Articles of Confederation vs. the U.S. Constitution
...al respect or gain recognition by foreign countries. Without a Supreme Court to administer law, there was no structure to support a judicial system. Congress could not enforce taxation to raise money to support this government or to request troops from the states. Without the power to tax, the Confederation was forced to rely upon the old levy system that had previously failed. Levies against the states often went unpaid, leaving the government to operate at near bankruptcy (Hay, May, 20, 2003). Another problem with the Articles was the lack of control over land disputes and as settlers expanded westward, territorial disagreements arose. A positive to the land problem was the plan enacted by Congress known as the Land and Northwest Ordinances. These ordinances allowed for money to be raised by surveying and selling land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River (Kennedy, Cohen, & Bailey, 2002, p.174). While several good things came out of the Articles of Confederation, there were many shortcomings. The Articles were virtually impossible to amend so problems could not be corrected. Changes had to be made if our new nation was to survive, be strong, and be respected by foreign governments. The Constitution of the United States was written to correct the inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation. The Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787 was organized to draft a new Constitution. This document would become known as “Supreme Law of the Land”. The Constitution is made up of four main sections, Federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and the Bill of Rights. The new Constitution gives power to the country on a national level where states could not challenge the Constitution individually, but not to the extreme of absolute power. Another major strength of the Constitution is the three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. The branches are separated so that power is allocated equally, preventing one from overpowering the other. There is an overlapping of each branch and that is where the checks and balances comes in, allowing the right of each to oversee the other (Hay, May 20, 2003, power point). The powers of Congress are under the legislative branch. The executive branch controls the powers of the president and the election process. The judicial branch manages the power of the supreme and federal courts. This new Constitution soon included a Bill of Rights as “Amendments” to protect individual rights including the “freedom of religion, trial by jury, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to bear arms, and the right to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. The Bill of Rights also prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and arbitrary government seizure of private property” (Kennedy, Cohen, & Bailey, 2002, p. 192). Although the Constitution had greatly improved over the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution had a great weakness, all were not included - there were no individual or voting rights for women, slaves, or Native Americans....