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Similarities and differences between federalism and separation of power
Compare and contrast the articles of confederation and constitution
Federalism and separation of power
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The Article of Confederation created a weak central government, where there was no chief executive, there was no court system, there was not even a way for the central government to force a state to pay taxes. For Madison and his fellow delegates, the challenge was to write a constitution that was strong enough to hold the states and the people together without letting any one person, or group, or branch, or level of government gain too much control. The founding fathers created the U.s constitution that would guard the country against tyranny that it experienced once before from the colonizers. The constitution outlined Federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances and representation of all states to help guard against tyranny.
The constitution created three branches of government namely the executive, judiciary and legislative. Each branch has different rules and objectives, which contribute to the overall running of the country. The branches prevent each other from controlling the government and therefore preventing tyranny.
Checks and balances guarded against tyranny by giving each branch fair opportunity to stop the other branches from doing anything unconstitutional. Each of the three branches can check the other branches to make sure they are all the same in power. They check by using their equal power and approving or disapproving something that the other branch has done. If one branch becomes too powerful, then there may be a tyranny meaning a branch has total control over the government which is avoided through checks and balances.
Equal representation of all-states helped guard against tyranny by making sure that all states have equal power. The constitution instituted for a mandatory one representative per state and an additional representative member depending on the size of the state. With the senators, each senator had one vote. The constitution prevented some states from having too much power over the smaller
Checks and Balances. Checks and balances is a system that is a part of out U.S. Constitution. This system was put in to place so that no part of government would have too much power. The three branches: judicial, legislative and executive are constantly granting and checking the other branches actions, this is to make sure no one person can gain an excessive amount of control in government. For example according to ," the legislative branch is in charge of making laws. The executive branch can veto the law, thus making it harder for the legislative branch to pass the law. The judicial branch may also say that the law is unconstitutional and thus make sure it is not a law.The legislative branch can also remove a president or judge that is not doing his/her job properly. The executive branch appoints judges and the legislative branch approves the choice of the executive branch. Again, the branches check and balance each other so that no one branch has too much power".
The Articles of Confederation was the nation’s first Constitution. The articles created a loose Confederation of independent states that gave limited powers to the central government. Each state would have one vote in the House of Congress, no matter the size of the population. Members of the one-house Congress, such as Pennsylvania, agreed that the new government should be a unicameral legislature, without an executive branch or a separate judiciary. Under the article, there wasn’t a strong independent executive.
The separation of powers keeps any one branch from gaining too much power by creating 3 separate, distinct branches power can be shared equally among. According to Madison, “Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.”(Document B) In other words, to avoid tyranny and achieve liberty, the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) must be separate and diverse. The purpose of a separation of powers is to divide the powers of the government so there is not only one central source of power. The three branches must be as distinct as possible to avoid falling into the hands of one individual leader. There are also checks and balances between these three branches. Checks and balances are a system of each branch monitoring an...
The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people.
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.
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...
The third guard against tyranny was checks and balances which means that each branch can check on each other.It says in Madison's quote in Document C that the several offices were arranged so that they can be a check on the other. Document C shows that the branches are separated by congress, president, and the courts, which are the three main parts of the constitution.Checks and balances protects against tyranny by giving the branches the power to check on other branches.
The principle of separation of powers is laid out in Articles I, II, and III, in effort to avoid tyranny. It is a part of a system called check and balances. The check and balances play the roles of the three branches of government. This system was made so that no one branch will over power the other. The three branches come together and help one another by being independent of the other. The legislative branch consists of the Congress, the judicial branch consists of the courts, and the executive branch consists of the president. For an example, when a bill is in progress and the chief executive (president or governor) does not approve of it, he can reject legislation and return it to the legislature with reasons for the rejection. This is a process called veto power.
First, the formation of the Articles of Confederation was the first constitution in the United States. The Articles of Confederation was not the best constitution out there since congress could make decisions, but had no power to enforce them. There was a requirement for unanimous approval before any modifications
The Constitution that was created had a strong central government and weaker state governments. Under the Constitution, Congress was given the power to levy taxes, regulate trade between the states, raise an army, control interstate commerce, and more. A three-branch government was established in which a judicial branch handled disputes in a federal court system, a President headed an executive branch, and a legislative branch. Conversely, the anti-federalists believed in weak central and strong state governments, as the way it was in The Articles of Confederation and believed in strict adherence to the writings of the constitution.
The Articles of Confederation was a plan of government that was based on the principles that were fought for in the American Revolutionary War. Even though The Articles of Confederation were based upon principles we fought for, it contained major flaws. The government had no power of national taxation and had no power to control trade. The biggest weakness of The Articles of Confederation was that it had no direct origin in the people, the states were in control. Each and every state had the power to collect its own taxes, issue currency, and provide for its own military. The Articles of Confederation was a transition between the Revolutionary War and the Constitution. Without The Articles of Confederation it would have been impossible to create the United States Constitution, mistakes were made with the first, and fixed later with the Constitution.
separation of powers, which means that the government is separated into separate branches so that they can spread out the power so that one branch of government can have more pull in what happen in the decisions made for the well-being of the country. One way that the documents show the way that the constitution uses the separation of powers to guard against tyranny is when it has the people in the government that make the largest decisions able to serve for a term of only a few years. The separation of powers protects against tyranny because it makes sure that one branch of government can be more powerful and have more say than another so that there can 't be any tyranny. This means that the Legislative Branch should be completely different from the Executive or the Judicial Branch. This would separate all the powers needed into three separate parties. The different branches could have different viewpoints to make sure that almost everyone is pleased with the government. This may prevent tyranny by making people not want to try to take over the government because they think it is in good hands and the three branches of government are hard to take over, since there are three whole branches. In conclusion, the Constitution, may protect us from tyranny in this
A third way that our constitution guards against tyranny is with checks and balances. Checks and balances are ways for one of the three branches to stop one of the other branches from doing something that isn’t right. For one example of many, in Doc C, it says that the Legislative branch can can veto the president (executive branch) after he (or she) votes on a law. This protects against tyranny because if one of the branches does something bad, the other branches have ways to stop
A constitution is the system of fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed. Our founding fathers created the US Constitution to set specific standards for our country. We must ask ourselves why our founding fathers created the Constitution in the first place. America revolted against the British due to their monarchy form of government. After the American Revolution, each of the original 13 colonies operated under its own rules of government. Most states were against any form of centralized rule from the government. They feared that what happened in England would happen again. They decided to write the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified in 1781. It was not effective and it led to many problems. The central government could not regulate commerce between states, deal with foreign governments or settle disputes. The country was falling apart at its seams. The central government could not provide assistance to the state because there wasn’t a central army. When they realized that the Articles of Confederation was not up to par, they held a convention, known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As a result of t...
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.