The Nation 's Confederation System Of The United States

The 55 delegates sitting down in the hot, steamy and sticky room debating about what to add extra rules or change the Articles of Confederation. For about 4 months, the people debated about how the government should take care of the problems, not giving the states more power than needed, talking about compromises and many more. On September 17, 1787, the constitution was sent to Congress for review. Then it was sent to the states for ratification. It took about two years for the Constitution for ratification. There were obstacles to be avoided too. The Federalist had to face Anti-Federalist, people who opposed the ratification of the Constitution. They believed that because they felt as though it gave too much power to the national government.

According to the famed historian Edmund S. Morgan “When the Articles of Confederation were drafted, Americans had had little experience of what a national government could do for them and bitter experience of what an arbitrary government could do to them. In creating a central government they were therefore more concerned with keeping it under control than with giving it the means to do its job” (Morgan, 1956). The people were scared, and therefore created a solution that was more concerned with holding powers in check, which left many holes, and a government with no power.

After the Articles of Confederation failed, a system called federalism was proposed. This system would allow for the state governments to share power with the federal government. Neither states nor the federal authorities would have too much power under the proposed structure of federalism, with hopes this would lead to cooperation, efficiency and a unified approach to governing. Under federalism, certain matters would be decided by the final word of the national government, while states would be allowed to develop policies pertaining to matters within their

To begin with, The Great Compromise of 1787. Overall it was an agreement between the large and small states during the 1787 constitutional convention. Large states wanted the Virginia plan while small states wanted the New Jersey plan. The Virginia Plan called for a bicameral legislature, which meant that the number of representatives in each house would depend on the population of the state. However, the New Jersey Plan called for a unicameral legislature, meaning each state would receive one vote. There was only one thing each agreed with, both called for a strong national government with 3 branches. Small states

The Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, which was our first constitution but an unanimous approval of the states was needed to change or amend the Articles. Because of the Articles of Confederation, the sovereignty was in the states, we had a weak central

Without this compromise, the Constitution would not have been completed, the House of Representatives and the Senate would not have been created, and states would have unequal representation based on population (Alchin 1). The Great Compromise of 1787 is also known as the Connecticut Compromise (Alchin 1). The Great Compromise was proposed by the Connecticut delegate, Roger Sherman, at the Constitutional Convention (Longley 2). Sherman’s plan consisted of, a two-legislative formed government, a Senate, the House of Representatives, and struck a balance between large and small state representation (Sawe 3).

The Articles of Confederation was one of the first official documents of the United States. The purpose of this article was to create a confederation of states whereby each state retained its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. Every state was as independent as possible with the Federal government only responsible for the common defense, security of liberties, and the general welfare. There were several problems that soon became obvious with time, as the Articles took effect. The Articles contained more weaknesses than strengths which let the authority to get rid of them and create a new document.

The Great Compromise of 1787 was also known as the Connecticut Compromise of the Sherman Compromise. It was proposed by Roger Sherman. The Great Compromise was an agreement between large states and small states that guaranteed them 2 representatives in the upper house and equal power in legislative structure. This agreement helped make sure that all legislative branches had the same amount of power and control. This plan helped balance out and separate the power between all

Throughout American history, many Americans assume that too much power is given to one party or the other. The Article of confederation was important in the United States because it affected the way over government functions today. Specifically, under the Article of confederation, the United States was intended to be formed on a basis of Federalism. Within this structure of Federalism, states have their own rights and majority of power with its people. The federal government on the other hand, was design to play a small role in the nation. In comparison to individual states, federal government had less power and responsibility under the ideas of the Article of confederation. In sum, then, the issue is whether the Article of confederation had proven to be unstable and inefficient. The limitations of the federal government has sparked the question of why did the framers want to scrap the Article of confederation.

America attained independence, but still had many obstacles that they had to surpass. The thirteen states had thirteen different leaders rather than being one nation. The states were worried about their own problems. When shaping the Confederation, representatives from the states didn’t agree to change their leadership-organized states into a central government. In 1776, the Constitutional Congress constructed a group of people that allowed the states to draft the Articles of Confederation. After much dispute from congress and the addition of amendments, the draft was finally approved to the states for ratification. The Articles of Confederation took many years to be in effect because all thirteen states had to approve it. The Articles went into effect in 1781, but the governmental structure was ineffective

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 contained many points but some of the main points consist of the Virginia plan, the New Jersey plan, and the great compromise. The Virginia plan was initiated by James Madison had a strong central government with legislature seats based on a state’s population. The New Jersey Plan was conducted by William Paterson also has a strong central government that endorsed equal representatives throughout the states. The great compromise was imitated to settle the disagreements between the north and south. The great compromise stated a two-house legislature the seats for one of the houses was based on population of the state and the other houses seats were distributed upon states. The great compromise set up a strong

Delegates have different views regarding the government failure to scrap of the Articles of Confederation and mark a new begining. The plans under development included the Virginia Plan that favoured large states and the New Jersey plan remedying small states. The Great Compromise was to benefit the small and large states together. Each of the plans would influence modern forms of the American legislature. To begin with, the focus on Madison’s original idea that led to the formation of Virginia Plan was an inclusive measure for active governments. The plan sought to respond to the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation. Articles of Confederation awarded plenty of power to the states instead of the national government (Vile 45).

There were many differences between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. At the end of the American Revolution the free states needed some sort of control that would generate to a unified country. Issues arose such as: How should power be divided between local and national governments? How should laws be made, and by whom? Who should be authorized to govern those laws? How could the government be designed to protect the unalienable individual rights? Their first attempt at solving this issue was the Articles of Confederation, which was a failure for

America’s first written constitution was the Articles of Confederation. The delegates to the Second Continental Congress drafted these Articles and created a confederation. A confederation refers to “a highly decentralized system in which the national government derives limited authority from the states rather than directly from citizens” (pg. 50). Under the Articles of Confederation, the states elect officials of the national government, but the states also have the authority to overrule that government’s decisions. According to the Articles, there was a single house of congress and each state was allowed one vote. Congress did have the power to set up a postal department, request the states to provide donations to help cover government expenses,

Introducing Chapter 4, the author explains how federalism is a fundamental part of U.S government and how it gives equal power to both national and state governments. “History indicates clearly that the principal factor in the formation of federal systems of government has been a common external threat.” The authors’ quote informs the reader that people have always been weary of a strong, national government and that there is always a constant