Differences Between The Articles Of Confederation And The Constitution

The Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781 and contained many weakness that would be changed in The Constitution. One weakness of the The Articles of Confederation was that the States had too much power and there was not a powerful enough central government. Another issue The Constitution attempted to solve was that central government did not have enough power to tax. In both The Articles of Confederation and The Constitution, the States maintained some of the same powers. The Constitution had many significant differences from The Articles Confederation, but some powers remained the same between both documents.
One major difference between The Articles of Confederation and The Constitution was, The Articles of Confederation gave the states the majority of power, and The Constitution established a stronger central power. For example, The Articles of Confederation states “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled”(Avalon). This quote shows how only the states possessed sovereignty, unlike in The Constitution, where the central government, states and people share …show more content…
For example, even though Congress gained direct power on the people in The Constitution, the States still retained some of the same direct power over the people that the States had in The Articles of Confederation. Even though the amount of States required to be in approval for an amendment changed from all of the States to a third of them, the States' approval for an amendment was required in both The Articles of Confederation and The Constitution. Even though the changes in The Constitution significantly affected the States; the States, in some cases, retained powers between both The Articles of Confederation and The