Confederation and Constitution
Heidi Kurzhals
Chamberlain College of Nursing
HIST405 United States History
March - April 2016
Confederation and Constitution New nations bring about new problems. New governments bring about conflict. The United States of American has not always been “united”. In the mid-1780’s there were many conflicts surrounding the Articles of Confederation, the new Constitution of 1787, and the Bill of Rights. When speaking of the Articles of Confederation, Brackemyre (2016) noted “This distribution of power was chosen by the Founding Fathers because American colonists were wary of strong national governments. Having dealt with the British Crown for so many years, the American colonies did not want to create yet another out-of-touch, national government.” Thus the power was given to the state governments instead of having …show more content…
Congress did not have the ability to tax or regulate commerce. There was no one assigned to enforce laws the Congress passed, because there was no national court. Amendments required a unanimous vote, and law required a nine out of thirteen majority to be passed. Because of this lack of national government the economy was in disarray, there was no real leadership, and no common laws.
The Western Land Claims
With the quick writing of the Articles of Confederation in 1776, there was a big point of disagreement around the claims of the “Western lands”. States that did not have claims in the West argued that the Western land should be owned by the national government. It was not until those with claims gave them up that the Articles of Confederation could be adopted. “Because the smaller states feared the domination of the larger ones, each state had one vote in the Confederation Congress, regardless of its size or population.” (Library of Congress)
The Drafting of the
Heidi Kurzhals
Chamberlain College of Nursing
HIST405 United States History
March - April 2016
Confederation and Constitution New nations bring about new problems. New governments bring about conflict. The United States of American has not always been “united”. In the mid-1780’s there were many conflicts surrounding the Articles of Confederation, the new Constitution of 1787, and the Bill of Rights. When speaking of the Articles of Confederation, Brackemyre (2016) noted “This distribution of power was chosen by the Founding Fathers because American colonists were wary of strong national governments. Having dealt with the British Crown for so many years, the American colonies did not want to create yet another out-of-touch, national government.” Thus the power was given to the state governments instead of having …show more content…
Congress did not have the ability to tax or regulate commerce. There was no one assigned to enforce laws the Congress passed, because there was no national court. Amendments required a unanimous vote, and law required a nine out of thirteen majority to be passed. Because of this lack of national government the economy was in disarray, there was no real leadership, and no common laws.
The Western Land Claims
With the quick writing of the Articles of Confederation in 1776, there was a big point of disagreement around the claims of the “Western lands”. States that did not have claims in the West argued that the Western land should be owned by the national government. It was not until those with claims gave them up that the Articles of Confederation could be adopted. “Because the smaller states feared the domination of the larger ones, each state had one vote in the Confederation Congress, regardless of its size or population.” (Library of Congress)
The Drafting of the