After the American Revolution, the newly founded independent country needed stability and unification in government, so the continental congress drafted the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation focused on the ideas of independence and was geared towards the states sovereignty because many feared the federal government becoming to powerful. The Articles of Confederation had many weaknesses and later showed the fragility in having a weak central government leading the country to eventually “revise” the articles ( more like just tossed it out the door) and created the Constitution that many of us know today.
The Articles of Confederation were written at a time of war and a frenzy of constitution making among the states broke out, some gearing towards democracy like the colonists wanted, others towards republics like the elites wanted. In doing this, it created a division among states and separated them according to status. The colonist had fought hard to defeat a tyranny 3,000 miles away and didn't want to replace it with a tyranny 3 miles away in their own backyard, so many of the colonists wanted to have a constitution structured more towards a democracy. Providing the colonists with fewer restrictions on voting, which allowed more common white men to vote, and laws to protect against debtors helped the colonists because it allowed them to have a representation in government, and that colonists would have time to pay debts back and not go to debtors prison. But in opposition, the elites despised democracy and did not want the common person to have representation in government, and wanted to keep the power within themselves. Creating more republic constitutions provided stiff property requirements to vote or hold office and had very few laws to protect against debtors. Which drove the country into two separate sides proving one of the weaknesses in the Articles. By declaring all states free and sovereign, this allowed for states to be higher than the federal government and placed the states with the abilities to make their own laws and regulations. In making their own laws and regulations, the states could make their own currency and place high taxes on imports and exports in each individual states, making it difficult for merchants to branch out and make money (also because of different currencies in different states having differing values). The federal government could not regulate commerce, foreign or interstate. The federal government could also not tax, which allowed no way for the government to pay back any money borrowed or owed, although the federal government could ask for money from the states, the states had the right to refuse.
Another weakness involved only having one branch of federal government. The Articles provided no executive branch, meaning no one to enforce the laws, and no judiciary branch, meaning no one to interpret the laws. This provided the states with the opportunity to basically do as they pleased. Even though there was a congress, they had a hard time getting anything done because in order to amend the Articles all 13 states had to unanimously agree, which is very difficult for anyone to do, let alone 13 completely independent states not wanting to change, and providing that each state only received one vote, no matter how big or small the population. The Articles also stated that the federal government could not raise an army. There were many weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and that is what lead to the “revision” or complete throwing away and instead having the Constitution.
One of the fears that drove the leaders to write the Constitution was a fear of the lower class. At this time, the lower class faced a depression. They had a hard time selling items across states and expected the government to manage the economy and placed the blame on the elites for not fixing the problem. They also became involved in extra-legal activities and started to form committees against the new government creating concern for the elites thinking that there might be riots or rebellions. The elites, knowing what the colonists wanted, started to accept the democracy but wanted an economy based on free market capitalism, meaning that the government minimized control of the economy. The Elites wanted more uniformity in the economy and less individual commerce and trade, and needed more national laws translating into more law and order. Another fear included the fear of the Military. The military wanted to be paid for their service for the American Revolution and with a federal government that could not tax provided the colonists that served could not get paid and that angered them. For example, the Newburgh Conspiracy of 1783 was when continental army officers tried to challenge the power of the Articles because they were not getting payed and Washington talked them down. Only further proving that the nation needed a way to tax in order to pay off debts and pay the military. Small farmers and laborers also strikes fear into the leaders. For example, Shay’s Rebellion, led by Daniel Shay, took up arms and tried to overthrow the government in order to show the need for pro business constitution and highlight the debt crisis. Which only proved that the country was still fighting the same war and provided a turning point for the country. Elites start accepting democracy even more now and understand that it was time for a new type of government that allowed for the federal government to have more power and provide for a better country.
In writing the Constitution, the writers had to think about all of the problems and weaknesses that the Articles of Confederation had and try to fix them or come up with something new. The Constitution as a result created power and authority for the federal government which was completely opposite of the Articles. The delegates agreed that the Constitution needed to be a republic, have three branches of government power, and that the central government must be stronger than the states. James Madison then comes up with the Virginia Plan, which explained that power and authority must be fragmented and must be shared between the federal government and the states, or federalism, which included expressed powers (like raising an army, and taxing), the supremacy clause which stated that the federal government was above the states, and a bicameral legislature. As for the states they were still considered sovereign, but only had reserved powers. The Constitution also involved the separation of powers interpreting into the authority being separated among the three branches and officials for these branches would be chosen at different times creating a way for the people to elect new officials every so often meaning that no one person, group, or branch would be in charge for too long. The Constitution also provided the checks and balances meaning that the branches shared power and made sure that not one branch had all the power to do whatever it pleased because they all had to go through one another. The checks and balances furthermore allowed the slowing of changing things to how a political party wanted and created a better way for the branches to compromise. Although there was a conflict between small states and large states involving voting because small states wanted to keep it like it was in the Articles and having only one vote per state and that population shouldn’t count towards votes, but large states say the population does matter and that statehood was irrelevant towards voting. Which resulted in the Great Compromise where states could be represented in senate and population or people represented in the House of Representatives. By having a bicameral legislature provided the people with a voice in government but also allowed the “elites” a spot above the peoples legislature.The Constitution divided the power and authority in a way that allowed for the growth of a better nation.
The Articles of Confederation was a quick fix to problems that at the time seemed like a good solution to the overwhelming need for a government setup. The document had weaknesses that needed fixing and the Constitution was a result. The leaders understood that they needed change after they realized that they were starting to fear various groups because of the weaknesses. And in order to ensure that power was fragmented the leaders created the separation of powers, checks and balances, creating different times of officials being elected, and having a bicameral legislature. The Articles of Confederation paved the way for the Constitution which paved the way for the nation today.