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Confederation Weaknesses

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Throughout history various documents including the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution were created to address various issues of their time periods. These issues primarily revolved around the government because the government is what controlled everything else. The Declaration of Independence was written in response to the awful ways in which the colonists were being treated by the British, the Articles of Confederation were created to eliminate the British rule that dreadfully governed the colonies, and the United States Constitution was created to organize a strong central government, something which the Articles of Confederation failed to do. With the passing of the Tea Act by …show more content…
There was no national militia or national currency due to the fact that states were able to issue their own currency. There was also the question of whether or not foreign governments should deal with 13 small states or 1 large one. Due to these weaknesses, the Constitutional Convention was held from May through September of 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in which 55 delegates, who represented all states, but Rhode Island met with the intention of amending the Articles of Confederation. The goal of the Constitution was to create the strong central executive authority that the Articles of Confederation lacked. The Constitution of the United States was signed on September 17, 1787. The Constitution contains several parts, the first being the preamble, or introduction of the Constitution in which the reasons for developing a new governing document are listed. These reasons included making a better government, ensuring justice for all citizens, ensuring peace at home, providing safety and security, promoting the wellbeing of citizens, and securing freedom and liberty for citizens now and in the future. The Constitution contains several basic principles including popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and flexibility. Popular sovereignty is the idea that power is distributed at the consent of the people. Limited government is the idea that the power of the federal and state governments is limited by the law (the constitution). Separation of powers is the idea that power is equally divided among the three branches or the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government by the Constitution. Checks and balances is the idea that each branch of government checks the power of the other two branches. Federalism is the idea that power is divided between the federal (central) government

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