...Article of Confederation The Articles of Confederation was known for the first written constitution of the United States. The plan of government created by the Articles of Confederation had strengths and weaknesses. It shows to have more weaknesses than strength. The weaknesses of the Article of Confederation included the fact that every state was in a position to follow any laws that were desired. The Articles of Confederation did little to promote colonial unity; therefore, it shows to have some weakness, strength and also the support of the anti-federalists and federalist debate. The Articles of Confederation shows to have more weakness than strength. The most common weakness in the Article of Confederation was the lack of power that was given to the Continental Congress strangled the federal government. The Articles of Confederation gave Congress the power to pass laws but no power to enforce those laws. If the state did not support a federal law that state could simply ignore it. The Article of Confederation had no power to levy taxes or regulate trade....
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...up with the articles of Confederation in order to govern the country. After the articles of Confederation was failing, the Constitutional Convention met up in Philadelphia in 1786 in order to amend the articles of Confederation. During this convention they came up with a new and improved Constitution. Both of these constitutions were very different from each other and were both opposed by different groups of people. Both of these constitutions had some drawbacks but in the new constitution things can be amended with three-quarters of the states approving the amendment. The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution that the United States of America came up with. It became the constitution of the United States from the time the United States became a nation until 1776. One key factor of the Articles of Confederation was that power was given mainly to the states rather than the federal government. The groups that supported the Articles of Confederation were famers and small merchants because the center of political power was in the state rather than the federal government which benefited them. Under the Articles of Confederation, the states were the ones whom were allowed to levy taxes and also were allowed to negotiate separate treaties with foreign countries. Since the federal government...
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...The Article of Confederation was a scripted arrangement, which was approved by the thirteen original states of the United States. The Article of Confederation contains procedures as to how the United States government was thought to operate. The Article of Confederation is sometimes called Articles; it was created in November 1777 and approved by thirteen original states in March 1781 (Cheek, 2016). The Founding Fathers of the United States subjected a severe criticism a few years after the approval of The Article of Confederation. This led to a decision for the Article of Confederation to be altered to satisfy the nation. The delegates from the thirteen states met in Philadelphia in May 1787 to review the Article of Confederation. In concluding, the delegation members made a common decision that reworking the whole Constitution was better than reviewing the current Article of Confederation (Cheek, 2016). The United States Constitution is reflected to be the supreme law in the United States of America today. It specifies the standards for the association of the United States government. The foundation of the new constitution was created because of the several complications with the Articles. The...
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...Historical Essay #1: Confederation and Constitution Anthony Snow DeVry University 08/01/2015 HISTORICAL ESSAY #1: CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION As with anything in this world there are always strengths and weaknesses when people are comparing two different items, as no one item can be a perfect solution; there are always compromises. The same happens when we are comparing the Articles of Confederation and the New Constitution of 1787. Both of theses two solutions each have their own strengths and weaknesses. First we have the Articles of Confederation that when written gave each state a lot of individual powers, and because of this was one of the main reasons for the New Constitution, and I want to show how these two solutions are different, and how the New Constitution uses some of the same concepts that make up the Articles of Constitution. I would first like to take a look at the Articles of Confederation, and explore some of the strengths and weaknesses that came as a result of adopting it. The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. One of the main weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation was that although it was able to produce a confederation of sovereign states, it was also responsible for weakening the central government, as the Articles of Confederation gave almost all of the power to the individual state governments. With the individual state gaining more power, the national government found it extremely difficult...
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...Constitution Paper HST/155 January 25, 2016 Andrew Cramer Constitution Paper After the Revolution, citizens of the United States were free of British rule, but found themselves in need of a government to keep peace and prosperity among the different states. The Articles of Confederation was finally put into place in 1777 that was intended to do just that. However, not all states agreed with the Articles of Confederation. At that time, each state counted for one vote regardless of size, which was fine for smaller states, but the larger ones felt that their votes should have more say in matters due to its larger population. Congress had little power to tax for much needed funds, nor to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. When Congress would pass laws, there was no executive branch of government to enforce the laws. There was no national court system when issues would arise and any amendments to the Articles of Confederation required a unanimous vote (Barker, 2012). Each state wanted its own individual power and money and rejected any idea of one government controlling them all. This caused problems with the economy because states did want to give up its own money to a central government. They felt like it would turn into something similar to the British Monarchy. With each state printing its own money and having their own military, it was difficult, if not impossible for the government to create any unity among the states (The Articles of Confederation, 2015)....
