Two contradicting ideas in one document, how is that possible? The Constitution was created in 1787 to replace the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was a unicameral legislature, led by the Confederate Congress, that caused many problems between the government and the people. It failed for many reasons, including the fact that all thirteen states needed to be on the same page to ratify the Articles and it was not able to create a united, powerful nation. Congress also did not have the power to “enforce taxes, regulate commerce between states, and compel state cooperation,” to escape debt (Benson 1). Most people who were in favor of a new Constitution also favored democratic ideals. Democracy can be defined as a form of …show more content…
This group of 55 delegates met for four months in Independence Hall in Pennsylvania (Hubbard-Brown 1). Their intent was to revise the Articles of Confederation, but could not do so because Rhode Island was not present, therefore they created a new document that would be known as the US Constitution (Thomas 1 and Hubbard-Brown 1). George Washington led these men until September 17th, which was the date the Constitution was adopted by the convention (Hubbard-Brown 4). This new governing document was meant to construct a strong central government, that took into account the opinions of the people, describe all powers a government can have, and be the supreme law of the people (Genovese 1 and Thomas 1). Overall, the creators meant to have a democratic system because it supported the ideas of the people and did not allow the governing officials to become …show more content…
The larger states wanted representation in the legislative branch to be based on population, while the smaller states wanted population to be equal for all states. The solution to this disagreement, called the Great Compromise, was to create two branches of congress, the House of Representatives and the Congress, where the House’s representation is based on population, while the Congress is made up of two representatives per state (Valentine 7). This compromise is one of the most democratic because it gives say to the people and does not allow the bigger states to overpower the smaller, and vice versa. Out of all the branches and sub-branches of government, the House of Representatives seems to support democracy the most considering that it is chosen by the people, but the definition of people at this time was property owning white men (Genovese 2). Another compromise that was made by the delegates was about how the branches would interact with each other and what powers each individual branch would possess. Regarding the executive branch, the Federalists wanted the president to be able to serve for as long as the lived, while Anti-Federalists wanted there to be strict term limits. There was also an argument about how much actual power the president would hold regarding their veto. The democratic solution was to allow a president to serve an unlimited amount of 4 year terms and allow the
fter the Treaty of Paris formally ended the American Revolution and recognized the United States of America as an independent nation, the Founding Fathers were made responsible for creating a government for the United States of America. They initially founded the Articles of Confederation, a weak government, out of fear of a strong, powerful one like Great Britain. Shortly after, however, the Founding Fathers noticed that the Articles of Confederation were failing. An enduring issue that connects to this time period is the enduring issue of conflict because the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation were the root cause of many conflicts between and in the states, as shown in Documents 1 and 2. Documents 1 and 2 both summarize the major flaws of the Articles of Confederation and the many conflicts they sparked.
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.
In the late 1700’s, it was America’s goal to create a republic that had a representative government that was based upon the approval of the people. Unfortunately, the people feared a strong central government because of the previous trouble the colonies had when they were ruled by Britain. They were always being unfairly taxed and had very few rights. In order to avoid this, a very weak government was developed that seemed to satisfy the people, but would not satisfy the well being of the country. It wasn’t until Shay’s rebellion which brought light to the fact that the Articles of Confederation were not going to cut it, so the Constitutional Convention was created and convened to find an alternative solution which was the creation of the Constitution.
When the Constitution was first drafted in Philadelphia, 1787, there was strong opposition to it from the supporters of the Articles of Confederation, America’s first governing document. One of the starkest Anti-Federalists, Patrick Henry, believed the Constitution was a gateway to power for tyrants, similarly, Thomas Jefferson strongly opposed the Constitution’s ratification, believing the Constitution would strip Americans of their freedoms and liberties. Despite their efforts, the Constitution was signed into law, and is now contrarily viewed as that which protects Americans’ rights. The US Constitution is a more democratic document than the Articles of Confederation because under the Articles there was no proportional representation, Americans did not directly vote for any representatives in Congress under the Articles, and the Constitution implemented federal income taxes were able to fund a government that could effectively protect the rights of American citizens.
