Many people are unaware that the current constitution of the United States was not the first constitution of the nation. Most people envision a room of founding fathers soon after the Revolutionary War deliberating and creating a constitution which has remained the backbone of the United States’ government for more than 200 years. But indeed, the Articles of Confederation was the first plan of government for the newly independent United States. According to The Library of Congress, the Articles of Confederation served as the constitution of the United States from its ratification on March 1, 1789 until the current constitution’s acceptance on March 4, 1789 (Primary Documents in American History). The Constitution was drafted to fix the problems
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Because the federal government could not issue taxes, the government could not meet its financial obligations. Furthermore, the national government was not able to resolve trade disputes between states since it could not regulate commerce. The Constitution fixed this by granting the central government the ability to levy taxes and regulate interstate commerce. Also, under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was unicameral, or consisting of just one body, and representatives only served one year terms (Bixby, Articles of Confederation). This essentially made all states equal regardless of population. The Constitution limited this advantage of smaller states by creating a bicameral, or two-bodied, legislature in which representation in one body would be equal among all states while representation in the other body would be proportional to the population of the states. However, despite some major changes, the Constitution still adopted many policies from the Articles of Confederation specifically policies that had granted the central government the few powers it had. These roll-over policies included the power of the national government to “make treaties and alliances; maintain the armed forces (army and navy); coin money; make war and peace; establish a postal service; manage Indian affairs; and establish admiralty courts” (Bixby, Articles of
Because the federal government could not issue taxes, the government could not meet its financial obligations. Furthermore, the national government was not able to resolve trade disputes between states since it could not regulate commerce. The Constitution fixed this by granting the central government the ability to levy taxes and regulate interstate commerce. Also, under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was unicameral, or consisting of just one body, and representatives only served one year terms (Bixby, Articles of Confederation). This essentially made all states equal regardless of population. The Constitution limited this advantage of smaller states by creating a bicameral, or two-bodied, legislature in which representation in one body would be equal among all states while representation in the other body would be proportional to the population of the states. However, despite some major changes, the Constitution still adopted many policies from the Articles of Confederation specifically policies that had granted the central government the few powers it had. These roll-over policies included the power of the national government to “make treaties and alliances; maintain the armed forces (army and navy); coin money; make war and peace; establish a postal service; manage Indian affairs; and establish admiralty courts” (Bixby, Articles of