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Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Articles Of Confederation

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While seeing our neighbors to the west, suffering from incessant oppression and unmitigated tyranny, it is the obligation of this nation to ensure no tyranny can take root. However, at the same time, the government must obtain certain, limited, functions in order to ensure mutual safety, cooperation, and representation. It is evident that the Articles of Confederation lack the necessary tools to impose and regulate such tasks. At this time, it has become clear that it would be advantageous to propose a new set of laws, consistent with the nation’s philosophy, while ensuring the nation’s strength. The first weakness in the Articles of Confederation was the lack of economic leverage. While realizing that the federal government should have limits …show more content…

In order to pass a law, there needs to be consent from nine out of the thirteen states, a threshold that is too high (Confed. art. X). The Constitution recognizes this, yet also recognizes the notion that laws should not change too frequently. As a result, in order to pass a law in the Constitution, a simple majority is required from both houses of the congress, while also receiving a signature from the president (US Const. art. I, sec. 5). Moreover, in order to amend the Articles, it uses unanimous consent from the representatives of the states, a threshold that is unattainable while not allowing the people or the legislatures of the states to have a say in the amendment process (Confed. art. XIII). As a result, the Constitution formulates two methods to amend itself. Firstly, a two-thirds super majority by both the house and the senate, while also getting ratified by three-fourths of the states (US Const. art. V). Secondly, if the federal government were to become tyrannical, the Constitution adds a prevision that the Articles simply do not formulate (US Const. art. V). That is, if two-thirds of the states agree to hold a Constitutional convention, upon ratification from three-fouurths of the states, the Constitutional provisions can be adopted, thus bypassing the federal government completely. Other than the notable exception of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the congress of confederation was not able to pass any comprehensive laws (Northwest Ordinance). As a result, the adoption of the Constitution of the United States is of the upmost

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Cheyenne Higbie Kelli Brown Social Studies 3rd hour 03 October 2016 The United States Constitution     When the Founding Fathers of the United States realized that The Articles of Confederation was weak, they soon decided to form a new Constitution. Several different ideas were proposed by people from different states. These plans were then evaluated by the committee and voted on. One of the biggest debates throughout the process of revising the Articles of Confederation was representation in the Senate for all of these states.

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The articles of Confederation were drafted with an aim to succeed, but there were some allocations that were not considered. The first concern that was not considered was how powerful the federal government was supposed to be. The founding fathers knew that confederation was going to make the United States a unit, which means that decisions such as international relations, was to be controlled centrally. The congress and the executive were not given sufficient powers to engage military action. The congress had to borrow military empowerment from the states.

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The move from the Articles of Confederation to the United States Constitution wasn't a consistent one, and settling the issues of the Articles of Confederation required a progression of protracted level-headed discussions both amid and after the convention. In any case, one thing was sure, something must be changed. Fifty-Five Delegates met at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to decide how best to change the current archive. The ratification of the constitution was very important to the states and I would vote to adopt the it. The constitution enabled and built up the Federal Government.

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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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882 Words | 4 Pages

“The accumulation of all powers… in the same hands, whether one, a few, or many… may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny. ”-James Madison. Fifty-five delegates, from the thirteen states, met in Philadelphia in May of 1787 to discuss and revise the Articles of Confederation. The chief executive and the representatives worked to create a frame for what is now our Constitution. The Constitution guarded against tyranny in four ways; Federalism that creates a State and Federal government, Separation of Powers that gives equal power to the three branches, Checks and Balances that create balance in the three branches by checking each other and being checked and the Small States vs the Big States ensures an equal voice for all states no matter what their size.

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Another weakness was that the Articles called for all of the powers of the government to be in one place. How were these problems solved? The Constitution addressed these problems are solved them. The Constitution divided power between the national and state governments. This way the national government could have

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The Articles of Confederation which had been first adopted by the continental congress in 1777, At the time had only been able to provide the newly found states with a similar national government which had already semi- existed. With Congress remaining the indeed only form of a central institution of a natural government, it had gained few expanded powers giving congress the authority to conduct wars and foreign relations also to appropriate, borrow, and issue money. During the process of ratifying the Articles of Confederation, A broad disagreement in the plans had quickly become evident. The process of ratification on the Articles of Confederation requires approval from all thirteen states.

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As it applies to the Articles of Confederation there were many weaknesses in the way it went about governing the United States. For one, the loose federation of the states was too weak to act as a foundation to be considered or act as a central government. In addition the state legislatures had too much power and in turn had the ability to influence economic issues of all kinds. This strong legislature is the same one that allowed for mob ruling and actions by debtors. The Articles of confederation were also weak because the required congress to have all 13 colonies in agreement when a new tax was to be passed.

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The Constitution is a piece of paper that is meant to change and grow as a nation it changes and grows. The formal amendment process includes two steps, proposal and ratification. An amendment can be proposed by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress. The amendment can then be ratified either by the agreement of three-fourths of the states’ legislatures

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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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The Articles of the Confederation was the first government constitution that the United States used, and, although there were strength like the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, there were major weaknesses of the Articles of the Confederation like the following: requiring 9 out of the 13 colonial votes from the representatives from different states to pass a law; having no executive and judicial branch; and the federal government being unable to impose tax revenue onto the states. Such flaws would eventually lead to the Constitution and the repeal of the articles, for the Constitution was a measure to fix the problems of the articles with a stronger government that allowed them to impose taxes and and implement new laws for a more effective government.

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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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The Articles of Confederation was written when the United States was a fairly new country, and from the people wanting to create a different government from the king of England. Although this document respected individual rights, it was too loose of a document that could drive the country to success. After revising what they had created, the founding father of the us the created the us constitution. It was more strict, but still valued peoples rights.

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The ratification of the constitution first needed to be approve of two thirds of the thirteen state governments before it became accepted as the law of the land. While there certainly were people who were happy with the constitution there are also many who were suspicious of it. Those people who were afraid was because of a strong powerful federal government. To kind of ease people’s fears and to state what it was all about they wrote a series of essays that are known as the Federalist papers.

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It is now clear, the Central Power has sought to eliminate the Rights of the States as well as the Rights of the people, (a slow, almost imperceptible eroding) by claiming onto itself powers and authorities NEVER, granted within the constitution itself, or envisioned by those early founders and signers. Those Rights, stated and unstated, in which there are many, are everything America stands for, and Americans Live and Die for; we Americans joined together by the agreed upon rules set forth within this constitution are the heart of the law and the light of the world. People of every nation, Once, looked to America with wide eyes and yearning desires to possess those Rights and Freedoms, they also, were willing to fight to protect those ideals or die defending them.

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