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Compare The Articles Of Confederation And The Us Constitution

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Over the course of the United States history, two forms of government have been used. Those two forms of government have been the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution, which is still used to this date. The Articles of Confederation, proposed in November 1777, did not go into effect until ratified by all 13 states on March 1781. The US Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation in 1789 when George Washington took the oath of President under this new constitution. It has lasted for over 200 years, making it one of the oldest constitutions still in use today. It is the most effective of the two because it gave power to the people of the nation, the states, and the central government. Article 2 of the Articles of Confederation spoke on how “each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right.”1 This created a confederation of states that were as independent as possible within congress. It was made because American colonists grew weary of a strong national government like the British crown they had been under for so many years. They did not want to create another government that grew apart as time went on. Furthermore, American colonists were strongly loyal to their states and as a result, the Articles of Confederation kept the central government weak, and made states as independent as possible. On the other hand, the U.S. Constitution unified the 13 states by creating different branches of government and consequently, did not give sole power to the states and Congress.

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1. “Transcript of the Articles Of Confederation (1777),” ourdocuments.gov, October 25, 2017,https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=true&page=transcript&doc=3&title=Transcript+of+Articles+of+Confederation+%281777%29

Legislation under the Articles of Consideration was inefficient because it stated, “In determining questions in the united states, in congress assembled, each state shall have one vote.”2 This meant that regardless of the population in each state, they were only entitled to one vote in Congress. If a state with 1000 people approved a decision with less than half of the population in that state agreeing to the proposal in Congress, this

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