Articles Of Confederation Dbq Essay

Unit 3 Initial Writing Task In the aftermath of the successful American Revolution, the Founding Fathers were given the responsibility of creating a new national government for their newly independent nation, the United States of America. Fearing the oppressive capabilities of a strong government as a result of their struggles with Great Britain, the Founding Fathers initially decided to create a weaker central government called the Articles of Confederation. Before long, the Founding Fathers discerned that the Articles of Confederation were failing. An enduring issue which connects to this time period in United States history is the enduring issue of “conflict” because there was a plethora of conflicts created by the weakness of the Articles, as evidenced by documents 1 and 2.

The Constitution used the concept of a two house legislature made to satisfy both the smaller and larger states. The two chambers were the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate benefited smaller states and guaranteed that each would receive equal representation by having two representatives serve their state. The House of Representatives benefited the larger states and guaranteed representation of the state based on population. The Articles applied a unicameral legislature to their government that had one legislative chamber and left the central government with no separation of power.

The structure of the articles was that congress needed 9 of 13 votes from the states to pass legislation which was difficult. Also, congress were given the authority to coin money, make treaties and maintain

Southern states battled for slaves to be checked as far as portrayal. The bargain between the two wound up plainly known as the three-fifths trade off on the grounds that each five slaves would be included as three people terms of portrayal. Commerce Compromise, The bargain commanded that duties were just to be permitted on imports from outside nations and not sends out from the U.S. This trade off likewise directed that interstate business would be managed by the government. It additionally required that all trade enactment be passed by a 66% larger part in the Senate, which was a win for the South since it countered the energy of the more crowded Northern states.

Also, the definition of population was questioned as to whether slaves were counted or not. To deal with this the Three/Fifths compromise was struck. Each slave counted as three/fifths of one

The Articles of Confederation were, in short, a hot mess. Nothing could get done; the power dynamics among the thirteen states and the lack of power within the federal government to intervene led to utter disarray. In Document 3, George Washington admits in a letter that the Articles of Confederation were faulty in that they had “too good an opinion of human nature” and the leniency of the Articles had created “thirteen sovereign, independent, disunited States”. The hopes of creating a nation out of the thirteen colonies were destroyed with the Articles of Confederation, and unity could only be achieved through establishing a stronger national government. Document 1 goes farther in describing the perils of a nation split apart at the seams

First off, slavery was handled in a very complex type of way. Due to the fact that people in southern states feared the future abolishment of slavery, the Constitution did not clearly state anything about slavery. The Constitution added that in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College, slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person. This was done so that southern states would have power over slaves. Additionally, the new Federal Constitution prohibited Congress to ban slave trade for twenty years.

The Constitution is a plan of government for our country. An Amendment is a change or addition to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to Constitution. The three branches of government include the Judicial, Legislative, Executive. The Judicial branch interprets the laws or says what the laws mean, the legislative branch makes the laws, and the executive branch carries out/executes the laws.

The Constitution also includes a system of checks and balances to limit the power of each branch and protect individual liberties. The Constitution established a president as the head of the executive branch, a bicameral Congress, and a Supreme Court. The Constitution also includes the Bill of Rights, which guarantees certain individual rights and freedoms, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. Additionally, the Constitution's system of checks and balances helps to prevent any one branch of government from becoming too powerful and violating individual rights.

The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the united states. It gave great power to the State governments. The states had numerous rights to run their State the way they wanted to without consent from the national government. The States were not responsible for paying taxes to the central government, which led to lack of resources for a military among other necessities.

In Madison’s plan, it went over representation of both houses depending on population in each of the states. The plan resembled Britain’s parliament and omitted the discussion of taxation or regulation of trade which have been set aside in the favor of fighting for a new and stronger form of government. The Constitutional Convention was necessary because the Articles of Confederation was weak and states were operating independently. George Washington called for delegates to meet in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787.

The Articles of Confederation which was ratified and in effect in 1781, included thirteen articles that ranged from limits of the powers of states and government as a Confederation, to ways to change or amend the articles. The Articles of Confederation had two prominent groups, the Federalist and Antifederalists who had different views on how central the government should be to the united colonies. In Article 2 it guaranteed the absolute freedom, independence, and sovereignty of each state. That meant that Congress was essentially only limited to do its job based on the states.

One of the compromises made in the Constitutional Convention is the three-fifths compromise. In this compromise, the southerners wanted to add slaves to the population of the state they lived in. If slaves were included in their state’s population, that state would be able to add more representatives in the House of Representatives. Northerners did not agree with that statement because slaves did not have the right to vote. After the delegates compromised, they agreed that only three-fifths of the slave’s population would be counted into the state’s population.

The Failure of The Articles of Confederation The articles of Confederation was a written document that explained the functions for the national government. It was also the first US Constitution. The Articles were put into place in 1781. The writers of the Articles hoped to give less power to the government so complete over rule was not possible.

The article of confederation was the first form of government in the United States. Although its objective was to construct a strong central government it failed. Shays rebellion demonstrated that the article of confederation gave congress no power to tax or regulates commerce among the states. As well, provided for no common currency and gave each state in congress only one vote regardless of size. As a result, the article confederation demonstrated a weak government.