Compare And Contrast The Articles Of Confederation

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Before the Constitution, there was the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was a weak plan for the country. The central government wasn’t allowed to tax the people, which caused them to be in serious debt. Majority of the power went to the states, causing the central government to be useless. So the framers met up in Philadelphia of 1787 to revise the Articles. When revising the Articles, the framers realized that they needed a whole new document. Resulting to the Constitution. Meetings were top secret. They shut the doors and windows so no one would listen in. They were afraid rebellions would start revolting against the new document.The first section of the Constitution is called the Preamble. The Preamble introduces …show more content…

One of the biggest debates was deciding the structure of the government. There were two different plans; the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan was written by James MAdison but the ideas came from Edmund Randolph. The structure of the government was going to have three branches—judicial, executive, and legislative—and the House of Representatives. The larger states favored this plan more because the seats in the House of Representatives was based on population. While the New Jersey Plan was not. The Jersey Plan was written by William Paterson. The structure of the government was one house of Congress. Many small states favored this plan more because the votes were equal for all states. To put an end to the debate, Roger Sherman wrote the Great Compromise. The structure was two houses of Congress—House of Representatives and the Upper House. In the House of Representatives, the seats were based off of population and the Upper House was all equal votes. It also had the three branches of government. The compromise pleased both sides of the debate, but it lead to …show more content…

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. Some examples of powers are serving as Commander in Chief of Armed Forces, proposes laws, and can veto laws. The last branch is legislative. The Legislative branch is made up of Congress, Representatives, and Senators. Some powers are overriding the President’s veto, declare war, prints and coins money, and approves treaties. These three branches all make sure that they are following the rules of the