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articles of confederation vs constitution analysis answers
articles of confederation vs constitution analysis answers
articles of confederation vs constitution analysis answers
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Everyone believes that our Founding Fathers were perfect. They always had the right answer and never made any mistakes. What people don’t know is that our Founding Fathers never would have written our Constitution if they did not make a mistake. The Constitution was actually the second document written that was meant to be the “supreme law of the land”. The first document our Founding Fathers created was called the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was a good start for a young country, but not something the Founding Fathers wanted to base the future of the country on. That is why writing the Constitution was the best decision our Founding Fathers ever made. The Articles of Confederation was approved on the 15th of November in 1777 by the Second Continental Congress. The Founding Fathers had decided that because the United States had just gained their independence from a strong central government (England), they did not want to create another government like that. The Articles of Confederation gave a lot of the power to each individual state. There was not a strong central government. Under the Articles of Confederation, the National Government did not have the power to tax citizens for military reasons, draft citizens for the military, or create a common monetary system. These were just few of many things that gave fault to the Articles of Confederation. For the time being, this did not seem like a big deal for the citizens of the new country. The Founding Fathers, though, knew something would have to eventually change for the United States to succeed in the future. The process of drafting the Constitution started on May 25th of 1787. This was roughly ten years since the Articles of Confederation was ... ... middle of paper ... ... also had an amendment section where people had the right to change something in the document. This was what got the Constitution ratified. If the Articles of Confederation was strong enough for our country, our Founding Fathers would never have proposed the Constitution to the thirteen states. The Articles were a good start for our country, but the Constitution was going to be what kept our country together for the future. In the preamble of the Constitution, it is stated, “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union…”. Nothing is perfect. Not even the Founding Fathers. They created a weak document in the Articles of Confederation. They did, however, fix their mistake by not only writing the Constitution, but convincing the states to have it ratified. The Founding Fathers turned their biggest mistake into their best decision with these two documents.
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 the most part, but not completely. After the failure of the articles, the state delegates tried to revise the articles, but instead, constructed the Constitution. There were so many changes made and very little remained the same.
The Articles of Confederation was America’s first constitution. The Articles of Confederation failed to create a strong central government, however. With the demise of the states in sight, the need for a stronger and more structured central government became apparent. An invitation was sent to all thirteen states in February 1787 by the Confederation Congress to resolve the matter. The events that took place over the next several months would create the United States Constitution. Going down in history as a revolutionary form of government, the U.S. Constitution would give life to a country that is still running strong over 200 years later.
Approved on 15th of November in 1777 by Congress and confirmed by the state on March 1, 1781, The Articles of Confederation were a humbled effort by a new country to consolidate itself and to create an ideal national government. The Articles were said to have been a “firm league of friendship” () between the states which means that these thirteen states would cooperate and commute together, but leaving out a principal form of government; hence to give limited powers to the central government. However, to some states the current form of government was not satisfying because the Articles of Confederation will come out to be too disadvantageous. Constitution will become the saving grace for America. Written in 1787, Constitution was requesting united and more powerful government.
The Articles of Confederation were approved by Congress on November 15, 1777 and ratified by the states on March 1, 1781. It was a modest attempt by a new country to unite itself and form a national government. The Articles set up a Confederation that gave most of the power to the states. Many problems arose and so a new Constitution was written in 1787 in Independence Hall. The new Constitution called for a much more unified government with a lot more power. Let us now examine the changes that were undertaken.
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.
We can see the people needed a strong central government which was given to them with the Constitution of the United States. The Articles of Confederation which was a good starter for the Constitution, but was deemed to be too weak to allow the American people to feel secure with their independence. The Constitution seemed to be a far more superior and detailed government allowing the people to gain there freedom and give America what we have today.
Plans fail without proper direction. After the Revolutionary War, the Founding Fathers wanted to become an established nation that had no ties to Britain. After enduring several years of scrutiny from King George III, America had been pushed to the limit. The governing officials came together to accomplish the task of planning an efficient society. In 1777, the Continental Congress created the Articles of Confederation to serve as Americas first Constitution. The agreement could not withstand the test of time and as a result it was ratified many times. Although the Articles of Confederation served as a helpful blue print for the establishment of America, it lacked many key issues. In September 1787, the Constitution was formed and is still used today.
