preview

Confederation Vs Constitution

Decent Essays

The Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia during the spring and summer of 1787, and was charged with replacing the Articles of Confederation with a more effective constitution. The Articles were widely considered an ineffective governing document. Our nation had two constitutions. Although the Articles of Confederation weakened our government, the current Constitution strengthened our central government and established our country to where we are today.

The Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation, which was our first constitution but an unanimous approval of the states was needed to change or amend the Articles. Because of the Articles of Confederation, the sovereignty was in the states, we had a weak central …show more content…

It established a strong central government but protected state autonomy and rights. The new plan of government divided power equally between the central government and the states. The Constitution created 3 branch's executive, judicial and legislative. Powers were shared between the states and central government. The national government had the power to tax and regulate trade. After a lengthy debate, three major compromises were decided that shaped the foundation of the U.S. Constitution. The first of the compromises was The Connecticut Compromise or better known as the Great Compromise. The Virginia Plan wanted representation based on the population of each state and the New Jersey Plan wanted equal representation for every state. It then decided that there would be two chambers in Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate would be based on equal representation and the House would be based on population.The Second of the Compromises was the Three-Fifths Compromise. This compromise was between southern and northern states in which each slave counted as three-fifths of a person in order to determine representation and taxation for the federal government. Lastly, the Slave Trade Compromise was what the north and south worked out which forbade Congress from banning the slave trade for 20 years. For the North, this meant the slave trade hypothetically …show more content…

Yet some are more significant then others. For example, one of the most important is the first amendment, which guarantees the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and the right to petition government. In addition, the fourth amendment is major as well because it protects our right from un-reasonable searches and seizures. Two more amendments are powerful as well which are our sixth and eighth rights. The sixth amendment guarantees our right to a speedy, impartial public trial in criminal cases with counsel and the right to cross-examine and our eighth amendment prohibits excessive bail, fines, or cruel and unusual

Get Access