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...America was struggling with the articles of confederation so they made the constitution. The Articles of Confederation were very weak so framers made the constitution of the United States of America. As it says in document 1,2 and 3 here are some weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. The state government had more power than the federal government and that is not good. The states can do pretty much whatever they want without approval from the federal government. Also The federal government had no power to enforce treaties, so basically you stay at war forever unless the states want peace. Even more reasons that it is bad is that there is no national currency so you can not go to Maine and use New York money. This is obviously a big...
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...Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution The Birth of a Nation Joseph J. Zarzycki United States History – 405 Aimee James June 1, 2014 At the end of the revolutionary war the free states of the Union desired some sort of control that would create a unified country. The first such control came from what was called the Articles of Confederation, essentially our first constitution. This document addressed many issues. 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 individual rights of the citizens? The Articles of Confederation, as it turned out, were lacking in several key areas and would be considered a failure. After the shortcomings of the articles began to become apparent, the state delegates tried to revise them; but instead, constructed the Constitution. When creating the Articles of Confederation, thirteen states formed a Confederation referred to as the “League of Friendship” in order to find a solution for common problems and concerns. The Articles of Confederation created a loose Confederation of independent states that gave limited powers to the central government. Each state, regardless of population, would have one vote in the house of Congress. Members of the one-house Congress agreed that the new government should be a unicameral legislature, without an executive branch or...
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...The Constitution of the United States of America The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of America. It consists of seven articles all created to make sure each member in the court of law is being honest and it states what their exact job in the courtroom is. They are expected to follow these exact laws as they are written from how many congressmen are elected per state down to how they would be elected. The Constitution is the oldest and the shortest written constitution in the entire world. In creating the Constitution, the states were both defensive and understanding. Although the document provided rights that were very much needed to the American citizens of this world it pointed out all of the problems That were wrong with our country. The United States of America has been ran under two different constitutions, the first being the Articles of Confederation. With the way the Articles of Confederation was created the Constitution was very much needed. The Articles of Confederation was put in effect on March 1, 1781 due to the Continental congress who were acting on behalf of the Americans which they had no right to do. Not too long after came the Constitution which has been in place since June 21, 1788. The Constitution was developed in order to replace the Articles of Confederation and fix a few issues the founding fathers found needed to be corrected over the short time it was established. There was a ton of weaknesses in the Articles of...
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...its time, Great Britain. This document came to be known as The Articles of Confederation and it is the first written Constitution constructed by the United States Continental Congress. The objective of this document was to unify the thirteen states under one central government while retain each individual state right. After the war our founding fathers recognize huge flaws in this document that would eventually destroy the national government if not changed. One of the main flaws was the Articles lack of power to demonstrate authority over the states. Delegates from all over argued for years on if there was a need for a Constitution. Those in favor of a new Constitution, identified themselves as Federalists while those who were in favor of keeping the Articles were identified as Anti-federalists. Because of Federalists such as Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison and Anti- Federalists Patrick...
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...| Historical Essay: | Confederation and Constitution | | Jason Sherman | | | The Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, was adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777. However, sanction of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, which resulted in most of the power residing with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789 (Researchers, 2013). Some weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that ultimately resulted in failure were the fact that each state only had one vote in Congress, regardless of size, Congress did not have the power to tax, Congress did not have the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce, there was no executive branch to enforce any acts passed by Congress, there was no nation court system, Amendments to the Articles of Confederation required a unanimous vote, and laws required a 9/13 majority to pass in Congress. Under the Articles of Confederation, states often argued amongst themselves. They also refused to financially support the national government, who was also powerless to enforce any acts it did pass. Some states began making agreements...
