Nya Kurth Professor Hiner HIST 2150 09 October 2024 Constitution Essay The English Bill of Rights 1689, Articles of Confederation 1777, and the Constitution of Pennsylvania 1776, are all extremely important documents that represent monumental limits of government power. The English Bill of Rights not only protected individual rights, but it also created a more reliable government that limited the king's power, strengthened the Parliament, and promoted regular elections. The Articles of Confederation emphasized how important it was for the states to maintain their independence, avoid a central government, and limit the central government's power. The Constitution of Pennsylvania was the first state constitution setting an example for other states …show more content…
In other words, each state within the confederation maintained independence and had control over their people besides the powers they specifically gave to the central government. While the states had their independence there were still some limitations they had, including no independent treaties, no war, no different currency, no adding fees or taxing goods from other states, and simply to respect Congress' wishes. The Articles created a union of sovereign states, rather than a strong national union simply because they wanted to avoid a government that was too powerful, so that each state was free to govern itself, more specifically the Articles mainly focus on the states as a whole rather than focusing on individual rights, hoping that the states would be able to manage protecting individual rights. All in all, the Articles of Confederation focused on the states as a whole, limiting them while still allowing them to maintain independence. Finally, the Constitution of Pennsylvania, which represented clearly democratic values in many