Question

What events indicated that the Articles of Confederation were weak? How did the Constitution solve those problems? How important is compromise to the American system of government?

Answer 1

Articles of consideration refers to the first American constitution which were submitted by Congress on 17 November 1777.

Following are the various events that indicated that these articles were weak:

1. Delay in approval-

It took until February 1779 for 12 states to approve the document. Maryland held out until March 1781, after it settled a land argument with Virginia.

2. Congress needed 9 of 13 states to pass any laws-

Requiring this high supermajority made it very difficult to pass any legislation that would affect all 13 states.

3. Economic mess around 1787-

The Confederation government couldn’t help settle Revolutionary War-era debts. The central government and the states owed huge debts to European countries and investors. Without the power to tax, and with no power to make trade between the states and other countries viable, the United States was in an economic mess by 1787.

4. The document was practically impossible to amend-

The Articles required unanimous consent to any amendment, so all 13 states would need to agree on a change. Given the rivalries between the states, that rule made the Articles impossible to adapt after the war ended with Britain in 1783.

5. Shays’ rebellion – the final straw.

A tax protest by western Massachusetts farmers in 1786 and 1787 showed the central government couldn’t put down an internal rebellion. It had to rely on a state militia sponsored by private Boston business people. With no money, the central government couldn't act to protect the “perpetual union.”

The constitution solved these problems by:

The above mentioned events alarmed Founders like George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton to the point where delegates from five states met at Annapolis, Maryland in September 1786 to discuss changing the Articles of Confederation.

The group included Madison, Hamilton and John Dickinson, and it recommended that a meeting of all 13 states be held the following May in Philadelphia.

The Confederation Congress agreed and the Constitutional Convention of 1787 effectively ended the era of the Articles of Confederation. So the great compromise was adopted as a solution to these problems.

Great Compromise:

Also known as the Connecticut Compromise, a major compromise at the constitution convention that created a two-house legislature, with the Senate having equal representation for all states and the House of Representatives having representation proportional to state populations.

Compromise is very important for the Amercan system of government as it helps in coming up with a mixed solution that balances state sovereignty and popular sovereignty tied to actual population.