Comparison Of The Articles Of Confederation Vs. Constitution Of 1787

The United States left the Articles of Confederation behind for a new more adapted constitution in 1788 due to more than one reason, however a main reason for the switch had to do with the power of the federal government. There would be some Libertarians that would hold the Articles to be the symbol of American freedom at its peak, however there were those that would later be known as Federalists that saw the Articles as a failure due to the lack of strong central government powers within the articles. The many differences between the two documents were each important in there own respect, the first one that come to mind would be the power to levy taxes, under the articles Congress could request that States pay taxes, but under the

Original Response: There are many differences in between the Constitution of 1787 and the Articles of Confederation. The creation of the constitution of 1787 made changes in how the smaller states were represented which had been a huge dilemma in the past. The constitution made sure that the representation of the states was fair and equal. Also, when Congress voted, the votes would be per representative not by state.  It also took care of the divide of the land that had not been claimed and set the rules on how people living on that land could make it a state.

The Articles of Confederation had strong state governments while the U.S. Constitution had a strong central based government. Entailing the U.S. Constitution being ratified, many issues were altered such as representation of states during the Great Compromise and the insertion of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation had powerful state governments and a federal government that lacked power while the U.S. Constitution had a stronger based central government and with weaker individual power to the states. The Articles of Confederation was created to establish a government that would prefer states power more power than the federal government in the fear that a tyranny would repeat and was heavily backed by Anti-Federalists, people who supported stronger state governments. But the Articles of Confederation came with many flaws, some of which were the inability to tax.

The nation’s economy was failing immensely and Articles of Confederation did not do much to help. Most war debts were unpaid and because there was no national currency, the individual states as well as the congress issued worthless paper money. The Congress had little power so they had no power to tax the and could only request that the state's donate money for national needs.

The Articles of Confederation is the congress adopted The Articles of Confederation and they adopted it in the month of November in 1777. All the states did not agree with The Articles of Confederation until like month of march on the 1 in 1781. They needed a stronger Federal Government and they eventually led them to the Constitutional Convention. The current United States replaced the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution in the month March in 1789. During the Constitution George Washington was the president and he agreed about the constitution and he liked it a lot.

There are a number of differences between the Articles of Confederation and the present U.S. constitution, although the overarching structure of the two is very similar. Under the Articles, Congress was a unicameral legislature led by a Congressional president, while under the Constitution Congress is bicameral, made up of the House of Representatives (led by the Speaker of the House) and the Senate (led by the vice-president). Also, under the Articles, each state received one Congressional vote and had at least two representatives per state, but only as many as seven; under the Constitution, each state receives one vote per member of Congress and always has at least one member of Congress (thus each state always has one Congressional vote).

The Articles of Confederation became the first guiding principles of the original thirteen states. However, the weaknesses embedded in the articles became obvious, outweighing its positive impact and they were ratified in 1781. George Washington sated that the articles were "little more than a shadow without the substance."1 They limited the central government’s ability to work smoothly and adversely affected the economy. Lack of power left the government in dismay and they sought a fix to their problems without becoming a tyrannical monarchy. The founding fathers believed that replacing the articles with The Constitution was the best way to give the central government enough power to carry out its tasks. In 1787 delegates from all 13 states met in Pennsylvania to begin amending the articles. This process revealed many of the similarities and differences that were contained within The Articles of Confederation and The Constitution.

There have been two different documents that the United States has operated under. The first document was created on November 15th, 1777 and ratified March 1st, 1971 and is called The Articles of the Confederation (Klos, 2013). The second document was created on September 17th, 1987 and ratified on June 21st, 1788 and is called The Constitution (History.com staff, 2009). There are many important differences between these two documents. There were also differences in the country at the time each was written which made each document more appropriate for its time in history.

For many reasons, the Articles of Confederation were failing. First was the fact that Congress did not have the power to tax. Without income from taxes, there was no way for the government to pay their bills or support a national military to protect the new nation (Article 1). In fact, many states had their own military and printed their own money. In addition, the Articles of Confederate did not support a national court system or and Executive Branch to enforce any laws passed by Congress. Federalists such as John Jay felt that without a strong central government the United States would never be taken seriously by foreign countries, and eventually would become even more divided when the various states would side with different foreign countries depending on their needs (Artifact 2). Definitely, the country’s new independence was created a need for a new form of

The “Recreation” of the Articles of Confederation Purposely created to establish a weak central government, the structure of the Articles of Confederation led to serious problems in the United States Government. The leading problems that led to weak government were an absence of a leader, giving the states the power to make their decisions, and not having enough representation per state. With the complaints from the citizens of the government being too weak for a nation, the delegates from all over the states joined to improve the Articles of Confederation. In early 1788 the Constitution was ratified and replaced the Articles of Confederation, fixing all of the major complaints and while adding more structure to the government, such as the three branches. Ratified by all thirteen states in 1781, the Articles of Confederation was established.

The simple difference between the Articles of Confederation and US Constitution is that the articles were not strong enough to hold our young nation together. The articles operated the US as separate states. Under the articles, it was very difficult to pass laws since the requirement of 9 out of the 13 states ' approval was needed for ratification. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The members of the Constitutional Convention signed the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787 in

The United States operated under two different constitutions. The Articles of Confederation was placed into effect on March 1, 1781. There were many weaknesses with this system. After several years, this document was replaced by the Constitution on June 21, 1788. There were a few similarities within the documents, but mostly vast differences.

The Revolutionary War declared America’s independence from Great Britain, which led to the implementation of the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. The government under the Articles of Confederation was extremely weak and did not have the power to enforce laws. The articles of confederation were ratified in 1781 due to many problems such as no separation of power and very limit powers are given to Congress. The ratification divided the people according to their political views, that division of people is known as federalists and anti-federalists. Federalist wanted a stronger central government opposed to the anti-federalist who wanted a weak central government.

The national government of the United States had many challenges under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles caused money problems and the most essential detail, a weak government. This also caused America conflicts among each of the 13 states. These problems greatly impacted the United States and it’s government as well.

The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution are two different types of Government. There are many differences between the two, for example, the Articles of Confederation were made for the original 13 colonies. The constitution was made for the United States of America.