To what extent was the Constitution a radical departure from the Articles of Confederation?
The Constitution was a major radical departure from the Articles of Confederation because it solved many problems in America that were present under the Articles. It handled social, economical, and political problems in a different manner than the Articles.
Many social problems were happening in America under the Articles of Confederation before the Constitution was implemented. The Constitution handled these in a much different way, for example: The Whiskey Rebellion and Shays Rebellion. The Whiskey Rebellion was a 1794 protest against an excise tax on whiskey by the farmers in Western Pennsylvania. Washington dealt with this by quickly shutting the
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The Articles of Confederation were worthless in enforcing good interstate relations because they did not give Congress the power to regulate interstate trade. This caused economic problems because under the Articles of Confederation, all the states could, and did, have their own currency, so there were many different currencies. This made interstate trade difficult. But under the Constitution, Congress has right to regulate trade between states. Commerce became easier because all the states had the same money and it was much more efficient to buy and sells things across state borders with the same currency. It also made international trade better because a foreign country would be trading with the whole US instead of a single state like Virginia or New York. This shows how the Constitution handled these economic problems in a different manner than the …show more content…
He made the Louisiana Purchase, ended the Alien and Sedition Acts, and set a precedent for presidents only serving two terms. Firstly, Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase. This was the acquisition of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. This was very important in helping establish a stable government after the adoption of the Constitution. This is because it Encouraged westward expansion in which the economy flourished and with a better economy, the government was financially more stable. Secondly, Thomas Jefferson ended the Alien and Sedition Acts. In 1798, following the end of the quasi war with France, the Alien Act placed new obstacles in the way of foreigners trying to become American citizens. It gave the President more power to deal with aliens to the country and helped to discourage those who wished to immigrate to America. The Sedition Act called for the government to prosecute those who participated in sedition, or demonstrations of discontent and rebellion to the government. Abolishing these acts helped establish a stable government after the adoption of the Constitution because these acts had brought hostility towards the
Some of the problems with the Articles of Confederation were each state had the power to collect is own taxes, no universal currency, had the power to provide for its own militia. Also the national government lacked the power to compel states to honor national obligations, collect taxes or regulate commerce, and there were no courts to resolve issues among the different states. The American citizens also could not identify with the central government. There was no executive branch, no president, no national court system, and no effective way to
This resulted in separation between the states. In the new Constitution the states are forbidden from taxing imports. Instead, the federal government regulates all trade. This allows for a necessary free flow of goods between
Under the Article of Confederation, congress had no power to coin money, which meant each state had ability to develop its own currency. This obstructed the business between state and state apparently, as low liquidity of currency. Afterwards, Congress was unable to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, which caused American economic lost in chaos. Each state had its import and export polices. As well as they had their own economic coordination among states.
The main difference with the Articles of Confederation to the constitution is having the lack of Central Leadership in which we had didn’t have no national court system or judicial branch and an executive branch to enforce any acts passed by Congress as well being able to have presidential figure to represent America without a representative to conduct foreign affairs especially with Britain at the time. America wasn’t able to deal with internal and external threats since Congress could not draft troops and were dependent on states to contribute forces. The constitution fixed this by adding three branches executive,legislative and judicial also adding the checks and balances system. We also have an army now but congress has to authorize to
There are several differences between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. One difference is the government under the Constitution has the power to levy taxes. There were serious financial problems under the Articles of Confederation. Because the government couldn’t tax, we had trouble paying our debts. When the Constitution went into effect, a tax plan was developed.
The Articles of Confederation were passed following the American Revolution in order to establish law and order to the new country. Compared to today’s refined government, these laws came with many weaknesses such as differences in currency, unequal representation, and no enforcement of the laws. The articles stated that each state could have their own currency, meaning if two people in different states wanted to trade, or if someone was traveling to another state, they would have to exchange their currency. This would turn out to be troublesome due to the extra effort being made in currency exchange. It was like if traveling to or trading with another state was like traveling to or trading with another country in the modern day.
The debate over the Constitution created much tension throughout the new country. From problems with the Articles of Confederation, western expansion, Shay’s rebellion, problem’s at the Constitutional Convention, slave trade, and the start of the War of 1812 all created tensions over the Constitution but nothing that the greats minds of the time couldn’t handle. Initially, the Articles of Confederation were the first written constitution of the United States, drafted in 1777 and ratified four years later by Congress (Lecture). The Articles of Confederation provided for a government by a national legislature but left the crucial power of monies, as well as all final power to make and execute laws, entirely to the states (US: A Narrative History,
July 4th, 1776, the United States declared its independence from Great Britain through the Declaration of Independence. Before long, series of documents, alongside the declaration, were constructed to rectify the conflict that had long existed between authority and liberty. The documents strived to resolve the tension by establishing a strong, representative government. The government would possess enough power to make decisive changes while also protecting and preserving the liberty of the people.
After the Articles of Confederation failed because they failed to give enough power to the national government and congress, our founding father’s needed to reflect on its flaws for a new system to be set in place. Their new creation, our Constitution, was then set into place, and was created from a basis of the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation directly influence the Constitution by its failure by changing some of the responsibilities of the federal and state governments. The Articles of Confederation gave too much power to the states, and the Constitution changed that.
“Recognizing that these issues were symptoms of fundamental flaws in the Articles of Confederation, the delegates soon abandoned the plan to revise the Articles of Confederation and committed themselves to a second founding-- a second, and ultimately successful, attempt to create, a legitimate and effective national government ” (Ginsberg 38). This illustrates the transition of the removal of the Article of Confederation to the new beginnings of the United States Constitution. The Article of Confederation was first drafted on November 15, 1777, but later removed on May 25, 1787, to the United States Constitution. The purpose of this explicit transformation was that the Articles of Confederation had many flaws to retain the Commonwealth united
This important event had ended the monarchy power in the America and it marked a new beginning of a republic nation. The revolution was followed by an economic depression in the nation. The main problem was the Articles of Confederation gave too much authority to the states, leaving the Congress with so little power. The Congress had so little power that they could not do anything to enforce or protect the nation. Seeing, another Constitution of Convention is opened to revise the Articles of Confederation.
This started change that would continue to change from year to year. If we had to choose between Constitution or Confederation I would choose Confederation we would be allowed to have more freedom as well as britain ,we would be able to become less involved with the government or their colonies, it was time consuming and expensive. It was time for the colonies to become more independent with each other. If we had the rights with Confederation our colonies would be able to grow new railroads and roads, which cost a great deal of money. They’re pros and cons with Confederation for an example it would give us more freedom but at the same its a con because we would have more taxes and more money then have to pay
Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. George Bernard Shaw Primarily, the articles on the confederation was the first written constitution of the United States. During the time it caused many destruction which steamed though everything. This process made everything becoming even slower than it is today. The central authority were feared and the land claims of the people would be authorized doing the 1781.
By doing so, it allowed the newly free states to obtain most of the power as opposed to having a government oversee the treaties. The government was unable to conduct foreign affairs successfully. Under the Article of Confederation, congress had the power to declare war and make peace, it could coin money, but it couldn’t
The most important difference between these documents was that the Articles of Confederation gave very little power to a central government and the Constitution created a strong central government. The Article of Confederation was written to unite states after the American Revolution. People had the fear of the government having too much power. This document established