Ratification Of The Constitution Dbq

The Articles of Confederation was the formal charter of the government of the United States that was the first binding document outlining its independence from Great Britain. As tensions grew between the United States and Great Britain, a war was inevitable with the people of America growing tired of the British rule and wanting independence, the Revolutionary War was the next step in trying to free itself from British tyranny. The Articles of Confederation was fully ratified in 1781 after the Revolutionary War and seemed to be more interested in stability rather than liberty. The Articles of Confederation was the first document outlining a national government that wrote into law the unplanned arrangements of the continental congress and was

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, Adopted by Congress on November 15, 1777, for all practical purposes was the United States’ first Constitution. Created to establish a bond between the newly formed states, “...the Articles purposely established a "constitution" that vested the largest share of power to the individual states” (Early America). This ensured that the government did not have the majority of power. “...the Articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws...allowing the states retained their "sovereignty, freedom and independence” (Early

Following the United States’ independence from Great Britain, delegates from each collective state set out to establish a body to govern the newly formed nation. From this came the Articles of Confederation, which was officially ratified in 1781. The Articles of Confederation proved to be a landmark in government for those days because it was a model of what a loose confederation could be. However, this soon failed because the official

The Article of Confederation was a written document that was put in place in 1777 after the 13 colonies had gained independence from the British. During the time in which the Articles of Confederation were still in place; there were problems arising like: the Continental Army not being paid for their services, the struggling economy, and the people wanting to overthrow the government. But events that had taken place had brought the elite for a Constitutional Convention. In the Convention; the elite had discussed the problem that the Articles had caused for them and for the people. The elites during the convention had scrapped the Articles and wrote a new document; which was the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation had a lot of weakness, and this pushed the leaders to hold the Constitutional Convention, also the leaders had to make sure that the people didn't as much power over the government as they did.

Rules would be the new topic of discussion at the end of the American Revolution amongst the newly formed Free states that won their independence from Britain. One huge question loomed over the Free states, how could they conduct a civilized way of living without another ruler such as the king of Britain here in America? There needed to be some sort of system that would generate a control to create a unified country. States were acting and conducting business as if each state was its own country and this left the America vulnerable on many fronts. Some of the main issues that surfaced were; How to divide powers between local and national governments? Which laws should be made, and by whom and who would enforce them? I will address some of the differences between the Constitution and The Articles of Confederation.

The feebleness of Congress was a major weakness of the Articles of Confederation. When the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1777, they created a “loose confederation” of states (Pageant, 181). This meant that each state was independent and sovereign, linked by Congress only to deal with common problems and foreign affairs. Congress was meant to be part of a united central power of the government, but due to the abuse suffered from the king, the states so limited the powers of the central government to the point of powerlessness.

After fighting for our country against Great Britain in the American Revolution, the United States gained independence. We had to figure out how to govern ourselves since we would no longer be under the power of the monarch. The Articles of Confederation was the answer to our problems; even though it established a very weak central government and had many problems, it was our first constitution and our first step towards a solid government. Some of the problems with the Articles included that the Congress had no power to tax, no power to regulate commerce, no power to regulate domestic affairs, no power to enforce laws, and many more. The problems lead to troubles with the States which convinced the Continental Congress to create a convention of delegated people to revise them; this convention was called the Constitutional Convention. The Convention fixed these problems by throwing the Articles out altogether and creating a new Constitution.

“In November 1777 the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the United States first written constitution.”(Ginsberg, et. al. 2014: 35). The Articles of Confederation played a big role in the drafting of the United States’ new constitution. The articles were our United States’ first written governing document. The Articles of Confederation solved some problems by creating at least a minimal amount of government at the time, but it also created some problem for our country because we did not have enough government. As time went on, the Founding Fathers found the issues with the Articles of Confederation, sought ways to solve those issues, and created the Constitution as a lasting governing document.

Weakness was the major downfall of the articles of confederation. Congress had no power to enforce the laws they passed. No power to tax or to regulate commerce. If the states didn't like the law they could simply ignore it. Along with ignoring laws, many states ignored the financial contribution that congress depended on. Between the loans to the war efforts and the soldiers pay for fighting in the revolutionary war the United States was bankrupt by

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.

On March 1, 1781 the Articles of Confederation were officially ratified after the last of the 13 states signed the document. The Articles were written in order to form a government, with certain fundamental laws. After their time under the control of Britain, the colonies wanted a government where they could have a say and be represented. While they were under Britain, the King had way too much power over them. One of the biggest issues was that he would tax the colonists without allowing them representation in Parliament, and when the colonies tried to reach out to Britain, the King sent out a letter telling everyone to ignore them. The colonies now states, knew that they had to write up a document that would be used to govern their new country, so they came up with Articles of Confederation. The Articles did not provide the United States with an effective government.

Finding that the Articles were weak and needed to be worked on, a new Constitution Convention was held in Philadelphia in 1787 just ten years after the Articles of the Confederation were written. This is the Constitution that we have all come to know and continue to follow with amendments to this day. The Constitution of the United States differed greatly from the Articles as it provided a powerful Federal government with an executive branch. It also gave power to have foreign

Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government was very weak and unable to accommodate the nation after declaring its independence (Schultz, 2010). The Articles of Confederation was a document drafted by the Continental Congress between 1776 and 1777, which defined the colonies’ power and authority. Although the Articles were ready for ratification the following year, it would not go into effect until 1781 after all thirteen states were in agreeance. Once the Articles were ratified, they made three notable achievements (Schultz, 2010).

The aim of this paper is to talk about the different actions taken to replace the Articles of Confederation to bring about a new Constitution. The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the United States that was adopted on November 15, 1777. It was sent out to the states to be ratified on November 15, 1777. The Articles of Confederation was ratified and