Historical_Essay

Historical Essay #1 Confederation and Constitution Christine Huard Devry University SUMA11 Sec C Summer Semester 201 The Articles of Confederation and Constitution The United States has been run under two constitutions since its existence. It was first operated under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation were adopted on November 15, 1777, but did not become effective until March 1, 1781(Burke). One achievement, of the Articles was the Northwest Ordinance. This ordinance was passed in 1787 and allowed the settlement of the area north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River (Ushistory.org). The Articles were a stepping stone which led to the Constitution however the Articles contained more weaknesses than strengths which forced the colonists to get rid of them and create a new document. In order for the country to function as a whole, each state had to have some things in common, and under the Articles of Confederation the states were given to too much freedom and refused to cooperate with one another. Weaknesses that the Articles of Confederation had were the limits on collecting taxes. Since Congress could only request funds from the States, and not levy taxes, it was unable to pay war-related debts (Burke). Without the power to regulate trade, it could not negotiate commercial treaties (Burke). Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation were nearly impossible to amend. The Articles failed to mention currency, trade and each state was acting as its own country and there was no way to unify the nation (Schultz, K., p.116). The executive branch in the branch of government that executes the laws, and without this branch there was no way to make sure that the states followed the laws of the nation (Ushistory.org). With no central government to regulate what each state was doing, every state was different. Since there was no consistency in regulating the levels of taxes and inflation it was difficult to establish transport of goods across lines (Schultz, K. p. 116). Another problem of the Articles was managing the Western expansion. This later became known as the Western Problem. People began to move west and Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and the Nashville region became largely populated (Schultz, K. p.116). States like Maryland could not benefit from this expansion. This created jealously among the states and Maryland refused to ratify the Constitution. The Constitution A framework for a new and stronger national government had been crafted at the Philadelphia Convention by a handful of leaders (Ushistory.org). The task of creating a new government was not easily accomplished. The larger states favored the Virginia Plan, which would create a congress under two houses, establish federal judiciary, a president who was elected by congress (Schultz, K., p. 121). The smaller states supported the New Jersey Plan, which proposed that all the states would have an equal number of representatives (Almanac of Policy Issues). The Connecticut delegates suggested a compromise that settled the problem. Their plan provided for equal representation in the Senate, along with representation in proportion to population in the House of Representatives. This proposal became known as the Great Compromise. The Great Compromise was a bicameral legislature that satisfied both large and small states (Ushistory.org). In the Senate every state had two votes no matter its size, and in the House of Representatives a states representation was based on its population. The Great Compromise was necessary to the ratification of the Constitution because the issue it resolved had divided northern and southern states. The issue was the question of whether black slaves counted towards a state’s population (Schultz, K., p.122) Southern states that had a large slave population wanted slaves counted towards population because they would get more representation. Northerners would benefit from more tax revenue but didn’t want the South to have more representation that it deserved. The 3/5ths Compromise resolved this issue by stating that every 3 out of 5 slaves would count towards population (Schultz, K., p.122). This made both the North and the South only somewhat satisfied over the issue of slavery because the North received tax money and the South got representation. This Compromise led into the creation of the Slave Trade and Commerce Clause. Federalists and Anti-Federalists Federalists were the first political party in the United States. Their goal was simple; to unite the states and form a strong central government and they supported the Constitution (Ushistory.org). There were various attempts at uniting the states, the first of which was the Articles of Confederation. The Federalists were also aware that that the problems of the country in the 1780s stemmed from the weaknesses of the central government created by the Articles of Confederation (Ushistory.org).The Federalists next had, the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, which was successful in uniting the States, but still lacked the acceptance of the people. Due to the failure of the Articles, the people did not trust the Federalists who created them, and in effect, would not allow those same men to gain supreme power of the country by creating a strong central government. The Federalists also completed a Bill of rights that would prevent the new centralized government from infringing on natural rights (Schultz, K., p.125). The people of the United States were not satisfied with the way that the government was handling matters which pertained directly to them; which was without their consent. This is shown in the case of the Whiskey Rebellion. The Whiskey Tax was implemented due to the fact that the federal government needed to raise money to pay off state debts (Schultz, K., p.133). Hamilton's plan was to tax Jefferson's supporters; this way he would not lose any of his own supporters, and at the same time he would be raising the necessary funds with which he would pay off the states debts. The fact that the farmers took violent action against government officers, such as tax collectors and federal marshals, showed that this government was not as strong as it thought it was (Ushistory.org). Although the Federalist government was not efficient in handling most problems facing the nation, there were some areas in which they succeeded in fixing certain problems, which in turn helped the nation as a whole (Ushistory.org). One major problem of this time was based on the power of the State governments versus the power of the Federal government. One aspect of this situation was the problem of who has power in court trials. The way that they resolved this was with the Judiciary Act of 1789, which made it so that all crimes which infringed on federal laws would be heard in district courts, which were placed (Schultz, K. p.130).. The Anti-federalists were a group of people who opposed ratification of the Constitution. Many Anti-federalists were locals and few had interstate connections with limited access to the press. The Anti-Federalists wanted an explicit Bill of Rights to safeguard certain liberties (Schultz, K. p. 125). They believed that centralized governments threatened the sovereignty of the states. The first ratification conventions started in December almost immediately when the delegates returned home. The constitution laid out a plan of three branches of government. The three were: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and judiciary (Burke). This was included by the anti-federalists as one of their main arguments against the ratification because of the strong central government where they preferred the power to be within the states. Another reason why the anti-federalists opposed ratification was due to representation and large area republics. Because some populations are so high in certain areas, a large amount of the representatives elected to the House, anti-federalists feared, would be only the prominent and wealthy men of the area (Ushistory.org).This meant that even more power would be given to the government with the titles the men already had before being elected. Not only did the power of the government make the anti-federalists nervous, the lack of a bill of rights kept them agreeing with the constitution. They wanted a set rights guaranteed so that the central government didn’t have all the power that the anti-federalists were afraid of. Everything that has happened in history has made out country like it is today. The Constitution is still being used and followed today. It may have problems but until the government or people want to change it again we will continue to use and follow it. References Almanac of Policy Issues. (June, 2004). The Constitution of the United State of America. Retrieved July 17, 2001. From http://www.policyalmanac.org/government/archive/constitution.shtml. Burke, Martin J.(n.d.). Drafting, Debating, and Ratifying the Constitution. Investigating U.S.History. Retrieved July 15, 2011, from http://investigatinghistory.ashp.cuny.edu/m3.html. Schultz, K.M. (2010). HIST. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Ushistory.org. (n.d.). Federalists. Ratifying the Constitution. Retrieved July 15, 2011, from http://www.ushistory.org/us/16a.asp.