After the American Revolution the Articles of Confederation was established as the document for our society, it created a loose national government and had to be reevaluated. The Constitution was an imperfect document, but it created a just government because it is a living document with an amendment process to improve the government. Over time our society has evolved ad developed greatly, through this the Constitution has remained relevant and true.
The Articles of Confederation no doubt was faulty and needed attention. Alexander Hamilton wrote, “But the confederation itself is defective and requires to be altered…” (1: Source A). The federal government was took weak to enforce their laws. The Continental Congress had borrowed money to fight
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In order to strengthen the government, three branches were put into place, each holding specific powers. These include the Legislative branch which creates laws, “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers…” (2: Source A). The Executive branch that is meant to enforce laws, “He shall take care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States” (2: Source A). Lastly, the Judicial branch interprets the laws created, “The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity arising under this Constitution…” (2: Source A). This separation of powers helps to prevent abuse of power. Followed by separation of power, it is necessary for each branch to be able to limit each other so that no one part becomes too powerful. Checks and balances is also an important factor, it lets each branch limit the power of others. Legislature checks the Executive in the ability to impeach presidents and pass laws, “If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House…” (2: Source A). It checks the judicial by impeaching justices. The Executive checks the Legislature by vetoing bills and checks the Judicial by picking federal judges, “Consent of the state shall appoint Ambassadors,...” (2: Source A). The Judicial branch checks the Legislative and Executive with judicial review, which is a part of the unwritten Constitution. Judicial review wasn’t established until the Marbury vs. Madison case in 1803. By using this trio the power of the central government was
In September 1777 on November 15th the Articles of Confederation were adopted by congress. This would be a decision that shaped america for better and worse. In essence the articles of confederation was created because a constitution was needed to link the 13 colonies of America. This planned backfired however, leaving the government and congress without power. Citizens of the U.S were quick to to ratify the Articles in 1779 on may 5th.
These are a few reasons why the Separation of powers helped guard against
The Articles of Confederation were, in short, a hot mess. Nothing could get done; the power dynamics among the thirteen states and the lack of power within the federal government to intervene led to utter disarray. In Document 3, George Washington admits in a letter that the Articles of Confederation were faulty in that they had “too good an opinion of human nature” and the leniency of the Articles had created “thirteen sovereign, independent, disunited States”. The hopes of creating a nation out of the thirteen colonies were destroyed with the Articles of Confederation, and unity could only be achieved through establishing a stronger national government. Document 1 goes farther in describing the perils of a nation split apart at the seams
The Articles of Confederation were not the ideal set of laws that the founding fathers intended. They had their flaws, but they also contain a few laws that fixed some current problems of the country. The problems that faced the new nation were, the need for unification and preservation of this unification of the states, the rules emplaced on expansion and settlement of western lands, and it set up a economy, that was vital to the country. The states had just won the revolutionary war by coming together to fight the British, and the Articles of Confederation made sure that this unification was official and permanent.
Each branch of government has different powers. The legislative branch consists of Congress, which is made of two houses. The House of Representatives and the Senate both must pass a law for it to be enforced. The executive branch consists of the president, the president must then sign the law into effect and enforce it. The last branch is the judicial branch; this consists of the United States Supreme Court.
The Articles of Confederation failed to provide a stable and effective government and economy from 1781 to 1789 due to a lack of a strong central government and interstate disagreements. The Articles of Confederation created a loose system of government led by the states, in which Congress could not levy taxes without the approval of every state or pass even a simple law without the approval of seven states. This was especially evident when the Congress attempted to establish a universal interstate tariff (as interstate commerce was largely unregulated), the Rhode Island assembly denied the resolution, citing the law “bearing hardest on the most commercial states,” the introduction of “officers unknown and unaccountable to them,” and the tax
After the Articles of Confederation failed because they failed to give enough power to the national government and congress, our founding father’s needed to reflect on its flaws for a new system to be set in place. Their new creation, our Constitution, was then set into place, and was created from a basis of the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation directly influence the Constitution by its failure by changing some of the responsibilities of the federal and state governments. The Articles of Confederation gave too much power to the states, and the Constitution changed that.
The branches of government have a system called Checks and Balances. Checks and Balances is used to ensure that one branch isn’t getting more power than the others. The judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. They can declare laws and executive actions unconstitutional and interpret laws. The Executive branch is made up of 15 members; the President, Vice President, and the Cabinet.
As set forth in the Constitution, the United States Government consists of three branches: The Legislative branch composed of the House and Senate, the Executive branch, composed of the President, Vice President and Department, and the Judicial branch which is composed of the federal and Supreme Court systems. Each of these branches has their own specified powers, all of which are limited and all of which are checked by another branch. The objective of the system of checks and balances was designed to be inefficient, forcing each of the various branches to be held accountable to the others, therefore, no individual branch can commandeer enough power to come to be dominant. For example, the President has the power to appoint judges and departmental
The Articles of Confederation are a huge piece of the United States History as we know it. The Articles of Confederation were the very first constitution that we had in the United States and were spoken into existence and introduced in 1777 and the Articles became actually ratified in 1781. They are most well known for being the precursor to the Constitution, which was what replaced the Articles in 1789. The Articles were written rules that helped distribute power within the states and Congress. The main thing that the Articles of Confederation served as doing as being the “written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain.”
The legislature can keep the executive power in check is that Congress has to approve presidential nominations, and can even impeach the president if he is not doing his job correctly. The president can check the power of the supreme court is that the president is able to nominate supreme judges, so he can use his judgment so show who is well and able for the job. The supreme court can check the senate is that the court can declare any unfair laws unconstitutional and stop them from happening or becoming actual laws. The fathers of the constitution guarded against tyranny by making very sure that systems were in place to ensure separation of power and that nobody in the government could take advantage of their
The Articles of Confederation were very weak. One weakness of the Articles of Confederation were that Congress could not tax the colonists, “...did not give the national
The Articles of Confederation were a document seen as the “first” constitution of the United States. This document granted the new national government power to control the military, declare war, and create treaties between the states. However, the Articles had holes in it considering the government did not have the power to tax, create laws without at least nine states’ approval, or change the Articles of Confederation without a unanimous vote. This means that the country soon fell into debt and petty arguments between state, the new government had no control. It was time for a change.
The Executive branch executes laws and is the president. The Judicial branch judges laws and is the Supreme Court. The Legislative branch creates laws and is the House of Representatives and Senate. James Madison said in Federalist Paper #47 Document B, “the accumulation of all powers...in the same hands...may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” This helps protect from tyranny because the Separation of Powers prevents all power from being in the same hands.
The Articles of the Confederation was the first government constitution that the United States used, and, although there were strength like the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, there were major weaknesses of the Articles of the Confederation like the following: requiring 9 out of the 13 colonial votes from the representatives from different states to pass a law; having no executive and judicial branch; and the federal government being unable to impose tax revenue onto the states. Such flaws would eventually lead to the Constitution and the repeal of the articles, for the Constitution was a measure to fix the problems of the articles with a stronger government that allowed them to impose taxes and and implement new laws for a more effective government.