The Constitution gave extensive powers to the Federal government in Washington. Under the Articles of Confederation there was no central government to speak of. This is because most Americans were fearful of investing a centralized authority with too much power. The Americans had just fought to get rid of what they considered the tyranny of British colonial rule and so the last thing they wanted was to see it reestablished, only this time by Americans.
In practical terms, however, the Articles had proved an inadequate instrument of government for the new nation. For one thing, it proved impossible to develop a coherent foreign policy with ultimate political authority residing with the states. Without a centralized authority, the United States was also unable to pay back the enormous debts it had accrued during the Revolutionary War.
The Constitution sought to put an end to these problems by granting extensive powers to the executive branch in the form of the President and to the United States Congress. The new proposals meant that, from now on, the United States would be able to speak with one voice on the international stage in relation to both economic and foreign policy. On the domestic front, it would also mean that the US government could deal more effectively with threats to internal stability instead of relying on state authorities.
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was, in effect, the first Constitution of the United States. Under its terms, the thirteen colonies were unified under a weak central government, but the individual colonies functioned as independent countries in matters of taxation as well as interstate and foreign commerce. The sole governing body was the Congress of the Confederation. At this point, there were no executive or judicial branches of government. Congress had the ostensible power to wage war, conduct foreign affairs, and regulate currency. In practice, however, Congress could not exercise these powers, as it had no authority to force the states to supply money or personnel to serve as troops. Although Congress could mediate disputes between the states, the states were under no obligation to accept the results.
The US Constitution was adopted because, in order to survive as an independent nation, the United States needed the stability of a stronger government. The Constitution added the executive and judicial branches to the government and provided for a system of checks and balances in order to prevent any one branch of government from becoming too powerful. It delineated the specific responsibilities of each branch. Additionally, in order to ensure that each state received fair representation, the Constitution divided Congress into a dual legislative branch composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate. A few years later, the ten amendments that made up the of the Bill of Rights were introduced into the Constitution. These amendments guaranteed that individual citizens received fundamental protections, which included freedom of speech, the right to assemble peacefully, the right to bear arms, and the right to a fair trial by jury.
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/more-perfect-union
There were several ways that the Constitution was different from the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was created to have a weak federal government. For example, the federal government could not tax, could not control trade, and could not require people to join the army. There was one house in the legislative branch. There would be between two and seven members from a state in Congress. Each state, however, had only one vote in Congress, regardless of the size of the state’s population. A three-person committee ran the executive branch. The people were very afraid that one person would have too much power and begin to act like a king. In order to pass a law, nine of the thirteen states had to agree to the law. All thirteen states had to agree to change the Articles of Confederation. There also were no federal courts in the Articles of Confederation.
The Constitution had several differences. The federal government had more power. The federal government had the ability to tax the people. The federal government could also control interstate and foreign trade. There were two parts of the legislative branch. In one house of Congress, called the Senate, states would have equal representation. In the other house, called the House of Representatives, representation was based on the size of the state and therefore was unequal. The President led the executive branch. If the President acted improperly, the President could be impeached. The Constitution also did not require all the states to approve a change to the Constitution. There were federal courts created by the Constitution so states would have a place where they could resolve disputes.
The Constitution was written to try to resolve some of the issues that were created by the weak federal government that was established by the Articles of Confederation.
https://www.usconstitution.net/constconart.html
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