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The Similarities And Differences Between The Articles Of Confederation And The Constitution

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Governments and institutions continue to change depending on the economic, social and political requirements. The USA has operated under two different constitutions. The first constitution was called the Articles of Confederation was effective after Maryland ratified it on March 1, 1781. The second, which is referred to as The Constitution, came into effect on June 21, 1788, after the ratification by New Hampshire. These documents have numerous similarities and differences since it was established by the terms of contemporaries e.g. the ideologies from the same people. The differences are the most especially when analyzing the Articles of Confederations (Articles) in 1781 and the Constitution in 1788, which may mean that development and awareness …show more content…

Kingdon & Thurber (1984) states that the Articles had a unicameral system of governance while the Constitution introduced the bicameral system. The unicameral system was based on the ideology of Congress while the Constitution divided the United States Congress into two: House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house) (Gillespie & Lienesch, 1989). Furthermore, the Articles proposed one vote for every state without considering the size of the state while the Constitution preferred a system that every senator or representative was given one vote (Dougherty, 2006). The aim of the Constitution was to ensure a better representation and better alternatives of representing the people (Cain & Dougherty, 1999). The Articles perspective may have address costs and other complications but the Constitution saw the importance of the people (voters) in leading and making decisions influencing the entire …show more content…

The two constitution employed different approaches when it comes to taxes, trade and commerce Bernstein & Rice (1987). The Articles of Confederation did not allow the national government to collect taxes from the people meaning that the national government would borrow or acquire the funds from the state (Cain & Dougherty, 1999). The Constitution changed the approach allowing both the state governments and the federal government to collect and levy taxes (Kingdon & Thurber, 1984). In addition, the Articles did not allow the national government to interfere with the commerce and trade, the Constitution took a different approach. The Constitution allowed the national government the duty to regulate trade and commerce in the inter-state level and the international level (Dougherty, 2006; Lutz, 1988). The strategy was to reduce potential conflicts and misunderstandings between the states and create effective foreign affairs and international business

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