With having thirteen independent states, each one of them would’ve had their own rules and probably join other forces. Some of the states may have even become conquered, which would eventually start a war amongst them. If the constitution had not been created, the government would have been able to do whatever it wanted without any consequences being made. I feel as though there would be no amendments and no laws, which would have left our country in serious trouble. Not having a constitution would have given several states the opportunity to create what we now call the United States. Without the power of the constitution, each state would make their own regulations regarding how laws should be seen and approached. This also mean that each state would have to make their own money, which we all know that money is the cause of all evil. Without a constitution, each state would also have to set up systems for patents, copyrights, piracy, and declaring war on other states. Simply, without the constitution, the United States as we know it to be today would not exist. Our country would become weak and eventually fall short to many bad rules and laws. To answer the second portion of this question, if the Articles of Confederation were in force our country would not be better when it comes to laws. The Articles of Confederation would make our country extremely weak considering the many factors of what made it fail. There would be no source of power given to Congress or the federal government, which would eventually cause huge problems. This would then raise problems in levying taxes and regulating trade throughout the U.S. Without having a source of power under the Articles of Confederation, enforcing laws would be difficult and hard to handle. The major weaknesses that would bring this country down are as
The Articles of Confederation was the United States first attempt at creating a democratic government. Instead of giving power to the central government they divided it up among the states (Kelly). This fact left the Articles with many weaknesses that ultimately led it to fail. The lack of a strong central government led to economic disorganization, no central leadership and an ineffective legislative, all which led to its downfall (Brackemyre). Leaving power to the states left the nation in a state of economic disorganization. Without the national government having the power to levy taxes, it was left with the states (Murphy). The legislature only had the right to request taxes, and it was left up to the states how they wanted to raise them, but they oftentimes weren't (Brackemyre). There was also no uniform system of currency which made trade between states difficult. The fact that states instead of Congress regulated trade led to a lack...
In 1777, the states enacted the Articles of Confederation to preserve democracy and prevent tyranny from those who sought to centralize power. But in their efforts to keep their independence, the states created a weak central government that was unable to improve an insolvent economy and poor foreign relations.
The Articles of Confederation was the first government of the United States. The Articles had created a very weak national government. At the time the Articles were approved, they had served the will of the people. Americans had just fought a war to get freedom from a great national authority--King George III (Patterson 34). But after this government was put to use, it was evident that it was not going to keep peace between the states. The conflicts got so frequent and malicious that George Washington wondered if the “United” States should be called a Union (Patterson 35). Shays’ Rebellion finally made it evident to the public that the government needed a change.
The Articles creating a "loose confederation of states." is an example of one of these weaknesses. The Confederation had no independent executive or judiciary, no federal power of taxation or raising revenue and did not possess federal power to operate directly on individual citizens. Congress had the authority to bargain treaties with foreign powers, but all these treaties had to be endorsed by the states. Congress had no power to levy taxes or regulate trade. This means that the congress was not able to make the colonist pay taxes it could only request the state governments for money. The states and the national congress had both amassed debts during the war, and Congress had no power to standardize foreign or interstate business so paying the debts became a major concern. There was also a lack of a national currency as states had taken to printing their own currency, thereby reducing the strength of the American economy. The Articles respected states to a degree that their veto power could literally stop the defense of the country and taxation. There was no executive branch so the national government was powerless to enforce any acts that Congress passed. This meant it could not adequately defend itself from foreign invasion because it needed consent from the states. The level of power the Article
The Articles of Confederation was ratified in 1871 and considered to be the first Constitution of the United States. The goal of the Articles of Confederation was to ensure each states maintains its independence, sovereignty, and freedom. The Articles were ratified by all 13 states. (Daniel, P.14, 2010) The Confederation Congress called for a convention to meet in 1787 to be held in Philadelphia. The nature of the convention was to revise the articles of Confederation. The Confederation congress wanted the Constitution to be changed in a way that would render the federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union. (Daniel, P.14, 2010)
After the American Revolutionary War, the founding fathers had to build a government from scratch. It is not surprising that many of who were lawyers, relied on the English constitution as the foundation since it was familiar to them. Based on this, the founders drew up the Articles of Confederation in 1781 as the first national law. It was considered weak because it placed too much power in the hands of individual states without establishing an effective national government. The founders wanted a republican form of government where voters would elect officials to represent them. Many, like George Washington, were Federalists.
The Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1781 represented the former colonist’s first attempt to establish a new government after the Revolutionary War. These Articles provided a weak political document that was meant to keep the states united temporarily. The states had all the power, so any changes made to the Article of Confederation would take every state to approve it or amend it. In February 1787, Congress decided that a convention should be convened to revise the Article of Confederation (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2009). Congress felt the Article of Confederation was not enough to effectively deal with the young nations issues. Congress knew it was time for the country to move forward, and to do that, there would be some big changes ahead, and that was the end of the Articles of Confederation, and the beginning of the created US Constitution.