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Confederation Vs Constitution

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With the victory against England the newly independent Americans earned an official claim to America and needed to establish a written plan of government for the new states. The Americans sought to implement some form of sovereignty without total power or any influences of monarchy. In 1777, the congressmen generated the Articles of Confederation, defining the union as a “loose confederation of states” existing mainly to “foster a common defense” (Roark 190). However, the Articles of Confederation had many flaws and imperfections. Because it provoked too many conflicts, the Articles of Confederation resulted in failure and was ultimately overturned by an improved document of government, the Constitution. One of the reasons the Articles of …show more content…

Some of the conflicts in the construction of the constitution are the two different plans. The Virginia Plan, formulated by James Madison who advocated the Constitution, set out a three-branch government which composed of a “chamber legislature, a powerful executive, and a judiciary” which was to operate directly on people, not on the state (Roark 208). In this plan, the executive and judiciary could jointly veto the actions of Congress to prevent it from having too much power. An alternative plan was the New Jersey Plan that retained the confederation’s single-house congress with one vote per state. Other conflict that stemmed from the formation of the Constitution was the development of two different groups; the Federalists, those who supported the Constitution and the Antifederalists, those who did not support the Constitution. Federalists sought to reform the government system by implementing an executive power to act as a mediator for states so that no specific state had more power than the other and so that critical deeds can be executed without problem, such as collecting taxes. Anti-Federalists wanted to stray away from an authoritative power, fearing that a powerful and distant government would not serve for the interests and needs of the citizens. They also complained that the Constitution failed to guarantee individual liberties in …show more content…

In early American history, there were many different Americans that had different visions for America. One great leader for instance, George Washington, was one individual of many who saw the great potential in America as independent from the control of Britain. Three men in particular all had different, yet similar, visions of America all in the interest of what would serve America best, in their opinions. Alexander Hamilton sought to improve the economic status of America, John Adams sought to improve America in accordance to the vision of the Federalists, while Thomas Jefferson sought to change the country in the vision of the

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274 Words | 2 Pages

In 1787, the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution to establish a new, stronger government for the United States. During George Washington’s presidency in the 1790s, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson argued over the role of the government as dictated by the Constitution. As a result, a two party system consisting of the Hamiltonian Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans emerged. To some extent, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson reflected the policies and beliefs of the Federalist Hamilton.

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1159 Words | 5 Pages

DBQ Essay The United States Constitution is a document that or founding fathers made in order to replace the failing Articles of Confederation (A of C). Under the Constitution, the current government and states don’t have the problems they faced when the A of C was in action. The Constitution was created in 1788, and held an idea that the whole nation was nervous about. This idea was a strong national government, and the Federalist assured the people that this new government would work. The framers of the Constitution decided to give more power to the Federal government rather than the state governments because the A of C had many problems, there was a need for the layout of new government, rights, and laws, and there was a need for the Federal

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537 Words | 3 Pages

In the creating of the US Constitution, the creators hit many roadblocks. It was difficult for the state delegates to decide on much, especially because they were biased and in favor of their own states. The New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan were two examples of the disagreement of representation within the states in the legislative branch. The New Jersey Plan was in favor of equal representation throughout the states. The Virginia Plan was in favor of population representation, meaning the larger states would have more representation than the smaller states.

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754 Words | 4 Pages

With the United States gaining independence from Great Britain, Congress realized that a document of law needed to be established to maintain its newfound freedom. The Articles of Confederation devised a loose union of the states and set up a federal government with insufficient powers. Pivotal matters as defense, public finance, and trade, the federal government was in favor of the state legislatures. Twenty-one years the United States was ruled by the Articles until they adopted the U.S. Constitution in 1787. This made it so that the nation was rules by a sovereign national government, but also the states were sovereign as well.

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585 Words | 3 Pages

Following the Revolutionary War, America had just gained independance from Great Britain and needed to form a new government. The Articles of Confederation were established as an attempt to create a government that was unlike Britain’s. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation had several weaknesses. When in the process of repairing those weaknesses, the Federalists and the Anti-federalists formed. The Articles of Confederation were very weak as well as useless to America and because of this, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists could not agree on a new type of government.

