The Constitution Of The United States

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

Congress could not enforce laws or assemble an army. Without an army the United States had no defense force. And without a judiciary branch, the government couldn’t enforce the laws that were made in Congress. The Legislative inefficiencies were such that each state had one vote in Congress regardless of its population. Therefore it was difficult to pass laws because states would block them, leading to an impractical amendment process. Amendments were difficult to pass because if five states voted against the passing of a bill it would be blocked. For all these reasons and more the Articles of Confederation were truly a failed form of government.

Checks and balances is a system that prevents one branch from having too much power, and giving each branch some power over the others. Doc C is an excerpt from Federalist #51, that was written by James Madison in 1788. The federalist papers were written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, to convince the states to ratify the constitution. According to Doc C, “... the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several officers in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other…. (The three branches) should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” The quote from Doc C shows that each branch should have some power over one another to ensure that not one branch becomes a tyrant. The constitution guards against tyranny through checks and balances, which lets each branch check each other on their actions, and stop them if they are abusing their

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 states feared a strong, central government which is the reason the Articles of Confederation were so weak. In order to appease the fear of the states, the Constitution divided the power between the central government and the states. This division of power is known as Federalism (Doc A). With Federalism the central and state governments can “control each other” but also “be controlled by [themselves].” This prevented one government from gaining too much power. For instance, a state cannot ignore a federal tax law because the central government has the power to enforce the law. This safeguard is important because it not only prevents the central government from gaining too much power but it also allows the states to set policies specific for their inhabitants.

Due to the lack of a strong central government, the colonies suffered under the Articles of Confederation. As a result of this suffering, the states sent representatives to conventions in Indianapolis and Philadelphia to create a new form of government.

Knowing that the country needed a strong government, the failure sparked a frenzy. They needed to create one fast and in 1787, The Philadelphia Convention, also known now as the United States Constitutional Convention, was the meeting where this all changed. From May 25th, till September 17th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although this Convention was made to fix the Articles of Confederation. The point was to create a new government rather than fix the one that was in place. The delegates elected George

The Articles of Confederation were ratified on March 1st of 1781. It was the first governing document established in the United States. There were many issues with this document, so a meeting was called to revise the Articles. Instead of just revising the document, an entirely new document was written, the Constitution. The Constitution was ratified on July 21st of 1788, and it created a stronger government, with three balanced branches of power, and had a Bill of Rights.

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. It was adopted by a committee of thirteen men from the Second Continental Congress. John Dickinson was the author of the first draft was also the chairman of the committee. The Articles of Confederation became effective after all thirteen states had ratified them on March 1, 1781. The Articles gave more power to states.

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. This constitution was used from 1781 until 1789. While writing this document, the founders still had a fear of central authority after the American Revolution. Because of this fear, our first constitution had many weaknesses. Our country was still very afraid that too much power given to the central government would turn into a similar situation like they faced with Great Britain.

The Articles of Confederation were our Nation’s Constitution. Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation in 1777; however the articles came into effect in 1781. Although it was our nation’s first government, it wasn’t the best. The country faced many problems under the Articles of Confederation. One was that congress had no power over the state governments, or their citizens. Another important problem was the citizens thought that their property rights were threatened. However the biggest problem was the nation didn’t have the same currency. These and many other problems and events led the founding fathers to think of a new government.

During this time the government of the U.S was made up of The Continental Congress, a group of delegates called together from each individual colony to discuss the best interests for America as a whole. Congress met from 1774 to 1789 in three separate incarnations. One being the discussing of a confederation of states; an organization of a new central government that could unite the American states, and still be weak enough that the colonist did not feel trapped in a government that was too strong,

The Articles of Confederation was a document that was originally used by the original thirteen colonies/states of the United States as its first national constitution. It was later replaced by the present day Constitution five years later. This was that American’s first system of government and with it came many questions when it was being drafted. There was also fear that influenced the distribution of power to the states and the national government. This leads to many weaknesses in this system. However, there are also many strengths that lead to numerous achievements for America. Even so, as mentioned earlier, it took five years and a few events before the US Constitution was ratified. The Articles of Confederation were America’s first attempt

In the 1700s when the United States had detached itself from British rule it was then seen as a plutocracy. The U.S established as a democracy; a government of the people and by the people. However, this establishment was in favor of the rich, educated, and powerful and anyone who was categorized or known as elites and it has remained in favor of these people ever since. Yes we can say we have witnessed variations and seen a semi-democratic rise in the past two centuries, but we have remained a plutocracy hidden behind the word that people use to cover its true identity, democracy. Those like the framers, the public opinion role, interest groups, and money all portray our hidden plutocracy.

The Constitution of 1787of the United States of America is signed by 38 of 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Supporters of the document paid a hard won battle to win ratification by the necessary nine out of thirteen U.S. states. The Articles of Confederation, ratified just before the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781. Congress the central authority had the control to govern foreign concerns, conduct war, and control currency. These powers were suddenly limited because Congress was given no authority to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops. By 1786, it was specious that the Union would soon break up if the Articles of Confederation were not corrected or replaced.