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Compare and contrast the structure and powers of the federal government under the articles of confederation and the constitution
Strengths and weaknesses of articles of confederation government
Strengths and weaknesses of articles of confederation government
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The Articles of Confederation provided the United States with a predominantly ineffective government that could not deal with problems at home and abroad. The country was unable to regulate commerce and effectively deal with foreign nations from 1781 to 1789. Although there were some advantages to the first constitution, the issues caused by the document greatly outweighed the benefits. The Articles of Confederation limited America’s ability to deal problems within its own borders and with foreign nations.
Under the Articles of Confederation, states had their own freedom and independence. Because of this, Congress had limited power to regulate trade and
After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, thirteen American colonies desired a government to displace and overturn the rule of British. So, they attempted to establish a governance of the Article of Confederation. As the first written constitution of the United States, the Articles of Confederation was not faultless. The Articles formed a weak central government and a loose confederation of sovereign states, leaving most of the power and independence with the state governments. Although the document gave Congress authority to make treaties, coin money and maintain army force, the central government still lacked of ability to implement these rules (Foner, 1991).
The Articles of Confederation was one of the first forms of the Constitution established, but it was replaced with the current Constitution because it failed to establish unity. The Articles of Confederation was a more simple and weak version of the Constitution. In the Articles of Confederation, all power was given to the state such as collecting taxes while congress had close to no power. Each state had more power than congress and the people combined. The AOC failed to establish laws limiting citizens to their rights.
The United States’ first constitution called the Articles of Confederation failed. Created in 1777, this document gave the authority to declare war, make peace, conduct diplomacy, regulate Native American affairs, appoint military and naval offices, and requisition men from the states. It could coin money and issue paper currency. This document could not do were levy taxes or regulate trade. The intention of this document was to protect the nation if the British were to ever attack again.
The Constitution created a strong national government, while at the same time limited the power of the national government in order to protect the rights of the people through states rights. In 1776 America won its independence from Great Britain. For several years the new nation was ruled over by the Articles of Confederation. However, the national government was weak, the military was weak, and there was massive debt. In 1787, delegates met during the summer writing a new Constitution.
As it applies to the Articles of Confederation there were many weaknesses in the way it went about governing the United States. For one, the loose federation of the states was too weak to act as a foundation to be considered or act as a central government. In addition the state legislatures had too much power and in turn had the ability to influence economic issues of all kinds. This strong legislature is the same one that allowed for mob ruling and actions by debtors. The Articles of confederation were also weak because the required congress to have all 13 colonies in agreement when a new tax was to be passed.
The Articles of Confederation caused the United States to have a weak central government. There were many downsides to having a weak central government, and a country cannot function properly. While the central government had little to no power at all, the states held all the power. This caused many problems within the governing system.
After the America gained independence from Great Britain, the effectiveness of the articles began to decline. The articles of confederation were not effective because they did not include the basic powers of the government. The Articles of Confederation did not favor a strong central government. A general purpose of the government is to make the laws, enforce the laws, and basically
“Congress didn 't have power to create tax, draft troops, stop states from printing their own money, they couldn 't make tariffs, and there was no chief executive” (Enotes Martin Murphey) those were some flaws in the Articles of Confederation, Congress had limited power making the United States weak. For those following reasons the
In one hand, the Articles of Confederation had a weak central government, differing form the strong central government in the Constitution. The Constitution’s government had a structure of three different branches; the legislative, executive, and judicial branch; unlike the Articles of Confederation that had no structure whatsoever. The Articles of Confederation had many problems like, the poor international trade, poor foreign relations and a weak economy in contrast to the Constitution that only had one problem, the struggle over the ratification. the Articles of Confederation achieved the Northwest Ordinance and the Northwest Territory and according to a history website, the Constitution achieved that we had a system of checks and balances, that we had a bill of rights, and, eventually, the survival of a bloody civil war intact. Lastly, the Constitution had three compromises: the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Slave Trade compromise.
The Articles of Confederation were approved on November 1777, which left many constraints on the federal government. The people were so worried about corruption, that they left the government powerless on all affairs, including foreign relations, military, Indian issues, and interstate disputes. In addition it denied Congress the power of taxation, the states were supposed to donate money to the government, which rarely occured. Each state had only one vote in Congress, but could send as many as seven delegates or as few as two, but if they divided equally on an issue the state lost its vote. There was not a President or independent executive and no veto over legislate decisions.
Under the Articles of Confederation, there was no Executive Branch of government, no power of taxation, no right for the central government to regulate trade, no way of enforcing any of the laws that it passed and no right to declare war (Congress 1). All thirteen states had to ratify unanimously any legislation for it pass (Blum 118). These restrictions severely limited the national government and made it very weak. “The impotence of Congress made the United States a beggar in the eyes of the world” (Blum 119). It order to rectify the problems created by the Articles of Confederation, a convention was called to rewrite the Articles, but, when the founding fathers gathered in May of Stemple 2 1787, they decided instead to write a new outline for the government of the new nation.
Although the Articles of Confederation protected the power of states, it severely limited the power of the federal government. For example, the Articles of Confederation prevented the federal government from regulating imports and exports. This allowed states to disproportionately levy taxes on each other. To rectify this issue, the Constitution granted the federal government the power to regulate interstate commerce. Also, the Articles of Confederation prevented the government from raising a standing army, which allowed for events of instability, such as Shay’s Rebellion to form.
The Articles of Confederation had a very weak central government so the rights of the people would be secure. The Articles of Confederation was ratified by
