Transformation Of The Articles Of Confederation To The United States Constitution

“Recognizing that these issues were symptoms of fundamental flaws in the Articles of Confederation, the delegates soon abandoned the plan to revise the Articles of Confederation and committed themselves to a second founding-- a second, and ultimately successful, attempt to create, a legitimate and effective national government ” (Ginsberg 38). This illustrates the transition of the removal of the Article of Confederation to the new beginnings of the United States Constitution. The Article of Confederation was first drafted on November 15, 1777, but later removed on May 25, 1787, to the United States Constitution. The purpose of this explicit transformation was that the Articles of Confederation had many flaws to retain the Commonwealth united

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was given authority to declare war, make peace, make treaties and alliances, to coin or borrow money, and to regulate trade with the Native Americans (Ginsberg 35). Moreover, the central government had no power to levy taxes or regulate commerce among the states with the Articles of Confederation (Ginsberg 35). Not to mention, States also retained governmental powers under the Articles of Confederation (Ginsburg 36). In which, States conserved their dominance under Article of Confederation, as Article II states, “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 ” (Ginsberg 36). Under this well-established sovereignty, States, for the most part, had the capability to install their own militia, industries, general welfare, money, and

For example, Shays Rebellion was one of the major events that made the “Second Founding” necessary. Shays’s Rebellion that occurred on February 1787 initially started because it “prevented foreclosures on farmers” debt-ridden land by keeping the country, courts of western Massachusetts from sitting until after the next election” (Ginsberg 38). Shay’s Rebellion led directly to start of the Constitutional Convention by providing the evidence necessary that the government created under the Articles of Confederation was unable to act decisively in times of national crisis (Ginsberg 37). For that reason, States were demanded to send Representatives to Philadelphia to revise the Article of Confederation, but as a result, only Rhode Island did not contribute to this event. Another major event that led to this new beginning was the Declaration of Independence written on July 4, 1776, but officially signed on August 2, 1776. With both the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence inserted it was still yet insufficient to hold the new nation together as an independent and effective nation (Ginsberg 36). Additionally, a consequence of the Article of Confederation demonstrating its weakness was the rivalry within the States for foreign commerce because it allowed “European powers go against one another which generated