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Articles Of Confederation Flaws

Decent Essays

The Articles of Confederation were a failure due to how weak they were. The United States had just fought their way out of tyranny, and because of that they gave all the power to the states, as to ensure no abuses of power, which ultimately didn’t give the government means to rule efficiently. For example, Congress could not tax, so inflation was caused by their overprinting. There was no national army, so when tensions arose, congress had to beg for troops, making the U.S. weak and vulnerable. Also, congress did not have the power to control commerce, so states made their own monet, which could not be used state to state. Furthermore, there was no head figure to enforce any of the rules of the Articles, which only hastened the falling apart of the articles because there was no one person to enforce laws. Shay’s rebellion was the final straw that led to the Constitutional Convention. In the construction of the constitution they were very careful not to repeat their mistakes. For example, they gave congress power to tax, draft, control money, as well as the the other issues where congress lacked necessary power. The …show more content…

Virginia plan placed a lot of power in the legislative branch, and had a system very similar to the one we use today. The branch is split up into two houses, the House of Representatives, as well as the Senate. The number of officials in these institutions would be based solely on population, or their contribution to the federation. They would be voted on by the people, for the House of Reps, and the Senate would then be chosen by government officials. This was a very scary plan to the smaller states, who much rather favored the New Jersey plan. This option outlined a very equal playing field for all states. There is a one house legislature system, with equal representation across the board. All decisions were made based on the state’s

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