Articles Of Confederation Dbq Essay

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 Articles of Confederation became a loose confederation of 13 independent state republics. Shay’s rebellion revealed the weaknesses the Articles of Confederation had since it took days to send troops to dismantle the rebellion. Shay’s rebellion became the

Constitution did not want to put the word slavery in the document; however, the Constitution has some aspects of slavery such as slave trading, runaways, and representation. Under this Constitution, the new government does not have the authority to outlaw the importation of enslaved people into the U. S. for 20 years. All states were required to return fugitives from bondage to the slaveholders they escaped from. Lasty, representation of slaves was an issue heavily discussed. The slave states wanted more representation, so they argued that slaves should be accounted for. In return, the free states argued that if slaves are considered property, then they should not be counted for in a state’s population and if they are accounted for then they are considered individuals, not property. Upon hearing this, slave states said they would not approve the ratification of the Constitution unless their slaves were counted for in the House of Representatives. A compromise was then made, and it was called the 3/5 Compromise. As a result, only 3/5 of the slave population in these slaves' states were counted for in

constitution and it failed. Shay’s Rebellion showed the weaknesses of this document, which resulted in the revision at the constitutional convention. Representation between large states and smaller states and slavery were heavily discussed in this convention. At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, two documents called the Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan were proposed for representation, and a compromise was made. The new U.S. Constitution declares that states would be equally represented in the upper house of Congress. Each state legislature would appoint 2 senators who will serve 6-year terms. Representation in the lower house was to be appointed according to population. Madison proposed separation of powers which are the 3 branches of government called the legislative, executive, and judicial. These 3 branches of government will use a system called check and balances to ensure a balanced republican government. The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution to protect people’s rights from the government, which then led to the ratification of the U.S.