The Articles of Confederation

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的paper代写范文- Articles of Confederation，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了《邦联条例》。《邦联条例》是美国第一次尝试建立一个民主的国家，但在州政府和联邦政府之间的权力不平衡方面存在着问题和缺陷。因此，制宪者寻求在新宪法的条款和修正案中提出新结构，以改善各州和国家一级的事务。有了新宪法，美国能够更顺利地运作，并从各个方面获得经济、政治和文化利益，包括地方、国家和国际利益。

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence remarkably announces rights of its people and made statement to the world about the young, new nation. It was the outcome of fighting the British ruling in the American Independence War. In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation as its first constitution and it remained the operative constitution for about 12 years (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 35).

According to the Articles of Confederation, the power of the national government is limited, with no executive branch but only the Congress. Its power includes declaring war and making peace, to make treaties and alliances, to coin or borrow money, to regulate trade with the Native Americans, and to appoint the senior officers of the U.S. Army. However, the national government could not levy taxes or regulate commerce along the states  (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 35). The states have most of the power, including jurisdiction power as well as power to vote. They can coin their own money, sign treaties with foreign governments, and have their own military troops. They also have the right of equal representation for each state regardless of population.

The major problem spotted by national leaders with governance under the Articles of Confederation is that it cannot sufficiently hold the new nation together as an independent and effective one (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 36). Firstly, there is a problem of competition among the states for foreign commerce, for the government cannot enforce existing treaties. In 1786, when America tried to negotiate a new treaty with the British, the British Government responded that it would only negotiate with each of the 13 states separately because the Articles of Confederation was unable to enforce existing treaties (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 36). What is more, the national government cannot execute laws and all the execution power goes to the state governments, showing how little power the Congress had. In 1787, the Shays’s Rebellion terrified the state government and showed that the Congress was unable to act decisively when crisis happen (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 38). Finally, the national government didn’t have enough the military power due to the fact that most armed forces were composed of state militias. During 1786 to 1787, many pre-Revolutionary radicals were able to have controls over states and the central government was too weak to intervene (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 37). In sum, the Articles of Confederation has political, national, local and international issues rooted in its lines.

As a result, reforms and improvement on the Articles of Confederation happened in the U.S during the 1780s to 1790s. In 1787, two resolutions were proposed at the Constitutional Convention by suggesting a new government and system of representation – the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan, resulting in the Great Compromise. Meanwhile, the northerners and southerners reached an agreement through the Three-Fifths Compromise. With such unity, a new constitutional framework was created and established, known as the Constitution.

The Constitution structured the powers of national government and the states in a more balanced way than the Articles of Confederation. According to the Constitution, the federal government has the power of regulating foreign and interstate commerce, making treaties, establishing naturalization laws, coining money, establishing post offices, issuing copyrights and patents, declaring war, providing and maintaining armed services, fixing standards of weights and measures, admitting new states, and establishing a court system (lecturer, 2017). It is obvious that the national government is much stronger than that under the Articles of Confederations. In contrast, the state governments have the power of providing for education, establishing local governments, conducting elections, protecting public safety and morals, building highways, raising a state militia, issuing licenses, incorporating businesses, and regulating intrastate commerce (lecturer, 2017). The state and federal government share powers in the following areas: making and enforcing laws, maintaining courts, collecting taxes, borrowing money, chartering banks, protecting health and welfare of the people, and calling out the militia (lecturer, 2017).

The new Constitution took many aspects into consideration and it was designed very carefully in structures. To begin with, the new government was strong enough to promote commerce and protect property from state legislatures, resulting in the establishment of national judicial supremacy and a strong presidency (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 41). For judiciary power, the Constitution set up a Supreme Court of the U.S instead of the national government to deal with possible conflicts between the state laws and federal laws. It is also set for jurisdiction for lawsuits of citizens from various states. The Supreme Court judges are appointed for lifetime terms in order to protect the system from public opinions and interferences. For presidency, the Constitution created something the Articles of Confederation didn’t have in order to fully carry out the Executive Branch, particularly to provide independence from the Congress and the people. The executive branch can overcome the weakness during the times of Articles of Confederation and provide timely decisions to deal with public problems.

What is more, the framers wanted to prevent the ‘excessive democracy’ in the Article of Confederation, and therefore made principles in the new Constitution including the bicameral legislature, checks and balances, indirect election, and staggered terms of senators (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 42). The legislative branch is the most powerful according to the Constitution, containing two chambers of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives are elected directly by the people and helps to enhance the power of the national government. Meanwhile, the Senate helps to check such power by appointing its members by the states for longer terms. Since only 1/3 of the senate can be re-elected at one time, such staggered terms protects the government from radical changes resulted from popular preferences. The Congress is granted expressed powers by the Constitution and there are also elastic clause given by the framers for a powerful government. This means that the Congress can make laws on specific issues, while the Tenth Amendment put limits on such powers to the states and people.

Another effort the framers made was to identify principles, which was to apply the Bill of Rights as the first 10 amendments of the Constitution (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 42). The process of amendment was difficult and only 10 amendments were adopted from the 17 successful attempts. The Constitution required a 2/3 vote in the Congress and therefore few passed. The Bill of Rights included citizens’ rights in the constitution by comprising the 10 amendments to the Constitution.

Finally, the Constitution incorporated the separation of powers and federalism as basic principles, which prevents the government to abuse its power. The separation of power principle was thought as a necessary defence for democracy and justice, and the national government is separated into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. As mentioned above, the legislative branch is represented by the Congress: House of Representatives and the Senate. It has the right to pass federal laws, control federal appropriations, approve treaties and presidential appointments, regulate interstate commerce, and establish lower court system (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 47). The executive branch is the white house, in which the president and other officials attend to national affairs including enforce laws, commander in chief of armed forces, make foreign treaties, propose laws, appoints supreme court justices, and pardon those convicted in federal court (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 47). The judicial branch is the Supreme Court which decides constitutionality of laws, review lower court decisions, and decides cases involving disputes between states (Ginsberg, Lowi, Wier, Tolbert, & Spitzer, 2017, p. 47). The Constitution also incorporated federalism as it centralized power towards the national level instead of the state level. As a result it designed the states and the nation to effectively limit power of each other by setting two sovereigns.

In conclusion, the Articles of Confederation was the first attempt of America in organizing a democratic state nation, and it had its problems and flaws in terms of power imbalance between the state governments and the federal government. As a result, the framers sought new structures to be presented in the terms and amendments of the new Constitution that improved the affairs on states and national levels. With the new Constitution, America was able to operate more smoothly and gain economic, political, and cultural benefits from all aspects, including local, national, and international ones.

Works Cited

Ginsberg, B., Lowi, J. T., Wier, M., Tolbert, J. C., & Spitzer, J. R. (2017). We the People - an introduction to American politics (11th edition). New York, New York, U.S.: W.W.Norton & Company.

Lecturer. (2017, 6 30). Introduction to American Government, Module 3, Lecture 1 - Federalism. U.S.

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