Essay about United States Constitution

Though the articles did account for a President, he did hardly more than preside over the Congress, there was no power in the Presidency. The Constitution on the other hand gave power to the executive branch headed by the President to choose the Cabinet and be another check to the judiciary and legislature. The Amending document was changed as well between the two, before 13 out of 13 colonies were needed to amend an article, while later 2/3 of both houses of Congress as well as ¾ of State legislature or National Convention were needed. The representation of the States was drastically changed, under the articles each State received one vote regardless of size, in the Constitution the upper house (Senate) has two votes from each state and the lower house would be based upon population.

A constitution is a written document that sets forth the fundamental rules by which a society is governed. Throughout the course of history the United States has lived under two Constitutions since the British-American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776. First in line was the Articles of Confederation (1789-1789) followed by the Constitution of United States of America (1789-present). The Articles of Confederation was the first formal written Constitution of America that specified how the national government was to operate. Unfortunately, the Articles did not last long. Under the words of the Article’s power was limited; Congress could make decisions, but had no power to enforce them. Also the articles stated

When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution in 1787, the United States just had 13 states. The Founding Fathers believed that more states would want to join the Union in the future. They saw that it would be significant for new states to have the same form of government as the original states had. Since then there are now over 50 states that have similar characteristics which were developed centuries ago; although, resembling the creation of new ideas and inventions, current state government had many problems from being the way it is today, it also has many important features that benefit many people, as well as plays an important role in how American democracy and government works.

The US Constitution states “We The People of the United states in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for more common defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The main purpose of the U.S Constitution is to establish the basic rights of all American Citizens. This follows that every United States Citizens have equal rights. Belonging to a minority group because of culture, religion or race does not assert that one is unconstitutional. In times of war, evacuation of minority groups only in NOT constitutional; however, evacuation of ALL United

The Articles of Confederation were developed after the Revolutionary War, and were a good idea to help set standards for America. However, they had some major problems that needed to be solved in order for America to become a strong nation. After these problems were addressed the Constitution was developed.

The Constitution and the Articles of Confederation are the same in ways, but they are also, both different. Both of them founded our Government systems, but only one system still remains today. Both systems have their flaws, but also have their advantages. Without the Articles, there would be no Constitution, and the United States would be under the control of a tyrant. The Articles lead us to war, and separated us from Great Britain and now are our own country.

In the other hand the Constitution does not. Not only that but in the Articles of confederation it says, no amendments can be made unless all states agree. The constitution with just three fourths that agree is more than enough. The Articles of Confederation gives power to only one Congress. The Articles of Confederation is unicameral only one house called Congress. The US Constitution has only one Congress, but it has two sub-divisions. The US Constitution is bicameral, “two houses” called Congress and it is divided into the House of Representatives and The Senate. In legislature, which is in charge of making laws these two documents have to make their decisions thru their houses. These two documents where established by the same people and were the official government of the United

In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America worked together to identify the best way to elect the President (Patterson, 2013). The ideas suggested varied and ranged from selection by members of congress chosen by lottery, to a popular vote of the people. By the end of the Convention the matter had yet to be settled as the framers fore saw that many of the suggestions were prone to corruption, error, and were very chaotic. The issue was passed down to the Committee on Postponed Matters, who in turn created the system that is used today and is commonly known as Electoral College (Kazin, 2011). The Electoral College was outlined by the Committee to up hold the views of the founding fathers, who were the framers of the Constitution.

After the Founding Fathers of America wrote our Constitution there was one more step they had to each achieve in order for it to go into effect: ratifying it. In order to ratify the Constitution nine out of the thirteen states had to agree to adopt it. The process of ratifying the Constitution turned into a debate between two groups: the Federalists and the Anti Federalist.

Until the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, the Constitution of the United States had retained a certain character which properly belonged to the fundamental form of law of the Republic at the time of its creation. The matters with which it dealt were simply three types. State sovereignty, through the division of powers between the Federal and the State governments, the inalienable rights of the American citizens and the structure of the Federal government itself. These were areas that it was felt by the framers to be of the utmost importance and should be safeguarded from the uncertainty of the majority whim of the time. They believed that there should be no room for doubt in regards to the limits of Federal

There were many differences in regards to economy under the Articles of the Confederation and the Constitution. In the Articles of the Confederation, the main source of revenue came from contributions from individual states, alternately in the Constitution, Congress had the power to raise money without relying on individual states. In the Articles of Confederation, money could be coined but Congress did not have the power to levy taxes or regulate commerce. In contrast under the Constitution, paper money could not be issues however, taxes could be levied. Under the Confederation there was no president or judiciary system, under the Constitution there were both.

But the articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws. Because of this, the central government had to request donations from the states to finance its operations and raise armed forces. The states attempted to limit the power of the national government because they feared that it would become a monarchy. In an effort to limit the power of the national government, Congress created one without enough power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems.

After the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the United States Government was reorganized under the Constitution. This gave the federal government far more power than did the Articles of Confederation, which invested power within the states. Basically, the Constitution created three branches of government (Executive, Judicial, and Legislative) which would work together to run the government. To make sure that there was an equal balance of power among the branches, a system of checks and balances was devised so that each branch could limit the power of the others. It is important to note that "the doctrine of separation of powers is not established by any constitutional provision [but] rather it emerges from he framers'

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

“The Constitution devotes the national domain to union, to justice, to defense, to welfare and to liberty” (Maier 154). This quote, stated by William Henry Seward, displays the strength and stability that the Constitution had over the nation, and the liberty and justice it supplied for all of its citizens. Although the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation have similarities, they have many differences, which proved that the Articles of Confederation were a weaker document in comparison. It can be said that the Articles were the “rough draft” to the final living document, which significantly influenced and “ruled” our government, as it still does today.