Mercantilism Compare And Contrast

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

The northern colonies were very much different from the southern because they were colonized for different reasons. The north was colonized for freedom of worship and freedom of political thought. The colonies had hope for a separate society, where they could show their homeland, how a country should be run. The northern colonies were based on theocracy, where the state forced the people to live and worship in an orthodox way.

Religious beliefs had its role in making the colonies different from one another. The Anglican religion, which included the Baptists and Presbyterians faiths, didn't have an everyday effect on the way the southerners lived there

1. There were several main differences among the British colonial regions. The New England colonies being colonized mainly for religion while the Middle colonies found wealth through industry, whereas the Southern colonies sought more trade and wealth opportunities through colonization. Economically, the New England colonies did not have trade as their primary focused, but still were involved in the processes of fishing, lumbering, and trapping, the Middle colonies found their wealth in lumbering and shipbuilding; the Southern colonies sought to grow and trade cash crops for wealth. The Northern colonies composed of [Separatist] Pilgrims, Puritans, and Quakers had more religious reasons for being founded, but not limited to refuge from religious persecution, and a holy society or “city upon a hill.” The Northern colonies were also religiously self-governing; one example being the Mayflower Compact, while the South had regular laws instituted. Demographically, the colonies started with an overwhelming white population over the blacks, but as the tobacco industry grew and slavery became an increasing practice, blacks began to outnumber the white population.

Along with the Constitution we have the Articles of Confederation. Under these Articles congress was a single house where each state had 2 to 7 members but only one vote. They selected executive judges and military officers as well as having power to make war and peace and conduct foreign affairs. The ability to have money Congress could borrow and print money, but they could not collect taxes or enforce laws, precisely it had to rely on the states to provide and enforce. Articles of Confederation was written to be a “framework for the government of the United States, it established a firm league of friendship among the states rather than a government of the people.” (book)

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.

The colonies were under the control of the English and had many commonalities, each region created a distinct culture that each had a great impact in economy, minority groups and religion. The Middle and the Southern colonies had great fertile land for farms and crops to grow which lead their colony to thrive and succeed. The minority groups also helped the colonies thrive but they were not treated fairly than other citizens in both the Middle and the Southern colonies. Finally, religion was toleranced mostly in both the Middle and the Southern colonies. Religion helped the colonists have different types people treat them fairly and have government run fairly. The thirteen colonies was an important part of America. It was the New England, Middle and the Southern colonies that came together and formed the United States. The Middle and the Southern colonies delivered laws and was a learning experience. The colonies helped people realize to learn and continue some of what the colonists did. In end, colonies learnt the art of farming and learnt to thrive, different types of people as well as religion was learnt to be accepted and colonial leader leaded how to govern and how to create a unified government itself. These reasons is what lead them to establish a new

The British had the idea of mercantilism where a the economys wealth was judged by how much gold and silver it had, the colonies supplied the mother land with materials and then the mother country produced products to sell back to the colonies

The different region and culture difference between the colonies is one reason for the development. The New England colonies were mostly religious reformers and separatists. Their main focus was to find a new way of life by finding new ways to worship God. The Middle colonies were more welcoming to people that were from various and different lifestyles. The Southern Colonies were less involved with religion and were more focused on seeking the natural resources to provide material

The Articles of Confederation was an agreement under which the 13 original states established a federal government in 1781. The states called their confederation the United States of America, continuing the name used in the Declaration of Independence. The Articles of Confederation served as the new nation's basic map of government until the first government under the Constitution of the United States was formed in 1789. The Congress of the Confederation operated the government under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles attempted to balance the need for an effective national government with the traditional

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

While the question says that that the Northern and Southern colonies were more similar than different in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in reality this was not the case. During this time period both sets of colonies formed from very different circumstances which shaped their societies. The south formed a more independent civilization which depended on the ability of landowners to fend for themselves and form plantations. The north however, was a more tight knit community due to the lack of flat clear land and the Iroquois Confederacy. Both the North and the South were very different during the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

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 Articles of Confederation was the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. The Articles provided a system for the Continental Congress to direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with Europe and deal with territorial issues and Native American relations. The articles was supposed to be a legislative body serving as the nation’s executive rather than a parliament. It had full power over foreign affairs and questions of war and peace, it could decide disputes between the states, and it had authority over coinage, the postal service, and Indian affairs as well as the western territories. Nevertheless, the weakness of the government created by the Articles became a matter of concern for the American nation. The articles had no courts and no power to enforce its resolutions and ordinances. It also had no power to levy taxes and had to rely on requisitions from the states, which state legislatures could ignore. The articles didn’t have an executive or judicial branch of government, nor did it have an administrative head of government, and there were no federal courts (Shi &Tindall, 2013, P.239).

They did not trust strong governments, so the central government very little power (Murphy). There was no court system given to the national government so the states were in charge of it all, which meant complaints could not be filed against them (Brackemyre). One of the only powers the national government had was to declare war but they were not allowed to raise an army to fight it and it lacked a chief executive to conduct foreign affairs. The United States also had an ineffective legislative under the Articles of Confederation. Amendments that they wanted to be passed needed to be vote on unanimously and there had to be a nine out of thirteen vote to pass a law (Kelly). Each state also had only one despite their population. Under the Articles, the government did not have a stable economic system, lacked key central leadership and had an inefficient legislature.