Essay On The Effects Of Confederation

During the formation of the United States of America, the founders had attained an excellent opportunity to form their very government but were disappointed by their first attempt known as the Articles of Confederation. This was the time when the states had their most power and each state was mostly running as independent countries. Later, it soon became evident of the total disorganization in addition to the federal government lack of power. After several years, the Articles of Confederation were dropped, then replaced with the United States Constitution. The Constitution laid out various Federal Powers, which included taxes, foreign commerce, interstate commerce, military, creation of money, defining U.S. citizenship, the establishment of federal laws and more(Kelly, 2015). Concern arose among the states that the federal government would be too powerful, so they demanded a protective language that evolved into the first ten amendments, also known as the Bill of Rights. These changes laid out essential freedoms for the people, but the tenth amendment contains the most important statement involving state powers.

States had the notion that they could secede from the Union, but the United States deemed it a rebellion, then raised an army and waged full out war to prevent the loss of 11 states. The effects of that war turned out to effectively suppress any more attempts. Subsequently, during the reconstruction era, the 14th amendment was created to give former blacks slave’s equal rights. Later on, the Supreme Court interpreted these words to be used in cases against various states that became known as the incorporation doctrine. Before the doctrine, the Bill of Rights had been considered only a federal restraint, but now it applied to the states as well ("U.S. Constitution & Bill of Rights"). After the civil war, the federal government increased their involvement with the American citizen’s