The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution - Essay Example

The paper "The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution" is an outstanding example of an essay on history. The Articles of Confederation were the first constitution of the United States that spelled out the functions of the government, as well as, its structure. However, the articles gave the government less power or no real power at all. Therefore, the basic purpose of the Articles of Confederation was to provide a general government for the thirteen colonies that had won their independence from the British, as well as, bring a perpetual union of the thirteen states. 

The Articles of Confederation were meant to help the states gain their sovereignty as they were afraid of being conquered again by the British. Consequently, the Articles gave Congress to raise an army and navy to guarantee that they would never be conquered. This meant that the congress was given enough power to protect the states from attacks, but their power was equally limited as they could not impose taxes; hence, they had no way to raise funds to pay the army and navy (Tansil). Apart from the power of imposing a tax that was denied for the congress they did not have the power to control foreign and interstate commerce. Additionally, there was no national court system, the executive branch and amending of the Articles required a unanimous vote and the laws required a 9/13 majority to be passed in congress.
It is vibrant that the Articles of Confederation had their shortcomings and, as a result, there was a rebellion as some states began to make their money; hence, creating economic instability (Tansil). This led to the gathering of the Philadelphia convention the weaknesses of the Articles were discussed where economy and military were the most apparent. Consequently, individuals asked for changes in the articles to help in creating a stronger national government the changes led to the creation of the constitution that gave the congress more powers.  Read More