In 1776, our union is finally independent from Great Britain. Now that our country is an independent nation, our founding fathers are deciding which government system it is going to rule under. Certainly, our founding fathers did not want this country to be rule under a monarchy system because of the conflicts they faced with Great Britain. The founding fathers all sat together at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to create a new kind of government that will have a minimal amount of problems. At first, the founding father created the Articles of Confederation, which is, each state maintains its own sovereignty and all rights to govern, except there were certain rights that were granted to Congress. The Articles of Confederation fail to rule the …show more content…
This proposal was presented in the form of fifteen resolutions that detailed reasons why the Articles of Confederation should be radically altered and plans for a strong National Government that could collect taxes and make and enforce laws. This was also the first document to produce a separation of powers into an executive, legislative, and judicial branch in a national government. Moreover, there is a feature of a bicameral legislature, which is two houses consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate would be based on state representation. The people of each state shall elect the first branch of the national legislature, and those that are selected shall select people in the second branch. The national legislature shall have the power to elect a national executive with the authority to execute the national laws and taxes. The legislature branch also has the power to elect judges in the judicial branch. The Virginia Plan was mostly supported by the larger states because the legislative branch is based on state’s population. This meant that the more people a state has, the more representatives it gets in the
Student’s name Professor’s name Course number Date The Virginia and New Jersey plans 1 The Virginia plan had various characteristics as proposed by Mr Randolph. He suggested in accordance to the wishes of the committee that the national government should be created and that it should consist of a supreme legislative, Executive and Judiciary. According to Mr. Patterson in the Virginia plan which he drew from Mr. Randolph’s propositions, proposed that revision of the articles of confederations was paramount in order to render federal constitution adequacy to the demands of both government and the union in preservation.
The most obvious thing about the legislative branch is that, it is indeed a bicameral legislature which was proposed by Virginia, but with in this bicameral legislative branch there is one branch that is called the House of Representative which says that the more populated a state is the more votes it gets, while in the senate each state is given two votes regardless of their size. So in the constitutional both the Virginia plan and the New Jersey plan got put in and help solved the issue of representation by a compromise of combining both of the plans and making one branch of the legislative be based off of a state's population and the other off of
The Virginia plan was favored by the large states because it was based on the population in each state because that would mean the more power they would have in each branch. The Virginia plan was mainly based on population for larger states. Which meant Virginia got more representation than the New Jersey plan. “His proposal for a federal power to override state laws never gained any traction. And his insistence that both branches of the legislature be based on population was
The main divisions at the Constitutional Convention were known as “The Virginia (Large States) Plan” and “The New Jersey (Small States) Plan.” The Virginia Plan was introduced by Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia, on May 29, 1787, at the convention and was prepared by James Madison. Madison, who was a “member of the Continental Congress” (Howard, 2008, p. 12), had faith in the Virginia Plan and thought it would be the best proposal to enforce the laws and assist the government in collecting taxes from the people (Library of Virginia, n.d.). The Virginian delegates planned to “rid the country of the Articles of Confederation, develop two houses of Congress, enact a federal judiciary, give Congress the right to elect a president, and to allow Congress the right to veto the actions of the state” (Schultz, 2010, p. 125).
Answer: The Articles of Confederation was destined to fail because allowing the states to mainly govern themselves left the central government at the mercy of each state. The central government had the power to control the militia but without the power to draft or tax citizens, it left the government with a weak militia and no money to fund it. That allowed the states to mainly look out for the elite, the wealthy and leave the rest to fend for themselves. After all the Articles of Confederation was written by the wealthy white man to prevent a strong central government from ruling over the states after it detached itself from England. In order to give themselves more power they also took away the possibility for commerce between states and
The Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison favored the larger states for a two-house Congress to be based on each state’s population. This, of course, was argued about because small states felt as if they would not have enough voice. In disapproval to the Virginia Plan came the New Jersey Plan. This plan argued for a one house Congress, with equal representation. This meant that each state would have the same number of members.
There is no denying that the Articles of Confederation, the first written form of government in the United States, was an important aspect of this nations history. The articles were ratified on March 1, 1781 and they served as the basis for the formation of the Constitution and provided some, but not enough framework for adequate organization of United States. Although, it accomplished and lead to multiple advances in the U.S government, it’s ability to act as an effective government failed. Under the Articles of Confederation there was one house body of delegates with each state having only one vote no matter the size or population.
The Articles of Confederation is the first written laws of the United States, “Article I The style of this confederacy shall be, “The United States of America.” The original thirteen states sought to create a governing law that would allow the states to maintain their freedom and independents, allowing Congress to have the final say in political disputes between states. Congress was appointed the governing body, having authority on foreign matters, trade agreements, forging alliances and overseeing the military. Missing from the Articles of Confederation was the making of a judicial governing body.
Furthermore, many delegates believed the Virginia Plan gave the government too much power and would arm the liberties of the American people. Overall, the Virginia Plan gave the government too much power, without the people’s vote or say. First, the Virginia Plan sought to distribute representation based upon a state’s population. The larger states such as, Pennsylvania and New York would benefit greatly, while the smaller states such as, New Jersey and Rhode Island would lose influence.
In 1781, early American Revolutionaries created The Articles of Confederation as the first form of government in the new country. At this time, the Revolutionary spirit was still strong and very much alive as it floated throughout the country. The Revolutionary spirit sought freedom, plain and simple. It believed in the equality of all men and sought the most natural form of government. Americans at this point still feared an overpowering central government and wanted the states to remain sovereign.
A confederation government is a group of nations or states that includes several states or political divisions, while allowing those states to remain independent. Article of confederation is the first constitution of the united states held in 1777. A revolutionary war is a war that is fought to gain independence form another country or a system of a government. The Revolutionary War started because the Colonial Americans wanted their own country and they were tired of being governed others and their unreasonable tax laws.
Author Boyer et al. writes, “They had become convinced that unless the national government was freed of control of the state legislatures, the country would disintegrate” (Boyer, et al.). The purpose of meeting for a Constitutional Convention was to begin to place these wishes into writing and avoid this suggested national
The Articles of Confederation was the first Constitution for the states as a whole (each state had their own by this time), but it was written in a manner that assigned duties, but not so much as to give sweeping power and risk a totalitarian government. Under the Articles of Confederation, the colonies were a “League of Friendship” and not a truly functioning government (Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, p. 546). The sovereignty of the states and people were front and center, but this created an issue for the function and decision making ability of the Congress. As written by Alexander Hamilton to James Duane, 3 Sept. 1780, this makes “our union feeble and precarious.” The Articles limited the functionality of the Congress
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.
The Articles of Confederation were a document seen as the “first” constitution of the United States. This document granted the new national government power to control the military, declare war, and create treaties between the states. However, the Articles had holes in it considering the government did not have the power to tax, create laws without at least nine states’ approval, or change the Articles of Confederation without a unanimous vote. This means that the country soon fell into debt and petty arguments between state, the new government had no control. It was time for a change.