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...Bryan McIntosh 2/12/2012 UST 600 Federalist Paper # 46 Federalist Paper 46 was written by James Madison. It was published on January 29, 1788. The essay examines the strength of the state and federal governments under the proposed United States Constitution. It is titled, "The Influence of the State and Federal Governments Compared." James Madison argues that States and the Federal Government are different but should collaborate with unified goals and powers. Madison realized that the people will be loyal to their states and possibly rebel against the central government if pushed to do so. He realized the federal government had to be sensitive to the people’s rights. Not to go down the European path they fled once upon a time. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION: * Before the Articles of Confederation States had too much power over the federal government. * States had the power to create own currency * Form their own militias * Regulate their own trade CONSTITUTION: * The purpose of the original union of 13 colonies was to protect themselves from outside attacks. * The constitution was created to not limit states right but to them to reasoning that can better benefit the union. * The powers granted to the federal government are few and specific and will be exercised towards external parties. Powers granted to the states are many and general and focused solely on internal affairs. The federal government will be the most important in times...
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...Paper By: Nicole Riedy HIS/115 January 6, 2014 Instructor: Amy Obszarski Constitution of the United States During the 1700’s men such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson came up with a group of laws that they thought would benefit the people of the Americas. There were a few complaints with the Decoration of Independence that the Constitution was able to address and at the same time the Constitution was able to identify and address weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. There are many reasons as to why the Constitution evolved but it served well for the United States. The Great Compromise was a formal agreement for both large and small states to have two representatives in the upper house for each state. The Connecticut Compromise or as it is most likely known as The Great Compromise, was written in 1787 during the Constitutional Convention by Oliver Ellsworth and Roger Sherman. The Constitutional Convention set up it to where each state would be able to have their own congressional representation and legislative structure. The Great Compromise also required that each state be represented by two representatives within the upper house and that representation in the lower house be equal between all states. This congressional congress session went on for seven long weeks and was almost ruined or destroyed by the issue of representation. The states still argues that they were providing more of a contribution to the financial and defensive resources and so...
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...of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Write one or two paragraphs in each section. Include citations for your sources. |Documents |Summary |What was its influence on the Constitution? | |Magna Carta |The Magna Carta was a set of laws generated by the barons of |When the thirteen US colonies became independent from Great Britain in 1776, it | | |England and the Archbishop Steven Langton of the Catholic |needed to set a central government to pass laws and enforce the laws. During this | | |Church to limit the powers that King John possessed during the |time many British settlers followed the great Britain law that was put in place by | | |12 century and of any king thereafter. The Magna Carta came |the Magna Carta. In 1789 the United States Constitution was ratified and many of the| | |into law on June 15, 1215 and marked the beginning to a |Magna Carta laws were introduced to the foundation of what is the United States | | |constitutional England where the laws were promised to be good |Constitution. Such laws as that of no man should be punished...
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...In 1787-1788, a great debate on whether to approve the Constitution or to reject it absorbed the energies of many Americans, with Federalists arguing in favor and Antifederalists against. Which side of the debate would you have supported had you been present at the time? Why? The Articles of Confederation provided an inadequate government because of various financial, diplomatic, and social problems that the weak system could not handle. Merchants and planters who depended on the English market were hit hard when an American victory cut ties with England. Staple crops such as rice were no longer in high demand, nor were other products such as fish. England did nothing to ease the impact of these problems; the sale of American farm products were banned in the West Indies ad the rights of American vessels to carry goods to and from the Caribbean were restricted. To finance the war, the Continental Congress had printed more than $240 million in paper money that was backed by “good faith” rather than by hard currency such as gold or silver. The value of this paper currency diminished as doubts that they could ever pay the sum in return rose. The government was unsuccessful when trying to raise money as well; because of the necessary unanimous approval to pass tariffs, the government could not place tariffs on goods because states declined. The Confederation’s diplomatic record was as discouraging as its financial plight. Although the British agrees to evacuate their western forts...
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...University of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Complete each section below. Include citations for your sources. |Documents |Summary |What was its influence on the Constitution? | |Magna Carta |Written in 1215, the document was a series of written promises |The magna carta served as the first piece of legislature attempting to keep the | | |that the King would rule England and deal with the people |rights for the people fair. The Americans saw it and read about it and decided it | | |fairly according to feudal law. It was an attempt by the barons|was time America had “higher law” ideas and design a document to give the people | | |to stop the king from becoming an oppressor more than a ruler. |rights and to protect them from oppression, such as the people during the time of | | | |the magna carta were suffering. | |Mayflower Compact |The mayflower compact served as the document needed to keep the|Much like the magna carta, the mayflower compact was put into...
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