New State Constitutions

In the Articles of Confederation, the States are sovereign but in the Constitution the people as a whole nation are sovereign. Concluding that the sovereignty is divided among the states and the central government (Utah State University, 2008). Meaning that the federal government may have laws but the states have their autonomous decision in making laws too. This ratification does at times clash with one another but that issue is settled by the Supreme Court of the United States for resolution. In the Articles of Confederation, it was written that there is no independent executive with power but compared with the Constitution it was agreed that the “independent executive is chosen by the Electoral College” (Utah State University, 2008). The Executive Branch is headed by the President who has the power to choose his cabinet and has checks & balance on powers of the judiciary and the legislature. In the Articles of Confederation, there were no federal courts. All laws were enforced by the state courts but comparing this to the Constitution, there is a separate Federal Court System with the power to resolve issues among citizens and states. Another issue was that there was no taxing power given to Congress but later on Congress was granted the power to “lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises” (Heritage Foundation, 2012). Congress before would request that specific state to pay taxes but now Congress has the right

Congress had the exclusive power to declare war, assign treaties, entertain foreign relations, and operate post offices. Disputes between states and territorial problems were to be sent to Congress. The document also insisted on that Canada was allowed to enter the Union if they desired. Once the American colonies became free from the British Empire, the citizens didn’t have anyone to govern them and which ensures the country would stay on a sleek and stable course. The Articles of Confederation resolved by putting the Congress in power and giving it the authority to make decisions for the new nation.

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

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 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.

The Articles of Confederation is the first "constitution" for the United States. In lesson, it goes into more detail about how 13 thirteen single colonies became one to make decisions. The United States was the first nation in the history of the world to be created by colonial people fighting against their mother country for freedom. The United States government at the time was similar to England's. The people whom lived in America wanted a democratic republic, just without all the kings and queens. This type of government has never been seen before, thus America will be creating its own version and testing it out. The Articles that they had previously created had some issues. One issue is who owned the land in the west? Better yet, how were

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 a document signed amongst the thirteen original colonies that established the United States of America as a union of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. The Articles of Confederation did little to promote colonial unity, therefore independence was granted to 13 new nations, all of which became weak from lack of central government. In the Great Debate the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists debated the inclusion of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution as this allowed to make a compromise to govern our country. The Constitution that is now shaping modern America would have never been formed without first evolving from the flawed Articles of Confederation.

The articles of the confederation was the document that the government run on from 1777 to 1787 ten years. The articles united all 13 colonies in a league of friendship witch sounds nice but ultimately dose almost nothing. Each state was sovereign meaning that the government didn’t have power over them

Through the congress of confederation, the new National government was to be the everlasting unity between the states. The article of confederation ensured the need for national coordination on the war to independence since centralized political power had continuously raised danger to liberty. The article of confederation was rather a plan for a common government than a mutual defense treaty. States were represented by one house congress in the national government who were only allowed to cast a single vote and despite being part of the national government, States were still entitled to their sovereignty, freedom and independence.

The Articles of Confederation provided a “firm league of friendship.” The thirteen states were joined together in dealing with common problems. Congress was to be their chief government without an executive and judicial branch. However, each state had a single vote and the support of nine was required for bills of importance. Congress was intentionally weak. Some states were suspicious they had no desire to yield their new acquired privileges to American Parliament. Congress has no power to regulate commerce and led states establish their own laws regarding tax (Garraty, 118-119).

Article 2 of the Articles of Confederation spoke on how “each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right.”1 This created a confederation of states that were as independent as possible within congress. It was made because American colonists grew weary of a strong national government like the British crown they had been under for so many years. They did not want to create another government that grew apart as time went on. Furthermore, American colonists were strongly loyal to their states and as a result, the Articles of Confederation kept the central government weak, and made states as independent as possible. On the other hand, the U.S. Constitution unified the 13 states by creating different branches of government and consequently, did not give sole power to the states and Congress.

The Articles of Confederation were 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 were 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. Unfortunately, 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). America had to change from the articles of confederation to a constitutional government, to strengthen its government.

In June of 1776, the United States congress received an offer of independence from Richard Henry Lee. This called for confederation of the states. The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the US. The Articles had many powers of the central government including: no national judiciary,no separate executive branch, congress sole national authority and no congressional authority to raise troops or impose taxes. Ratification required all 13 states to agree on this. 12 of the 13 states initially voted for the Articles but for more than three years ratification was held up by the Maryland government. Maryland wanted the eight states with western claims to relinquish them to congress for the good of everyone.Although those

Governing arrangements provided by the Articles of Confederation included a unicameral legislature, where there was no executive branch in fear it would lead to tyranny and where every state had a single vote. The Confederation was said to grant too much power to states, primarily small states like Rhode Island, where less than two percent of the population vetoed a tax reform, as mentioned in the Central Ideas of American Government textbook. A main weakness of the document is that it led to a weak central government, which had a loose established power over the states. As the professor mentions in one of the module videos, since payments are made by state legislatures and many decisions required approval of a great majority of states, the