Confederation and Constitution

1540 Words4 Pages

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. There were five states that met in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss the concern, and all the states were invited to send delegates to a new constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia. On May 25, 1787, delegates representing every state except Rhode Island assembled at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention. The Independence Hall had earlier seen the recruiting of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Articles of Confederation. The meeting immediately discarded the idea of amending the Articles of Confederation and set about drawing up a new arrangement of government. Groundbreaking war conqueror George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, was elected convention president. During an exhaustive debate, the delegates invented a brilliant federal organization characterized by an complicated system of checks and balances. The convention was divided over the issue of state representation in Congress, as more-populated states sought compara... ... middle of paper ... ...fication debate; these essays were signed with the alias Publius, taken from Publius Valerius Poplicola, a man who supposedly saved the ancient Roman republic. The Federalist Papers is an important American influence to political viewpoint and remains a classic today. It is also a great and convincing commentary on the Constitution. Works Cited HIST by Schultz, Kevin, M © Wadsworth/Cengage 2010 Constitution of the United States - Federalists Versus Anti-federalists - Government, Madison, National, Papers, Country, and Rights http://law.jrank.org/pages/5603/Constitution-United-States-FEDERALISTS-VERSUS-ANTI-FEDERALISTS.html#ixzz1HpmHe19G http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_history.html http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1416074/compare_and_contrast_the_united_states.html http://www.usconstitution.net/constconart.html

Open Document