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669 Words | 3 Pages

However this idea was eventually scrapped and they wrote a whole new constitution. This constitution would protect America from tyranny, so they could keep a civilized and united country. The Constitution that was made helped defend America from almost all types of tyranny and is still helping us hundreds of years later. One way the Constitution prevented tyranny is by supporting Federalism.

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724 Words | 3 Pages

The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among the thirteen original states of the United States that served as the first constitution. The Articles had first been introduced by Richard Henry Lee in the Second Continental Congress. Although the Articles of Confederation has made its contributions throughout history, the Articles, however, did not last very long and had been proven inadequate from the very start. I agree with this statement based on the examples and analysis of the Constitution I will soon provide. The Articles of Confederation were written during a time when the American people feared a strong national government.

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427 Words | 2 Pages

The Articles of Confederation was the United States first constitution. Under these articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort. Congress was also given the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces, and coin money. The Articles of Confederation was written in 1787 and ratified on March 1st, 1781. (http://www.history.com/topics/articles-of-confederation)

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798 Words | 4 Pages

In 1776, the United States declared its’ independence from the tyrannical government of Britain and King George III. The newfound nation was now stuck trying to create its own system of government that would avoid all of the unitary government problems that they had just escaped. The Americans found themselves extremely loyal to their states and terrified of a centralized government. This school of thought produced the Articles of Confederation, or the first system of government in the United States. The Articles of Confederation would eventually be removed and changed to the Federal Republic that stands in our country today.

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1593 Words | 7 Pages

One of the compromises made in the Constitutional Convention is the three-fifths compromise. In this compromise, the southerners wanted to add slaves to the population of the state they lived in. If slaves were included in their state’s population, that state would be able to add more representatives in the House of Representatives. Northerners did not agree with that statement because slaves did not have the right to vote. After the delegates compromised, they agreed that only three-fifths of the slave’s population would be counted into the state’s population.

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478 Words | 2 Pages

The Articles of Confederation were written, ratified, and put into power in the years 1781-1789. The Articles of Confederation served as a written plan of government for the newly united 13 colonies. This gave the states a strong government power with a weak central government. This is because most colonists still had the idea that a strong central power for government would turn into a tyranny just like Great Britain. However, the Articles of Confederation failed due to many problems in the early colonies.

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1033 Words | 5 Pages

After the United States declared independence from Great Britain. The Article of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States. After a year of reflection, it was submitted to the states for ratification in 1777. It was not approved until 1781. After weak years with the Article of Confederation, in 1789 the Constitution was adopted.

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195 Words | 1 Pages

The Constitution of the United States has served as a foundation of how the government worked since 1789. It started as a modified version of the Articles of Confederation and ended up being the final product. The Federal Government has a sufficient amount of power that is divided through Federalism and Separation of Powers. It does its job well of protecting the citizens. The Constitution that frames this government, lists its power and limitations along with people’s rights.

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600 Words | 3 Pages

The common definition we use of justice is just behavior or treatment. In relation to our United States government, this particular word means righteousness, equitableness or moral rightness. The Constitution aimed to better their original governing document called the Articles of Confederation and I do believe that the framers who shaped this made an immense amount of progress for our country, though do not stand for some of the policies they had to add. Our first paper involved learning three important men in America’s history voicing their personal opinions on the Constitution and how to possibly fix some flaws. George Washington was very determined to have a strong central government so the country would act as one state in any decision, stating that “we should confederate as a nation”, meaning he believed that the United States would become weak if we did not agree.

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918 Words | 4 Pages

Slavery in the U.S. Constitution After the Unites States declared Independence from Great Britain in 1776, they greatly feared a strong national government that would be like a monarchy like the one Great Britain had. To prevent this tyrannical government from happening in the U.S., a convention of delegates from all thirteen states were brought together to create the U.S.’s first written constitution: the Articles of Confederation. This convention was called the Continental Congress. The Articles of Confederation focused on having a federal government, or a loose alliance of the states.

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