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Articles Of Confederation Vs Constitution Essay

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US History Test #2

The United States Constitution responded effectively to the weaknesses of the Article of Confederation, and provided important “checks” on power distributed among the three branches within the new, more powerful federal government. The Articles of Confederation left out very important powers that were later added in the United states Constitution like “Checks and Balances” which allow the three branches to almost have equal power. Each of the branches have the power to keep a bill from becoming a law. These “Checks” can also be a bad thing when a government becomes gridlocked. Gridlocked means that the government cannot pass any laws because the branches are all split on their decisions. This gridlock is how the government …show more content…

The Constitution was set into motion in The United States of America in 1789. There were many important differences between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, most importantly how they both organized the laws. The Articles of Confederation made a legislature, different to the eventual two branch system created by the Constitution. Voting power was given to states based on committees and each state had one vote in the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution allowed one vote for each legislative representative. The votes were based on the population from each state. Virginia being the most populated at the time James madison and Thomas Jefferson wanted the voting to be based on the population so that they would have a large voice in the law making which created the House of Representatives. Alexander Hamilton didn’t agree with this reasoning at the time so he devised a way to have equal power from each state. He said that he would move the capital from Philadelphia to somewhere in virginia if the smallest state could have equal power. This created the Senate which has two representatives from each of the states. The Constitution created the Executive Branch of government, establishing a figurehead department of the government that was still held accountable to scrutiny from the people. It was crucial to this country that the constitution was created. Without it this country would have been able to succeed into the country it is

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