Articles Of Confederation The Congress example essay topic

In the critical years of America, while under the Articles of Confederation, people were threatened by economic and political instability. In order to preserve the personal freedoms of the people and maintain order, something had to change. The idea of the social contract theory, written by great political scientists, is represented by great political powers coming together in the Continental Congress to discuss the problems and solutions of the Articles of Confederation. The problems of the Articles of Confederation had to be settled in a compromise by all the states. These series of compromises later became known as the Constitution.

A major flaw in the Articles of Confederation was that Congress had no power to make the states follow the Articles of Confederation or the laws it made. The Articles of Confederation established "a firm league of friendship" among the states. The Constitution proposed a bicameral legislature in which there are two houses, one house to create the laws and another to enforce them. Under the Constitution a person can break the rules set by the government but they must face the responsibilities and penalties of their actions.

The punishment must be fair to all people to ensure justice for everyone. Under the Articles of Confederation the Congress didn't have that power to tax, therefore; each state had the power to make their own taxing laws. The states could also print their own money, and set their own trade regulations. This caused chaos to spread throughout the states as prices soared and some states were denied trade from other states. In the Constitution the Congress was given the power to tax, regulate trade and print money.

This way every state has the same form of money and all trade and tax regulations are fair and equal among all states. In the Articles of Confederation the power was held most by each individual state, which made a weak central government. With the states holding most of the power it became difficult to ratify laws and treaties because it had to be taken to each state and nine of the thirteen states had to approve it. Also, the Articles Themselves could only be changed with the consent of all thirteen state legislatures.

With the Constitution the power is held mostly by the central government and the local governments are appointed by the central government. With this kind of government, selected representatives from each state, who speak for a group of people, come together to discuss and vote on laws and issues. As times change, so do people and their laws. The ability to change the Bill of Rights has allowed for the continual evolution of the political system. People are constantly changing and the Constitution must adapt to these changes to suit the needs and the safety of the people. The great thing about the Constitution is that it can be changed to adapt with the people and still maintain the individual freedoms every person is born with.