18 Jun WHAT WERE THE VARIOUS PROBLEMS
WHAT WERE THE VARIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION?
September 20, 2018Posted by: kajo No Comments
What were the various problems with the Articles of Confederation?
The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government in the new country of America. After the countless amount of issues born out of being owned by Great Britain, the expectations of the new system were as such: that power would be given through the people, that power would be expressed through a representative of the people, and that the representative was one of the needs and interests of the people. And while that sounds ideal, great almost, it doesn’t work out. The Articles as described in class, were pretty much bad/not good. Where the people were looking for the framework for an actual government, they seemed more like a firm league of friendship. The Articles, founded in 1778 lasted 10 years. Under this system there was no president or judiciary, any decision required a 9 out of 13 votes, so if it came down to 2/3rds there would be no decision made. The Articles allowed the declaration of war, conduct of foreign affairs, treaty creation, but could not tax. But hey two cool positives are that it won them the war and we also gained Ohio! And it was a tremendous disaster by the fact that it did not collect taxes, which was probably because the big debt from the war they had previously won.
No tax means no power, and inadvertently no money either. This became a bigger problem because the newfound America had borrowed money and weapons from the French, and since they were in debt they couldn’t pay the French back. The inability to tax left the founders hands tied; they couldn’t tax so they were unable to address their debt issue. And as the debt intensified, there was a rebellion in Massachusetts kicking off known as “Shays Rebellion.”
How did Shays Rebellion motivate “the founders” to hold a convention to resolve the problems of the Articles?
Shays Rebellion was the rebellion of the people (primarily farmers) against their government and more specifically, the affects of the Articles of Confederation. The huge debt problem affected everyone; farmers/civilians couldn’t pay mortgage, faced debt, and would land in jail. Shays Rebellion occupied the jails, courts, etc. and while the origins of this movement started in Massachusetts, movements were being started all over the new country because Massachusetts wasn’t the only state facing issues.
At this moment the economic elite realized they needed to strengthen the central government in order to fight debt/put down the rebellion. And it is from this realization that the Constitution was born, the document that laid down the foundation for “freedom, liberty and rights.” But to whom were these rights attributed? It is important to note that the Constitutions original purpose was not about giving us our rights, but how to control the people. And we must divorce ourselves from the notion that the constitution gave us any rights. Eventually in late of May 1787 George Washington calls the convention into session w/ the purpose of figuring out how to strengthen the central government, revising or replacing the Articles of Confederation.
Considering the list of problems related to the Articles of Confederation, how would they have to change the distribution of power in government?
One of the main issues within the Articles of Confederation was that the system was strongly imbalanced. While the Articles wanted to stray from the wrongful government of their past leaders, they found themselves dealing with some of the same issues. The question they needed to answer was, “How do we balance power between the states and central government?” Under the Articles almost nothing got done because of the 9/13 requirement for decision-making, and there was no president or judiciary systems, so it was essentially a bunch of people sitting around in a crowded hall arguing while outside the people of America struggled.
After George Washington called the conference together in May of 1787, it took 5 days of going back and forth for the Virginia Delegation to rise up and pose the Virginia Plan, via James Madison. And although he was not the man to pitch the idea to the convention, he was the man who wrote it, and also had hypochondria. But anyway, the Virginia Plan proposed a division of the powers, “one branch, and one body.” The division would create the executive, legislative, and judicial branch. Long story short, the idea was generally accepted. Only the legislative branch would be cut in two, the lower and upper house and would be represented by a population/number of people a state has. And while this worked out well for the large states, this created a challenge for the smaller states because little people meant little representation. This became such a heated debate in the convention that another plan was born out of New Jersey known of course as the New Jersey Plan. Everything stays the same except for the legislative branch, and the proposition was one single legislature and one single vote, no split whatsoever. This also became a heated debate because representation was a key value in this new government, so out of this debate came the Great Compromise, which proposed half senate (2 representatives/half population). The Virginia Plan was the general structure, the Great Compromise finalized that structure, and it has worked this way from 1787 to 2016.
How did each of the three branches of the proposed constitution limit democracy?
We live in a democratic republic and under the illusion of a democracy because of the very fact that each of the branches limits our democratic rights. It may even be right to say that the Articles of Confederation served as a more democratic system than the Constitution. The legislative branch sets a limit on our democracy because we do not have a direct say in who creates the laws. It was not until only 100 years ago that we were allowed to vote for our senators who were originally appointed by our state legislatures. During that time it was only the state legislatures whom we voted in, which contradicted our democratic rights. What good did it do for the people if they could only vote in the people who then decided those that would create the laws that we must abide? If you aren’t directly voting for the people making your laws, where is the representation? We only gained the correct representation a couple 100 years ago, which isn’t too far. We basically have no say in regards to our judicial branch, which has not changed at all since its creation. We do not vote for people in the Supreme Court, they are appointed by the president and stay for life. This is because the original founding fathers did NOT want the justices to reflect the people, which would be the case if we voted for them. And that has no democracy in it whatsoever. The executive branch has not changed much either since it’s installment. We do not elect the president; this duty was entrusted onto the Electoral College under the belief that the decision of who would lead the country was “too big a burden” for the people of this said country. Also the existence of super delegates where one person’s vote equals 1,000 votes, which means no solid representation.
How did the Constitution create a legal identity for African-American’s that enshrined inequality?
Our website has a team of professional writers who can help you write any of your homework. They will write your papers from scratch. We also have a team of editors just to make sure all papers are of HIGH QUALITY & PLAGIARISM FREE. To make an Order you only need to click Ask A Question and we will direct you to our Order Page at WriteDemy. Then fill Our Order Form with all your assignment instructions. Select your deadline and pay for your paper. You will get it few hours before your set deadline.
Fill in all the assignment paper details that are required in the order form with the standard information being the page count, deadline, academic level and type of paper. It is advisable to have this information at hand so that you can quickly fill in the necessary information needed in the form for the essay writer to be immediately assigned to your writing project. Make payment for the custom essay order to enable us to assign a suitable writer to your order. Payments are made through Paypal on a secured billing page. Finally, sit back and relax.
About Writedemy
We are a professional paper writing website. If you have searched a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help in your coursework. We offer HIGH QUALITY & PLAGIARISM FREE Papers.
How It Works
To make an Order you only need to click on “Order Now” and we will direct you to our Order Page. Fill Our Order Form with all your assignment instructions. Select your deadline and pay for your paper. You will get it few hours before your set deadline.
Are there Discounts?
All new clients are eligible for 20% off in their first Order. Our payment method is safe and secure.