Response – Confederation and Constitution
Responding to Josephine
Josephine,
Great work with your post! I agree with you. The primary pitfalls in the Articles of Confederation – that, of course, played a major role in the formation and ratification of the Constitution in 1787 – was the inability of the federal/central government to collect its own taxes, impose foreign tariffs, secure funds, and an absence of comprehensive tax legislation. In fact, as you state, under the former Articles of Confederation document, there was no binding rule that would allow the government to establish strong commercial and foreign business ties, making it difficult for the country to sign good business treaties with other European territories (OpenStax, 2019). As you assert, these were the foundations of the Federalist Party during the ratification of the Constitution in 1787 – with most arguing that the new document would address these loopholes. The Anti-Federalists, on the other hand, thought that the new Constitution would be more powerful and would not benefit individual states.
References
OpenStax. (2019). U.S. history. OpenStax CNX. Retrieved from https://cnx.org/contents/p7ovuIkl@6.18:gMXC1GEM@7/Introduction
Responding to Lisa
Lisa,
Great work with your post! You have rightly analyzed all factors that led to the drafting and ratification of the new American Constitution, the flaws of the previous document (Articles of Confederation), and also mentioned who were the supporters of the Federalist Party and the Anti-Federalist Party. I agree with you that ‘economic disorganization’ was the main flaw of the Articles of Confederation, meaning that the country was unable to settle the debts it accrued while fighting for independence. There was also confusion in the voting systems, with states failing to agree on the formula of electing the president. These were actually some of the reasons why the Federalists, led by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, wrote documents titled “The Federalist Papers.” One such paper, which is popularly known as Federalist No. 10, was authored by James and contends that the checks and balances present in the Constitution bar the administration from being held ransom (OpenStax, 2019).
References
Brackemyre, T. (n.d.) America’s first failure at the government’s lack of leadership. U.S. History Scene. Retrieved from https://ushistoryscene.com/article/articles-of-confederation/
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
We’ll write everything from scratch
Question 
Response 1
Josephine
Hello Everyone,
Pick two (2) issues of the Articles of Confederation and describe the main problems that the United States was faced with under the federal government.
Two issues of the Articles of Confederation I chose are the fact that the
Response – Confederation and Constitution
national government had no power to impose taxes and the lack of good trade legislation. One of the biggest problems of the Articles of Confederation was that the national government had no power to impose taxes. (Khan Academy, 2020). The Articles of Confederation allowed only state governments to levy taxes. To pay for its expenses, the national government had to request money from the states. The states, however, were often negligent in this duty, and so the national government was underfunded. Thus, U S government was unable to pay debts owed from the Revolution or easily secure new funds. The worst part of it was that the central government also lacked the power to impose tariffs on foreign imports or regulate interstate commerce. Thus, it couldn’t protect American producers from foreign competitors.
Another issue of the Articles of Confederation was the lack of good trade legislation. Establishing workable foreign and commercial policies under the Articles of Confederation also proved difficult (OpenStax, U S History, 2019). Each state could decide for itself whether to comply with treaties between the Congress and foreign countries, and there were no means of enforcement. Both Great Britain and Spain understood the weakness of the Confederation Congress, and they refused to make commercial agreements with the United States because they doubted that they would be enforced. Without stable commercial policies, American exporters found it difficult to do business and British goods flooded U S markets in the 1780s, in a repetition of the economic imbalance that existed before the Revolutionary War (OpenStax, U S History, 2019).
Analyze two major debates (see textbook Section 7.4) by which the Constitution was created in the summer of 1787.
Two major debates by which the constitution was created in the summer of 1787 are a question of representation and slave representation (OpenStax, U S History, 2019). Small states wanted to be represented by equal state numbers, and large states wanted to be represented by population. This proportional representation gave the more populous states, like Virginia, more political power. They also called for an executive branch and a judicial branch, both of which were absent under the Articles of Confederation. Also, this gave a check and balance that the Articles of Confederation never had.
