution resolved the problems that the central government had when referring to levying taxes and controlling trade. Another importance between the two is the number of Congress votes each state had. During the time of the Articles of Confederation, there was only one congressional vote per state. On the other hand, after the Constitution was put in place, each state had one vote per delegate elected into Congress. On a final note, while many of the ideals behind the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution were the same, the two documents were different in many ways and created two very distinct forms of

The articles of confederation had limited powers they weren’t allowed to do many things for example, they weren’t allowed to tax, it can’t force the states to finance its operations, and couldn’t force a commercial policy. It didn’t make sense how the citizens of the United States felt like the constitution was weak if the articles of confederation did not have an executive branch in their documents. The articles of confederation only had a legislative branch whereas the Constitution had an executive, judicial, and legislative branch.

Executive and judiciary views differed vastly between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation preferred no separate executive branch where the constitution called for a separate executive branch. Although both agreed on electing one of their own as president the Articles elected annually while the constitution elected every four years. The biggest difference was the roles that the president played. Under the Articles of Confederation the president possessed no power of veto, nor did he

Original Response: There are many differences in between the Constitution of 1787 and the Articles of Confederation. The creation of the constitution of 1787 made changes in how the smaller states were represented which had been a huge dilemma in the past. The constitution made sure that the representation of the states was fair and equal. Also, when Congress voted, the votes would be per representative not by state.  It also took care of the divide of the land that had not been claimed and set the rules on how people living on that land could make it a state.

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

In late eighteenth-century America, the ideal form of government was widely contested. When the American colonies were under British rule, they were subject to the almost-tyrannical British government, in which they were not fully represented. After the colonies achieved independence, two main political factions emerged: the Republicans and the Federalists. The Republicans, scarred by the overbearing British government, advocated for a weak federal government with individual state governments, which prevented the concentration of power in a single party and promoted a form of more direct representation. However, this system proved to be ineffective, for the federal government’s lack of power was dangerous and inefficient. The Federalists, on the other hand, supported a strong federal government. Cognizant of the negative implications of local state governments, the Federalists published a series of essays during 1787 and 1788 that supported the stronger national government that resulted from the Constitutional Convention. In “Federalist no. 51”, James Madison, a key component of the Federalist movement, described the role of government and its relationship with the people. He wrote,

Edmund Randolph was born on the tenth of August in 1753, Williamsburg, Virginia. He had gone to the College of William and Mary to study law. As a son of John Randolph, Edmund had disagreements with his father’s political views because John was a Loyalist to Lord Dunmore, ruled England in 1775. At a young age, Edmund worked as a aide-de-camp, a subordinate officer acting as a confidential assistant to a superior, to General Washington. Additionally, Edmund Randolph was at the age of twenty-three when he attended the convention. In 1787, he had introduced the Virginia Plan to help develop a new government. The plan states that the central government will be created up of three branches: legislative, judicial, and executive. Thus meaning, the

Compare and contrast the Articles of confederation and the Constitution, especially in regard to the specific powers granted to the national government.The formation and ideals of the Articles of Confederation and its successor, the Unites States Constitution, varied from each other in terms of a stronger or weaker federal government in dealing with issues. The Constitution gave more power to the federal government, while the Articles of Confederation involved a very weak government with primary rights interests of the individual states as the focus. Both gave Congress legislative power and set up departments that would eventually be incorporated into the president’s cabinet. The formation of the Articles of Confederation was of the

In 1787 a convention was held in Philadelphia to draft a new constitution. Two plans [the Virginia and the New Jersey plans] were presented. Supplement your understanding of these plans by referring to the Foner text, pp. 257-59.1. Briefly describe the composition of the new government under each of these plans: a) Number of branches of government; b) Number of houses in the Congress of each plan; and c) Congressional houses chosen by whom. Keep in mind additional provisions of the plans for the in-class discussion 2. List two references to slavery and the Constitution noted by Professor Foner 3. . Categorize Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton as either a nationalist or as for states' rights. Keep in mind Jefferson's and Hamilton's perspectives for the in-class discussion