The federal government does not have full, complete power of the government, due to the fact the federal government has to power to tax, regulate commerce, and put laws into place if and only if laws are so called “necessary and proper.” Another thing was for each branch of government to have their own separation of powers and check and balance other branches of government. Either though, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists did not agree on ideas, the Constitution is a document of the general compromise between the two political parties. The weakness of the Articles of the Confederation was resolved through the compromise of the Federalists and Anti-federalists political
As a new republic, we cannot afford to make the same mistake twice when establishing the law of the land for our government. The weaknesses and flaws in the Articles of Confederation were evident when Shay’s rebellion arose not long ago in Massachusetts. How do we protect the law-abiding citizen from enemies, both foreign and domestic, who seek to disrupt the Liberty of the United States and jeopardize our security? The Constitution of the United States Article 1, Section 8, Clause 12 state, “The Congress shall have Power To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years.” We the people of the United States must ratify the Constitution in order to create a Standing Army that provide security against both internal and external threats of America.
The Constitution of 1879 established the United States national government and its underlying laws, which guaranteed its people their basic rights. Compared to our first governing document, the Articles of Confederation was weak and the national government allowed states to operate like independent countries which caused the division among the original colonies. When it was evident the Articles of Confederation was not necessarily the best option a new constitution was conceived. At the 1787 convention, delegates planed on creating a stronger federal government which would bring a solution for the country. This new constitution would contain three the branches; executive, legislative and judicial where the power would be divided equally.
When the thirteen colonies declared their independence from Britain, they no longer had a government or authority to rule. So, the Articles of Confederation was created and became the first constitution to govern the United States. This plan was created in order to organize the nation and fight the Revolutionary War for independence. The Articles of Confederation had many weaknesses such as the government only had one branch that only created laws and did not have branches to execute, interpret, or enforce the laws. As a result, the Confederation failed the nation and it was abolished then a new constitution was created entitled the U.S Constitution.
Analyzing the Documents On the day of November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation was created, a few years later on March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation was ratified. The Articles of Confederation, which used to be called the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual union served as the first constitution of the United States. The articles were a list of agreements the thirteen colonies could follow to become a unified nation. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation failed, because the government were too weak, some efforts were put in to try to strengthen the government but it failed.
A convention based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 25, 1787 was called for the purpose of amending the Articles of Confederation. Confident to construct a new government from the ground up. Wouldn’t have been possible without the aid of the fifty-five delegates. The delegates pushed though despite their differences in opinions. Outlining our new government took well over a quarter of the year.
With the revolution won, the colonist’s drafted the first known constitution as the Articles of Confederation. Favoring power to the separate states instead of a national government, the influence of King George III permanently ridded the conscience of the colonists from one body, or group, having excessive power over the nation. In all, the power came from the People. Regardless of the colonist’s success, however, led to more dire situations in their growth.
The first event that led to the creation of many different political factions began from 1787 to 1815. It was known as the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was first set in motion in 1781. The Articles of Confederation was created so that the government didn’t have all of the power. Since the Articles of Confederation split the power, 13 members of the federal government had was the right to declare war.
Problems with the Articles of Confederation Essay Option #1 Jeffrey Song POL 1101 ATRA Professor Wilby 10/16/17 Only by fighting a revolution could the colonists solve the problem of the tyrannical British. However, after winning the war, the colonists found ruling themselves much more difficult than what they had initially expected. Ratified in 1781, the Articles of Confederation was the first type of governmental structure that unified the colonies. This document was short-lived, only lasting about eight years, because of a multitude of problems. The Articles of Confederation’s primary flaw was the lack of governmental authority.
(1) During the years 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation were created in order to provide a means for an effective government for the United States. Since they were a newly formed independent nation, they required in having a stable government that help keep the country organized. The eleven states would create a document that would become the Articles of Confederation. From the start it would only crash and burn for it had a weak central government that did not contain an executive or judicial branch that we do today, which would make the state governments handle their own affairs. The reason behind such a poorly implemented document was due to the fact that the colonists did not seek to have a government that would merely replace one
The Federalist main argument was stated based off the opinion that the government would never have complete power over the citizens, but the citizens would also have a little more power and a say in the things that involve them. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists believed in limited powers specifically stated, they wanted strong state governments, and wanted a Bill of Rights added to the Constitution to protect the people from the government (Document 4). This was their point of view due to the fact that they believed that the individual states know and can act more based on their people that on federal government can. They focused their argument on the rights of the citizens. For the Federalists and Anti-Federalists to agree on a new government, they created a compromise that combined each of their ideas.