Name: Jeshuwin Prabakaran Before the Constitution was approved and known as the structure of our government, we had the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was a broken system, with no central government to collect taxes or enforce law we were burying ourselves in massive debt while States taxed each other. There was no National Court System or Supreme Court which made serious cases harder to deal with often having a less just outcome. These are the few of the multiple flaws and reasons it was necessary to replace the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution. Many people were unhappy with the Articles of Confederation and wanted to get rid of it completely while others wanted to change it or keep it. These two groups were called Federalists and Antifederalists. Federalist wanted to get rid of the Constitution while Antifederalists did not. Most people were unhappy because the majority of people were small farmers, landowners and people who were in debt. People in debt and people who were aware of America’s current economic situation disagreed and despised the articles. While minorities like wealthy Northern land owners and smaller States approved of the articles. In the Federalist and Antifederalist comparison chart from McDougal Literature showed the comparison between both sides and the types of people that …show more content…
Both of them had their fair share of weaknesses. Some may say the Constitution did not address slavery and the Articles banned slavery in the Northwestern states. Most of the slaves lived on large plantations in the South while there were very few slaves North. The constitution completely banned slavery in 1864 when the 13 amendment was passed. The North Western Territories did not have as much slaves in comparison to the South and even then slaves were still completely banned through the
First, there were a lot of problems with the Articles of Confederation. The Articles were not at all powerful and were not good for America. The US didn’t have a lot of money and they barely had any power. Under the Articles, the state possessed more power than the federal government.
After the war against Britain, the people of America hesitant in accepting the new Constitution because many felt they would surrender their liberties to a body not chosen directly by them, and feared it had the ability to become corrupt and oppressive. “Is it to be thought that the people of America, so watchful over their interests; so jealous of their liberties, will give up their all, will surrender both the sword and purse t the same body… they never will. They never ought” (Palmer, 67).Two political parties emerged which were Federalists and Antifederalists. Antifederalists opposed the ratification of the Constitution and wanted the states to have more power than the central government. On the other hand, Federalists advocated for the ratification of the Constitution and wanted the federal government to be superior to state government in some ways.
Throughout the history of any great nation, there can be found the clashing of political titans; the United States is no exception. During the pivotal years following the American Revolution, the Anti-Federalist and Federalist groups emerged to lay the political groundwork for what would one day become one of the greatest democratic republics the world has ever seen. These polar-opposite factions proved to be a source of great division amongst the citizens of the newly established country, especially during the arising constitutional debate. Various influential figures from both sides molded and refined the beginnings of the Constitution in order to quell the expectations and desires of the larger population. Though the process of ratification
There are two types of people who are against the Constitution. you were either a federalist or an anti-federalist. Federalists were people who supported the Constitution so examples would be James Madison Alexander Hamilton George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. They believed individual rights were protected by state constitutions. if you were an anti-federalist you didn't agree with the Constitution you opposed the ratification of the Constitution.
During the time before the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the country was split into two factions. The Federalists, who drafted the Constitution, thought that the limited power of state government and limited individual rights to the people was the best form of government. And the Anti-Federalist, who believed that the strong federal government, as drafted in the Constitution,would strip people of their personal liberties and state governments of their sovereignty. Although the Constitution was ratified, if it wasn’t for compromises from both sides we might still be governed by the Articles of Confederation.
These people were known as the Anti-federalist and wrote their own essays as to what they believed, they also looked more to the Articles of Confederation because it did not look at the central government as much. On the other hand, the Federalist approved of the central government and are a strong supporter of the Constitution. The Federalist papers overall created and unified our government, because without the separation of powers we would not have a strong government because every state will act as their own. At the end once the ratification of the
The Articles of Confederation were a major improvement over the past government of England, in which the power only belongs to a few people, the king and parliament. The Articles of Confederation allowed each individual state to have its own power. Congress could not require any state to pay taxes, nor could they require to build a national army. Preventing tyranny was a major idea and a major goal that the Articles of Confederation produced. One other improvement that the Articles of Confederation instituted was the idea of not only reducing the power of the king, but increasing the power of the people.
But beyond these general features, the two constitutions could not be more different. These differences result from the fact that the two documents arose out of very different historical circumstances and for radically opposite complaints with the document each was meant to replace. With the U.S. Constitution, the problem with the earlier Articles of Confederation was that government was too decentralized and not powerful enough. The U.S. Constitution was designed to overcome these weaknesses and offer a degree of centralization and increased government power.
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.
They felt the Constitution would create a system of federalism, a system in which the national government holds significant power, but the smaller political subdivisions also hold significant power. They felt the country needed a strong central government so that it didn’t fall apart. The Ant-Federalists were on the opposing side, they felt the Constitution granted the government too much power. They also felt there wasn’t enough protection of their right with an absent Bill of Rights. Another concern of the Anti-Federalists mainly came from the lower classes, from their standpoint they thought the wealthy class would be in main control and gain the most benefits from the ratification of this document.
Articles of Confederation vs. U.S. Constitution The Articles of the Confederation and the U.S. Constitution are two articles that where written and accepted by the United States as a foundation for their new government. They are both very important documents that have similarities and differences. Some of the main things the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution have in common is that they addressed the needs of its constituencies.
Federalists and Anti-Federalists had opposing views in the Constitution because of their differences; but they also had many similarities that ended up leading to the ratification of the Constitution. Anti-Federalists and Federalist had many similarities. Both were supportive of this new country and knew that they needed a government. They both wanted the congress to have power to create war and to create treaties.
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
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.
In one hand, the Articles of Confederation had a weak central government, differing form the strong central government in the Constitution. The Constitution’s government had a structure of three different branches; the legislative, executive, and judicial branch; unlike the Articles of Confederation that had no structure whatsoever. The Articles of Confederation had many problems like, the poor international trade, poor foreign relations and a weak economy in contrast to the Constitution that only had one problem, the struggle over the ratification. the Articles of Confederation achieved the Northwest Ordinance and the Northwest Territory and according to a history website, the Constitution achieved that we had a system of checks and balances, that we had a bill of rights, and, eventually, the survival of a bloody civil war intact. Lastly, the Constitution had three compromises: the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Slave Trade compromise.