Why the Constitution Surpasses the Articles of Confederation
Today in history, the United States still obeys the Constitution. As everyone knows, it took bravery, courage, and bloodshed for the U.S. to keep and have this document. It took a great mind and a lot of trial and error to create the perfect form of government that was right and fair to all the people. However, the Constitution was not the “first Constitution” for America, the Articles of Confederation were. The Constitution surpasses the Articles of Confederation because of its policies, the reasons for the change, and what the writers did. “Despite being the central government, it was a loose confederation and most significant power was held by the individual states,” (Articles
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The Articles of Confederation say a plethora about the new government. It says that all the states need to form a league of friendship for defence, for the security of our rights, and for the general welfare. This will help fight back against our enemies, no matter what religion and trade. Also, each person has the same rights in all states and anyone who commits a crime and flees, shall be brought back to where the crime has occurred and have a trial and all legal documents will be shared among the states. Also, each state has one vote, Congress does not have the power to tax, Congress has no power over foreign commerce, and only state governments act directly on the people (Comparison of Constitution and Articles of Confederation). Congress also has the right to decide when the United States enters in any wars and treaties. This document was not only read by the Americans, but Canadians too. They also had to go by this document and if another country were to obey this document, it would have to be voted on by nine states (Articles of Confederation). The Articles of Confederation was not a perfect document, it had its weaknesses. Some of those weaknesses were that the national government could not force the people to obey the laws, the fact that it did not have the power to tax, Congress lacked a steady leadership, there was no national army, each state could issue its own money and put tariffs on trade, and Congress could not enforce laws. All of these issues are what made the government impuissant. The people were not satisfied with these flaws, and a rebellion broke out