The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution
The articles of confederation which existed from 1781 until 1789 are the America’s first written constitution. It brought some accomplishments to the country. It lets congress remain “the central institution of national authority.” Congress had the power to “conduct wars and foreign relations and to appropriate, borrow, and issue money.” By passing the Ordinance of 1784, the Ordinance of 1785, and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the new government found some solutions for the controversies regarding the western lands. These laws also developed “a model for surveying and dividing up territories and also a model for governing them.” However, the Articles of Confederation also contained a lot of weaknesses. It did not allow congress to “regulate trade, draft troops, or levy taxes directly on the people.” It could not get the compromise between the states and national government. The central government did not have enough power to deal with states’ issues. There were a lot of conflicts regarding western land which could not be solved perfectly. The small states and large states also disagreed on the state representation. The small states want the equality of state representation, while the larger states want to be based on state’s population. Besides, because of the money needs during the Revolutionary war, the Confederation owed “an enormous outstanding debt” which needs to be repaid after war. Moreover, the national government at that time had no power to tax; the money is only requested from the states which also had war debts. The states increased the taxes which the poor farmers oppose. Dissatisfying with the ineffectiveness of Confederation in dealing with those conflicts, leads to the consideration of the new constitution. Almost delegates, who represented all the states except Rhode Island, agreed that “the United States need a stronger central government.” James Madison, who represented Virginia- the most populous state-, had a plan for a “new national