Before the U.S Constitution was ever set in motion, there was a constitution called the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation followed after America gained their independence from the British. This constitution gave limited power to a central government, and gave state governments, major authority. Whereas the new constitution intended to generate a powerful government in which various states could unite under a central authority. The administration of the new government wanted to implement new approaches to help expand to Western lands and to develop a stronger economy. However, the fact that the new government was federal and not state, angered many people. So, with countless crowds opposing the new government, why were
Why would the Framers of the the Constitution end up giving more power to the central government instead of the state’s government? Why would the people decide that the Articles of Confederation weren’t working? Why did they decide that the Constitution was better than the articles? Why the states had power taken out of their control and given to a centralized government? I believe is that separation of power allows for us to work as one nation instead of independent states taxing each other.
The US Constitution was written in 1787, it was later ratified in 1788 then taken in 1789. Supporters of the ratification of the Constitution where known to be the Federalists on the contrary those opposing of the ratification of the Constitution where Anti-Federalists. The immediate problem was not just excepting the Constitution but also for a concern of the government. The Anti-Federalists started a movement due to opposing of the Bill of Rights not being in the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists did not want a strong central federal government. They saw the constitution to be too powerful, possibly as a potential threat.
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).
America needed a new government since the Articles of Confederation had failed. The Articles lacked a strong Central government. The Constitution was made to be a superior document compared to the Articles of Confederation. Federalists believed that the Constitution was created to provide a strong national government, while Anti-Federalists believed the Constitution was taking away the powers of the people.
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.
After the American Revolution our nation was in major debt and suffering from an ecumenic depression throughout the colonies. The debt and other fiscal issues our nation was facing made some of the founding political members to want a more focused federal power. The opinions of two groups known as the Federalists and Anti-Federalists were divided about the new proposed Constitution. The founding members known as the Federalists wanted a strong central government and weak state governments were in favor of keeping the newly proposed Constitution,whereas the opposing group of men were known as the Anti-Federalists were opposed to it. The Anti-Federalists had believed that the power should belong to the states and not the central government, and that the nation should keep the Articles of Confederation despite the fact that it had failed. In the time period of 1787-1788 the views and ideas of the Federalists would have been better than those of the Anti-Federalists for more than one reason.
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.
We needed a new Constitution badly for our foundling of a nation. The pressure of everything falling apart weighed heavily on the founders in that day, something had to be done to save America from disassembling after our triumphant separation from England. The Articles of Confederation simply weren’t working. Originally, the purpose of the Articles was to give as much power to the states as possible while still uniting them (text 48). The biggest problem was that thought the federal government could recommend and create policies, they could not enforce them, specifically if the states refused them. (text 48) Furthermore, the government was weak, with no real leadership and additionally, could not freely gather revenue from the states and suffered from this. (text 49) What finally pushed our country over the edge was Shays’ Rebellion, a protest of farmers led by Daniel Shays when they demanded change after being heavily taxed to recompense for the wartimes cost, but the government had no response, leading to an attack on state militia. (text 49) So thus, a Constitutional Convention was convened. Plenty disagreed, and these people were called the Anti-Federalists, and believed the document gave the government too
Constitution, because the founding fathers wanted a better government. The Articles of Confederation were a loose union of states. They were also the first form of government in America. One failure is that they were lacking checks and balances because they only had unicameral government, the legislative branch. The legislative branch didn’t have anyone to check on them. So, the legislative branch to make laws that they wanted, even though there wasn’t anyone there to prevent abuse of power, if they made a bad law. This shows that the Articles of Confederation lacked the principle of checks and balances. This is found in the 9th amendments, that says that any power that is not given to the federal government, is given to the states government. The Articles of Confederation were also failing because they were lacking limited government. This was becauses the states had more power than the federal government. There were 13 colonies in America, during this time period. Each colony makes different laws, so it was hard for everyone to have the same rights or laws. It was hard to amendt or create new amendments because at least ¾ of the state's had to agree. Which was almost impossible to do. They lacked a limited government because there wasn’t anything that stated the federal government powers and the state's power. This is found in Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the Constitution. The list the duties and power of the three branches of government. These articles were creating during the war against British. After the war ended and America won, they had to pay off the debts of the revolution. The only way that they would have a chance of paying things, like soldiers, were to tax their people. 1200 farmers felt very strongly about this. These 1200 farmers were in the Shay’s Rebellion. The people in this group went against the government and protested. The federal government couldn’t control this rebellion that was
