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Essay On Articles Of Confederation Vs New Constitution Of 1787

1102 Words5 Pages

United States history is an important thing to learn about and discuss. Everyday history is being made. This historical essay covers the Articles of Confederation versus the new Constitution of 1787. It discusses the drafting of the Constitution and the Great Compromise. The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists are compared and contrasted. Articles of Confederation Drafted in stages from 1776 to 1777 but not ratified until 1781, the Articles of Confederation extended and revised the existing understanding of diffused authority and state autonomy (Cheek, 2016). Tensions arose between the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional Convention and the Articles of Confederation assisted in easing those tensions. Allowing …show more content…

Article II affirmed that “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled” (Cornell, 2013, pg 121). Delegates of the congress were chosen by state legislatures rather than by voters, there was no President and no executive branch. If an Article needed to be changed, it was very difficult because all thirteen states needed to agree. Daniel Shay leading 1,000 farmers in rebellion against Massachusetts proved that the federal Congress had no power to deal with the growing national debt. The Articles created a weak government whose ability to raise revenue, engage in military actions, and conduct diplomacy depended entirely on the goodwill of the states (Cornell, 2013, pg …show more content…

The great conflict lay between the large states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts and the small states of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Connecticut, which hoped to retain some vestige of the equal vote they currently enjoyed in Congress (Rakove, 1987, pg 23). Legislative voting is the reason the Constitutional Convention became deadlocked. The compromise provided for representation in the House of Representatives according to population and in the Senate by equal numbers for each state (retrieved from: https://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/history/Sherman.htm). Sherman’s compromise was adopted on July 16, 1787 by a vote of five states to four, and serves not only to save the crumbling convention, but provided stimulus to resolve other issues yet to be decided (retrieved from:

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