Ever heard of the Articles of Confederation? Thought not. That’s because within only 8 years of their ratification, they were gotten rid of. This was because, among other things, there were no courts, no national currency, and no taxes. So in May of 1787, 55 men gathered together in Philadelphia to come up with a better plan. They wanted a new form of government that gave power to the people, states, and the federal government. But most importantly, they wanted a government that would prevent tyranny. After 3½ months, they came up with the Constitution. It was meant to establish a Federalist government, spread out power between 3 different branches of government, put in place a system of checks and balances, and give states equal and proportionate …show more content…
This is evident in document A, where it shows you a Venn diagram of which powers are given to the states and which powers are given to the federal government. For one thing, this shows how “a double security arises to the rights of the people”, which means that when the power is distributed between the states and the federal government, neither is able to gain absolute power over the country. Federalism also comes in handy by specifying what the states get to control and what the national government gets to control, which is meant to prevent conflict between the two powers. For example, the task of declaring war is meant for the national government only. If that wasn’t specified, there would likely be a lot of cases where states declared war, and the national government had to clean up the mess. By specifically saying that only the federal government can declare war, the Constitution prevents conflict between the states and the national …show more content…
In document C, there is a very useful chart that shows one way that each of the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) holds a little bit of power over the others. This is good because it means that no one part of government is above or below the others in terms of power, and there is always a way for one of them to be “checked” if they are becoming too tyrannical. For example, the President (executive) can veto Congressional legislation, but Congress (legislative) can impeach the President if necessary. Being able to “check” each other is one of the ways that the Constitution kept one group from having too much power. Another benefit of having the checks and balances system is that none of the three branches is so far apart from each that they have no power over the others, but they are far enough apart to prevent the power from accumulating. After all, when power starts accumulating, that is one step closer to a tyrannical
The Articles of Confederation was written in 1777 by nearly the exact same people who would later go on to write the United States Constitution. This document was meant to unify the colonies to create a sufficient government. The Articles of Confederation’s focus was to ensure that the state and local government possessed the power throughout the colonies. However, the document failed the country due to the lack of a central government because the states did not want to reestablish the type of government that England had after the Revolutionary War. The lack of bigger government caused many problems that would make each state almost look like they’re were separate.
The United States’ Constitution follows federalism, which is the division of power between state governments and the national government. Federalism is important to the Constitution because it helps prevent centralized power and allows the states flexibility to solve issues within their own states. Within federalism the states have been referred to as “Laboratories of democracy.” This term was coined by Justice Louis D. Brandeis in the New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann Supreme court case in 1932. His term made the states seem like a laboratory to experiment different policies that would have no effect on the whole country.
Once the American Revolution had ended, America required a new form of government to happen. November of 1777, the Continental Congress accepted the first American Constitution known as the Articles of Confederation. Shortly after the Articles were confirmed by the states in 1781, multiple problems started to arise that provided the United States with an ineffective government from 1781 all the way to 1789. They were not able to address any of the problems dealing with the American Nation due to the lacking features of the government under the Articles. Moreover, the Articles presented each state with too much power that lead to a loose confederation creating a limited power to the central government.
In Federalist Paper #51 by James Madison it says “The constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other…. [The three branches] should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” What this means is the founding fathers made it so each branch is able to check on the other branches making it so one branch does not become too powerful. Some examples of some of the things that the branches are able to do to check on each other are: the legislative branch can override a president's veto, the executive branch can nominate judges, and the judicial branch can declare laws unconstitutional.
First of all, Federalism in the constitution helps guard against tyranny. “The different governments will
The country needed to focus on bigger issues at hand and have the power needed to respond to larger threats. Federalism has allowed for the government to efficiently respond to the issues of the 21st century, something that would’ve been entirely impossible under the Articles of Confederation. With events such as the tragic occurrence of September 11, President Bush and the other branches of the national government already knew what specific rights they had and were more able to respond to such an attack on the country. People from different states united to fight against terrorism and show that Americans was standing behind the government. Federalism over the years has exemplified that although the national government
Article of Confederation was created on March 1, 1781 by Antifederalists. The government of United States was weak after the Articles of Confederation. Anti Federalists created the Articles of Confederation because they believed that the government would become to strong and wouldn’t care about people having equal rights and this gave states their power of making their own rules toward equality and taxes. This made the government a nationally weak system with bits of power in hand. After the Article of Confederation the states had much more power and ability to make their own policies.
After fighting for so long and hard to secure independence from the British rule, the young United States of America needed to come together to form a strong nation. Having literally sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears to free themselves from the tyrannical oppression of an over-powered central government, the people wanted to ensure that they would not be trading one for another. There needed to exist a means to effect a measure of equality and security for the newly founded country. The Constitution aimed to do just that.
In Article 6 it mentioned about powers denied to states. Some of the powers that were denied to the states that dealt with foreign affairs affected citizens and their view on Congress. For example, in the 1780s, frontiersmen talked to British and Spanish officials seeking protection from the Indians because Congress had failed to do
The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the United States. Stemming from wartime urgency, its progress was slowed by fears of central authority and extensive land claims by states before was it was ratified on March 1, 1781. Under these articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. Congress was also given the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces and coin money. However, the central government lacked the ability to levy taxes and regulate commerce, issues that led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 for the creation of new federal laws.
It makes sure that the power of the Country is evenly divided into the three branches so that one branch cannot try to take all the power into their hands and turn the country into a tyranny. As James Madison said in the Federalist Paper #47, “Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” The legislative branch includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. They write laws, confirm presidential applications, and ratify treaties, appropriate money, creates and collects taxes, and declares wars. The executive branch includes the President, Vice President, and the Cabinet.
Out of this need, the Articles of Confederation were born. They lasted for a short time, but were ultimately too weak to ensure the survival of our nation. We needed a way to keep our nation together, but many people were afraid that a document that gave our federal government too much power would put us in the same position we had just escaped, thus the United States Constitution was born. This document laid out the framework of the government of our nation, laid out the branches of it, its checks and balances, explained its purpose, and very carefully and deliberately named each and every one of its powers. The Constitution did more than that though, it also laid out the basis of the rights of every state of the union, as well as the rights of every citizen of the nation, and stated that our rights are not limited to those listed in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, rather they are too many to name, and that it is the government that is limited based on what is written in the Constitution.
The idea of sovereignty was of utmost importance to the colonists when drafting the Articles of Confederation. Article V is one of the areas that ensures this. Article V essentially gives the right of a court system to the states. It allows the state to override any of the laws of government and leaves the government with no way to enforce its laws. If the state doesn’t agree with a Congressional ruling or act, they simply don’t have to abide by it
In many ways the Constitution was largely a Federalist victory where few but important compromises were made in favor of the Anti-Federalists. When the Articles of Confederation were originally drafted the framers intended to create a government that was the polar opposite of what they had experienced under the authoritarian centralized British rule. With freedom and civil liberties as their main concerns the Articles of Confederation gave ultimate power to the States, with the idea that the 13 states be united under a weak central government that could recommend policies, but without the authority to enforce these policies if the states refused (Shea, Green, Smith 51). “On paper, at least, this Congress had power to conduct foreign affairs,
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.