The Difference Between The Articles Of Confederation And The United States

In the Unites States of America Federalism is the basic structure of the American government; it is the distribution and balance of powers between the National government and the States government. In order to obtain a compromise between those who wanted stronger state government and those who preferred a stronger national government the founding fathers arranged and settled for a federal system rather than the alternatives of a unitary or confederal system. While both National and State governments each have specific powers and authority, they also share certain powers and must be able to cooperate effectively with each other.

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 Articles of Confederation and the Constitution are two different types of Government. There are many differences between the two, for example, the Articles of Confederation were made for the original 13 colonies. The constitution was made for the United States of America.

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.

Federalism – a form of government in which power is divided between the federal/national government and state governments.

The Articles of Confederation were the United State’s first constitution that was drafted in 1776 and set in motion a year later. The Articles of Confederation also known as “The Aoc”, ran the US government successful through the time of the American Revolution. However, the Aoc didn’t permit the national government with the power to levy taxes or regulate commerce, as a result of that all efforts at national cohesion was disheartened. So during the summer of 1787 they decided to create the “Supreme law of the land”, The Constitution. The constitution did everything the Aoc couldn’t do, it established more laws and provided increased federal authority while protecting the basic rights of it’s citizens.

The Articles of Confederation became the first guiding principles of the original thirteen states. However, the weaknesses embedded in the articles became obvious, outweighing its positive impact and they were ratified in 1781. George Washington sated that the articles were "little more than a shadow without the substance."1 They limited the central government’s ability to work smoothly and adversely affected the economy. Lack of power left the government in dismay and they sought a fix to their problems without becoming a tyrannical monarchy. The founding fathers believed that replacing the articles with The Constitution was the best way to give the central government enough power to carry out its tasks. In 1787 delegates from all 13 states met in Pennsylvania to begin amending the articles. This process revealed many of the similarities and differences that were contained within The Articles of Confederation and The Constitution.

The Articles of Confederation, which was considered the first constitution of the United States of America, and the US Constitution, which acts as the supreme law in the United States today, both are poles apart. In fact, it was only because of the weaknesses of the Articles that the present-day US Constitution was drafted. The Articles of Confederation or Articles was a written agreement which laid the guidelines for the functioning of the national government. It was drafted by the Continental Congress and sent to the thirteen original states for ratification in November 1777. Within a few years of its ratification, the Articles was subjected to severe criticism by the Founding Fathers of the United States. Problems with the document existed in plenty; the biggest issue being the fact that it left the national government at the mercy of states. Eventually, it was decided that this agreement had to be revised to suit the needs of the nation as a whole. The delegates at the Philadelphia Convention came to the conclusion that it was better to draft an entirely new constitution instead of revising the existing agreement, and thus came into existence the new US Constitution.

The Articles of Confederation and The Constitution are two documents that outlined the fundamental principles of the United States. The Articles of Confederation as written first and ratified in 1781. It was then replaced by The Constitution in 1789. They have similarities such as establishing it as The United States of America. However, they do have many differences. Three of these differences are voting in Congress, terms of legislative office, and the Executive branch of government.

Both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution have many similarities and differences. First and foremost, the Articles called for a unicameral legislature while the constitution calls for a bicameral legislature, which allows for a greater amount of representation and checks and balances in congress. Furthermore, in the legislature, the Articles has between two and seven representatives per state whereas the Constitution has two senators per state and a house representatives based upon population. These representatives each have a vote in the Constitution where as in the Articles; each state only had one vote. This allows for equal representation in legislature to ensure each state has a voice in law making and that states will a larger population have a great say, but are not overbearing on smaller states.

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

When the war finally came to an end in 1781, the economy was still suffering due to the lack of knowledge the states had on both economic and political matters. Since it was agreed upon that the nation wanted to be a democracy, the Constitution was shaped accordingly. The Articles of Confederation where written in order to establish a national government among the thirteen original colonies. There were many factors that caused of the crisis but the main reason was because of the Revolutionary war. The United States had taken on a substantial amount of debt in order for them to fund the war and the British Navy had targeted to destroy American ships, which led to a disruption in trade. The concerns that the colonists had with the Articles

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

Articles of Confederation and the Constitution The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution had many differences. At the end of the American Revolution, the Free states needed some sort of control that would generate to a unified country. A number of issues arose which included how power would be divided between local and national Governments, how laws were made and by whom. The Articles of Confederation was the first attempt at solving these issues which later own was seen as a failure for the most part, but not completely. After the failure of the Articles, the state tried to revise the articles but instead, constructed the constitution.

The creators of the Constitution wanted to create a government that was powerful enough to take care of business, but not so powerful that is could threaten tyranny. One key idea in designing such a powerful, but limited, government was the doctrine of separation of powers. In old-fashioned monarchies, the key powers of government; the power to make the law, the power to enforce the law, and the power to judge the law, were all held by one person: the king. The King, claimed to rule by the direct authority of God, could do pretty much whatever he wanted. For Example, King Henry VIII. In Britain, the center of power eventually moved from the royal family to the Parliament. Still, there was no division of powers; Parliament held not only the