The question of slavery stood as a major issue at the constitutional convention because slaveholders wanted slaves to be counted along with whites, termed “free inhabitants”, when determining a state’s total population (OpenStax, U S History, 2019). However, some northerners did not want slaves to be counted in the new national plan of government. The northerners were afraid that if they let them be represented, the Southerners would have such representation, and they would have too much power in the decision that would be made. Later, in April 1783, the Confederation Congress amended the earlier system of requisition by having slaves count as three-fifths of the white population (OpenStax, US History, 2019). In this way, slaveholders gained a significant tax break.
What were the major differences between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and who were the best-known members of each party?
Federalists wanted a stronger national government and the ratification of the constitution to help properly manage the debt and tensions following the American Revolution. The best-known members of the Federalists are Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay – they defended the weakest point of the Constitution – a lack of a Bill of Rights by suggesting that current protections were sufficient and that congress could always propose amendments (Lumen Learning, n.d). On the other hand, anti-federalists were those who opposed the development of a strong federal government and the ratification of the constitution in 1788, preferring power to remain in the hands of state and local government. “The anti-federalists opposed the constitution because they feared that its concentration of power in the central government would lead to both the annihilation of the state government and the destruction of individual liberty” (Zydney & Michael, 2018, p. 43). The best-known members of anti-federalists were Patrick Henry, George Mason and Richard Henry Lee, whose main complaint was that the constitution did not provide for a Bill of Rights protecting the people (Lumen Learning, n.d). They also thought that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government and too little to individual states. A third complaint of the anti-federalists was that senators and the president were not directly elected by the people, and the House of Representative was elected every two years instead of annually.
Thank you.
References
Lumen Learning, (n.d). Federalists and Anti-federalists. Retrieved from: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-politicalscience/chapter/ratification-of-the-constitution/ (Links to an external site.)
OpenStax. (2019). U.S. history. OpenStax CNX. Retrieved from https://cnx.org/contents/p7ovuIkl@6.18:gMXC1GEM@7/Introduction (Links to an external site.)
Zydney, M., & Michael, J. (2018). The Local Control Model of the Fourth Amendment. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 108 (2), 253 – 304. https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=6f678b47-735c-4ee4-8ce4-7e596e0443c0%40pdc-v-sessmgr03 (Links to an external site.)
Response 2
Lisa
Chamberlain University College of History (2020) stated in 1777 the continental congress drafted the Article of Confederation. Because of ineffective governing and the growing of the American states the Articles had a very short lifespan. Economic disorganization which was led by America not being able to pay off the debts that they had sustained during the fight for independence. Under the Articles of the Confederation congress had very limited trade regulations. Each individual state had the ability to monitor its own trade. Since Congress had so little power there was very little economic coordination amongst the states (Brackemyre, n.d.). Lack of leadership was another problem with the Articles of the Confederation. It offered no system of courts. Congress had no means to enforce the laws. The states could simply ignore laws and fear no consequences.
Two major debates at the Constitutional convention one of which was legislative inefficiencies. Should all states have the same number of votes as they did in the Confederation one state one vote. Or should each state vote count be based on its population and wealth. This debate clogged the proceeding for weeks. Representatives from small states believed that would destroy the smaller states’ rights because they may at times be forced to side with the larger states in order to have any weight at all (“The Major Debates at the Constitutional Convention,” 2009).
The second debate was giving power to the president. The plan was called for “a national executive to have authority to execute the national laws.”(“The Major Debates at the Constitutional Convention,” 2009). No one person should be able to stop the will of the whole. No man could be found so far above all the rest in wisdom Roger Sherman argued. The debate continued to intensify as they tried to come to a conclusion as how long the president’s term should be and the number of terms he could serve.
Supporters of the Constitution were known as Federalist. Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton with John Jay and James Madison wanted a strong central government, whereas the Antifederalist led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson with Patrick Henry wanted states’ rights instead of centralized power.
References
Brackemyre, T. (n.d.). America’s first failure at government Lack of leadership. US History Scene. https://ushistoryscene.com (Links to an external site.)
Chamberlain University College of History. (2020). HIST405N-62310. Week 2: From Confederation to Constitution [online lesson]. https:/chamberlain.instructurre.com/login/canvas
The major debates at the constitutional convention. (2009). Bill of Rights in Action, 25(2).