One reason why states rights are emphasized in the Articles of Confederation is America’s weariness of strong, oppressive figures governing over smaller groups. This was in reference to the American oppression by the British and the ensuing American Revolution. America was fearful that if there were to be one commanding power of the nation that the result would be a repetition of history. Whig ideology was the basic foundation of the Articles of Confederation, which explains why there is a strong distrust of executive authority, resulting in the federation having minimal power over states. There was a deep desire of strict separation of powers, resulting in a schism between the states and federal government understanding and cooperating with each other. There was no executive branch to delegate over the Union, which allowed an abundance of freedom for the states. The Constitution of 1787 solved this issue by establishing a separation of power into 3 branches (legislative, judicial, executive) with a bicameral representation (House of Representatives and the Senate). The new government also has a system of checks and balances where no one branch of government can have any more power than another; each branch is checking to ensure balance over all 3. Previous to the Constitution, it was very difficult for all the states to come to a unanimous 9/13 decision when trying to
When the government first achieved independence from England there were thirteen individual governments. They had an agreement called the Articles of Confederation that specified how each would interact with the others and manage the states. Despite the ratification by every state the agreement soon became problematic. What ensued was the meeting of state delegates, known as the Constitutional Convention, who planned to revise the problems. As a result the U.S. Constitution was fashioned to take its place. The idea was to ultimately federalize the States. That means each State remains an individual government but also agrees to be part of a Union. Thus created a federal government that would handle those things that are best controlled by a central government, which acts on behalf of the many States. An example would be the Navy and Army. The Federal Government has the right to raise and maintain a full time standing military. The Federal government is not limited to just the enumerated powers granted to Congress. It was also arranged that the national government would have powers not specifically stated in the Constitution, called implied powers. Although popular
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.
Establishing an effective system of government has proven to be an obstacle for centuries. Fortunately, the Founding Father recognized the common flaws of governments, as did many common men in the colonies. Consequently, the ratification of the constitution was vital for a healthy governmental system, though it did bring about much debate and persuasion. There were two main positions which people took during the ratification, those being the Anti-Federalist and the Federalist. The Anti-Federalist were a diverse assembly involving prominent men such as George Mason and Patrick Henry, and also the most unlikely of individuals, those being Farmers and shopkeepers. The chief complaint about the Constitution was that it confiscated the power from the sates, thereby robbing the people of their power. Oppositely, the Federalist believed in removing some control from the states and imparting that power to the national government, thus making America partially national. Throughout this debate, many letters were shared between the two sides, and eventually, it led to the federalist winning over the colonies.
The Framers of the United States Constitution ultimately decided to give more power to the Federal government rather than the state governments for many reasons. There were many problems with the articles that caused instability in the government, and even a rebellion. Then there’s the Federal government who lacked powers to do anything much because the people were too scared to make the Federal government strong. Lastly, there was the State government who had either too much power or they had power that the Federal government should have. There were a lot of problems with the Articles that needed to be addressed , most of which were addressed.
People had many different opinions on the ratification of the Constitution. There were Federalists and Anti-Federalists that debated on many topics of the Constitution. The main reasons were: what type of government the United States of America should have, the people controlling our government, and some of the powers they should have. The Federalists were the ones who wanted change. They wanted to make changes to the government that was originally proposed. The Federalists wanted the government to protect the people, but not abuse their powers. They wanted to have the powers divided between the national and the state governments. The Constitution also stated that the government