Essay constitution and the article of confederation

The Articles of Confederation Following the Revolutionary War, the new American Government was set up under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation did not give the federal government enough authority to be effective. So in 1787 delegates from all the states attended a meeting known as the Constitutional Convention. Among those attending were James Madison, representing Virginia, William Paterson, representing New Jersey, and Roger Sherman, representing Connecticut.

With the United States new found independence from Great Britain, its founding fathers realize from their historical experiences that a document of law needed to be crafted and established to preserve its new found independence, while maintaining order. However, the first document crafted by the founding fathers, the Articles of Confederation, did preserve the country new found independence but it did not maintain order. The Articles of Confederation described by many founding fathers to be a document that was crafted to satisfy needs of every state for its ratification, even when the document did not present a responsible democracy. The Articles of Confederation granted all national powers to the congress; however, it allowed each state

upon the states to contribute forces, and however in the new system Congress could raise an army for military situations. There was also interstate commerce, which could be controlled by congress in the Constitution, and alike, disputes between states could now be dealt with by the federal Court system instead of a complicated system of Arbitration. Passing laws was yet another point of change, where only 9/13 votes were needed to approve legislation before, the Constitution needed

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 most significant issues that the United States had under the Articles of Confederation were: “managing the western expansion, foreign relations, and debt.” The first significant issue was with the western expansion as Americans relocated to the Nashville, western Pennsylvania, and Kentucky areas in mass numbers in the 1780s. The result of this meant that the areas were enhanced greatly that had western charters. At the time, the northern and southern areas (in the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River) had specific boundaries based on the original colonized charters which meant that the western area was the Pacific Ocean. The states that did not have part of the western area resented the condition and as a result, Maryland protested by not approving the Articles of Confederation unless the state of Virginia yielded its western land to the federal government which they did in 1784. However, their yielding was not without strings attached as they demanded that they be allowed to keep a small portion of the land reserve for their own use as a part of the deal which Congress had no choice but to accept. Eighteen years later in 1802, every state had yielded their western land to the federal government.

Following the War the 13 colonies initially shaped an amazingly feeble focal government underneath the Articles of Confederation. This government lacked, for instance, any capacity to impose taxes, since it had no way of enforcing payment. It has no power to override tax laws and duties between states. The Articles required unanimous consent from the states before any changes might take effect. States carelessly misuse the central government which often result in most of their representatives being absent For insufficient a quorum, the national legislature was often blocked from making even ineffectual changes.

The government that our country operates under in modern times is quite different than the government in place at our country’s conception. However, they do share many of the same practices and ideologies. The Articles of Confederation were founded on the basis of a very limited national government, and the idea that states should interact with each other through a “loose league of friendship”. In this friendship, the states would work and trade together, but no form of central government was needed. This system was not nearly sufficient for the nations problems at the time. Recognizing the need for a reform, the nations leaders tried to reform the current system, and with little success, the decision was made that they should start

After the American Revolutionary War, the men in the Second Continental Congress were faced with a monumental challenge, creating a document that would democratically frame the new United States government in the spirit of liberty and freedom. While they spent much time and effort writing and ratifying this document, they were hindered by past experiences and prejudices against their previous mother country, Great Britain. The memories of imperial Britain, still fresh in the minds of the ex-colonists, caused them to include certain concepts of the Articles of Confederation that would prove detrimental to the functionality of the federal government. Although the American people desired to retain state sovereignty, they fashioned a form of government that bestowed excessive powers to the states, so severely that the national government could not effectively govern them

The Articles of Confederation proved to be inadequate as the first attempt to form a national government. The Articles displayed an American fear of having another strong national government. Due to the fear of this type of government, no executive office was created and Congress received limitations on its power. Instead, states remained sovereign, forming only a “league of friendship” under the Articles. The states having more power than Congress lead to many failures and problems.

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.

The “Recreation” of the Articles of Confederation Purposely created to establish a weak central government, the structure of the Articles of Confederation led to serious problems in the United States Government. The leading problems that led to weak government were an absence of a leader, giving the states the power to make their decisions, and not having enough representation per state. With the complaints from the citizens of the government being too weak for a nation, the delegates from all over the states joined to improve the Articles of Confederation. In early 1788 the Constitution was ratified and replaced the Articles of Confederation, fixing all of the major complaints and while adding more structure to the government, such as the three branches. Ratified by all thirteen states in 1781, the Articles of Confederation was established.

In order to limit the power of the federal government, the Articles of Confederation created one without sufficient power to manage effectively,

November 15th, 1777, the Continental Congress created the Articles of Confederation. During this time, the Americans’ looked back on their experience with the powerful British government and decided they would do the opposite. The American’s wanted to ensure enough power for the government to do its job, but not creating too much power for individuals or groups. With the idea of the dreadful government in Britain, the colonist decided to use their new power and divide the federalism in a way that gives the states more power. Some of their priorities included a protection of rights and liberties as well as individual state power. Within this confederation, all the states had their independence and their own sovereign government. With this “firm league of friendship”, there opened a door for many drawbacks.

The Articles of Confederation already gave power to the Congress. The power was not being forced upon the people of Colonial America. I would want for the government to have the power to protect our rights and freedom. The people have the right idea by having the government ran by them, the people. Even though you still need government officials to be operating the government to give people a better life. A better life with free health care, and equal pay for labor. To do this you would need to spend money. The people did not want to pay the government for they believed, the way Britain did, about John Locke’s Social Contract theory. "...to secure these rights [Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], Governments are instituted among men,

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