The Articles: Significant Changes To The Constitution

Decent Essays
The Articles
When the Constitution was made there was many rules put into it by farmers who didn’t know much about how to run a country. In this large document there is seven different articles that cover how the government works. These outlines to the government were very detailed, mostly with many restrictions.
In the fifth article it has ways to change and alter the way the laws affect the people. These additions to the constitution are called amendments, or a minor change in a document. Since the constitution was made there has been twenty two different amendments passed. The farmers who made it knew that the document would have to change as the country grew and got more advanced, but the the original Constitution cannot change.
The

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Question #1: The first compromise was the decision to replace the Articles of Confederation rather than amend it. The initial plan of the Constitutional Convention attendees was to amend the Articles of Confederation. Two attendees, Governor Randolph from Virginia and William Patterson from New Jersey, shared their own modifications early on, known as the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. As these plans were discussed, it became obvious that a new document was needed.…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Articles of Confederation had many problems. As a result, a new document was written to clear up the flaws of the Articles and establish a stronger United States. Under the Articles of Confederation, many items needed for a functioning democracy were lacking including needing unanimous decisions to pass an amendment, no power to tax the states, no judicial system, and each state only getting one vote regardless of population. Many of these problems arose because when the document was written the framers were afraid of a strong central democracy, that fear was soon quelled when the Constitution was written with checks and balances. The problem of needing a unanimous decision for an amendment was solved under Article V of the Constitution changing it to a ¾ majority needed to pass an amendment.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Us Constitution Dbq

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    United States Constitution Before there was even a constitution to amend and abide by, the United States government followed the Articles of Confederation. After years of the system’s lack of efficiency, the constitution was created. The constitution was a new system of necessary laws that limited governmental power and distributed it among the states. It played a major role in the lives of past Americans and continues to do so today.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Articles established the basic functions of national government in America after its newfound independence from Britain. The Articles were not strong enough to prevent conflict in the states, Shays’ Rebellion, so states wanted more power (Doc G). Americans called for change in the Articles, so delegates from all the states met at the Constitutional Convention and instead of just making minor changes to the Articles, wrote the Constitution. The government was stronger after the Constitution, but Americans still argued about whether they liked it or not, Federalist versus Anti-Federalists (Doc I). Citizens also asked for a Bill of Rights…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    "It's not tyranny we desire; it's a just, limited, federal government." said Alexander Hamilton. The founders created the constitution to be a guide to our nation, and how to prevent the tyranny in the United States of America. You may wonder how did the constitution change from the articles of constitution, by spreading out the power onto not one but a lot of people. The constitution guarded against tyranny by appointing federalism and allowing the branches to check on each other so that they have balance in power.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Articles Of Confederation The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution for the United States. These articles gave most of the power to the state governments. They kept the states independent which caused several problems. One issue is that they lacked the ability to levy taxes. Another issue is that they could not regulate commerce.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Constitution's Ratification How are we so successful theses days in america?well it all started july 4 1776 and a new revolutionary document is being announced to form a better Nation and a strong form of government. That we desperately need. The independence of our nation is thanks to the Declaration of Independence formed by are colony's greatest leaders.…

    • 235 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After the Americans won the Revolutionary War, they had to make a choice about how to run their new country. A set of laws, deemed the Articles of Confederation, was put into place. While this draft ensured primary concerns, such as the notion of majority rule and the protection of individual rights, there was still work left to guarantee a strong nation. In the 1780s, men from across the nation set out to create a new document that would support additional needs, titled the Constitution. The Constitution was a radical departure from the Articles of Confederation because it included a bicameral legislature, a stronger central government, and the formation of the checks-and-balances system.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Under the new constitution, Slaves were also counted as three-fifths of a person. By 1787, Constitution was drafted and had to be ratified by at least 9 states to become law. Afterward, the Bill of Rights became a part of the constitution, which provided basic rights to the citizens. The U.S Constitution comprises seven articles which are nothing else but tells how the government works and lays out the structure of the government. The meaning of the Constitution lies in the three words which are- “We the People” meaning that the United States government is to serve its…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Articles of Confederation had many weaknesses that the Constitution does not. The Articles of Confederation limited the power of the national government. Picture the division of powers like this, where the congress are the beggars on the streets while the states are the people with the money walking on the street. The state governments had more power than the national government, which caused a great deal of problems for the young nation. In the first place, the Articles of Confederation made it so that the national government had no power to regulate commerce or trade between states, each state could put taxes on trade between states, this caused a major headache because the national government was making no money to trade.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    What was once “regarded as the mixture of law, custom, conventions of governance and institutions existing at any one moment” were instead “charters creating institutions that would henceforth act under the authority they bestowed.” Under this view, constitutions were now the law of the land, even placing it above the highest official in the government. Because of this, any law enacted by the government had to fall under the guidelines of the Constitution, and if the law were to fall outside the guidelines, it could be deemed unconstitutional. In “Four Letters Interesting Subjects”, the author attempts to define the word constitution. The author states that constitutions serve two main purposes: 1) to decide what the form of government should be and 2) what powers should the government have.…

    • 1544 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Constitution, way to govern the country , was first made in September 17, 1787. After making of constitution , the coutry goes to the various stages of development and it goes on . That is why we are here upto the age of science and technology . Since that time we got into various type of political movements and we got various types of achievements which secures fundamental rights to the additional rights. We , the people, have got abundace of freedom and secureness due to constitution in comparision to the other countries of the world .…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Three New Amendments

    • 111 Words
    • 1 Pages

    After the end of the Civil war, some changes had to be made to accommodate the newly changed America. The government though that the best way to change, would be by adding three new amendments to the Constitution. The three new amendments were the 13th, which abolished slavery in the Unites states, the 14th amendment, which gave citizens rights and equal protection of law, and finally the 15th amendment, which gave each and every citizen of the United States the right to vote. During this time period know as the Gilded Age, however, many of the citizens and residents currently residing American were not having their 14th amendment rights being…

    • 111 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. Describe some of the principles behind the Constitution. Discuss how the separation of powers and checks and balances are supposed to operate. How did the Constitution arrange the power relationships between the national government and the states? There are several principles behind the United States constitution, such as popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of power, checks and balances, and federalism.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The United States Constitution is a document written to embody the fundamental laws of the United States. The first draft of the Constitution was called the Articles of Confederation, but the colonists quickly realized that the form of government the Articles of Confederation created was not going to work well. Consequently, the colonists held a Constitutional Convention, in 1787, the Constitutional Convention was held to amend the Articles of Confederation, they ended up drafting an entirely new Constitution. Some of the people who attended the Convention were Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and more. This new Constitution took a long time to construct, but eventually was ratified in 1788.…

    • 1741 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays