Adoption of the US Constitution: Debates and Articles of Confederation

This essay explores the challenging adoption of the United States Constitution, focusing on the inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation and the subsequent debates between Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The Articles suffered from issues such as a weak central government, inability to levy taxes, and lack of a national court system, leading to economic instability and events like Shays' Rebellion. The drafting of the new Constitution involved significant compromises, including the Connecticut Compromise, to balance the representation of states. Federalists, like James Madison, argued for a strong national government to prevent factionalism, while Anti-Federalists feared the loss of state sovereignty. The eventual ratification hinged on the inclusion of a Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties. Desklib provides resources for students seeking a deeper understanding of this pivotal moment in American history, offering access to past papers and solved assignments.

HISTORY ESSAY 1
History Essay
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HISTORY ESSAY 2
1.
The adoption of a new constitution in the United States became a difficult task and this
was because the steps towards finding the solutions to the challenges associated with the articles
of confederation required many discussions between the anti-federalists and the federalists. It is
believed that the articles of confederation had led to the creation of certain problems and this,
therefore, prevented the country from being run well including the sharing of power between the
confederation congress and the states (Maggs, 2017).
In a comparison of the two documents, the articles of confederation provided each of the
states with one voting right and this was irrespective of the size of the states. The other thing was
that the Congress was never granted the power to levy taxes on individuals and this, therefore,
prevented the ability of the nation to pay for the national debt which amounted to about $75
million. The Congress and the state were compelled to print their own money leading to inflation
and financial crisis. The value of the dollars therefore depreciated leading to depression which
was as a result of revolutionary (Morone & Kersh, 2016). Additionally, the articles of
confederation also resulted in the absence of a national court system and an executive branch
which was tasked with the passing of a variety of law acts in the Congress. The articles also did
not acknowledge the sovereignty of the nation but it instead recognized the sovereignty of the
particular states. Therefore there was no national army since it was not catered for in the article
of confederation.
The introduction of the new constitution resulted in various changes whose key
objectives were to empower the central government and thus develop the national army. With the
new constitution, the national government was allowed to impose taxes on the citizens and hence
there was adequate money to pay for the national debts. Additionally, the new constitution was

HISTORY ESSAY 3
considered as the supreme law of the land and it, therefore, identified the sovereignty of the
people and this was unlike with the articles of confederation which only recognized the
sovereignty of the states (Halberstam, 2018).
Strengths of Articles of Confederation
 It made both war and peace
 It resulted in the establishment of Congress
 It led to the printing of money in the economy
 It also brought various states together
 It had the capacity to raise a navy and an army to protect the states.
Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
The articles of confederation had certain weaknesses and they included,
 Absence of a national courts system
 It never granted the Congress the power to levy taxes on individuals
 The states were only given one vote in the Congress and this was irrespective of their size
 A unanimous vote was required to make amendments to the articles of confederation
 It did not grant the Congress the authority to control the interstate and foreign commerce
The article of Confederation in most of the scenario was unable to solve some of the
problems within the states. For example, there was the case of Shays' Rebellion in 1786 which
entailed a protest due to the rising debt and economic crisis which the articles of confederation
were unable to sort out.

HISTORY ESSAY 4
Drafting of the New Constitution
The drafting of the new constitution became a difficult task among the various delegates.
In 1786, different delegates met at the Annapolis Convention to settle some of the differences
which existed among the states, however, they were unable to reach an agreement. The delegates
later met in Philadelphia and it was during this meeting that they saw the dire need for a new
constitution (Books, 2017).
One of the fundamental matter during the convention was on the structure of the new
legislative branch such that the some of the states advocated for the New Jersey Plan where all
the states would be granted an equal representation in the legislature. However, the large states
were for the Virginia Plan in which a bicameral would be established and the representatives of
the states would be elected by the people through voting. An agreement was thereafter reached
and a bicameral congress was adopted. One of the key personalities to be remembered to have
contributed to the success of the Philadelphia Convention was Roger Sherman. He came up with
the Connecticut Compromise (McGuire, 2018).
Additionally, he suggested for a system analogous when there was a disagreement in the
Constitutional Convention on the issue of legislative voting. In 1787, the Sherman compromise
was adopted and it helped save the declining convention by offering a resolution on certain other
matters. The new constitution helped maintain the checks and balances including the separation
of power resulting in equal powers bestowed upon every branch of the government.
With the new constitution, there were changes witnessed in the nature of the American
Union such that it leads to political debates. Such political debates took a different version of the
public discussion and this was through the newspaper editorials (Epstein & Walker, 2018). The
Federalists supported the new constitution while the anti-federalist did not support it. James

HISTORY ESSAY 5
Madison, one of the federalist supported the constitution on the basis that the United States was a
big nation hence it required a well-constructed government system which would help to
eliminate the various vices of majority faction. He also argued that the various interests of states
would be multiplied and this would, therefore, make it hard to unite as a majority party to
oppress the minority (Londregan, 2017). The anti-federalist such as Centinel, a federal farmer,
and Brutus suggested that such a new constitution would result in the abolishment of the state
governments and the integration of the Union into what was called one great republic with an
unchecked government. Such would typically lead to the loss of self-government.
According to Schattschneider (2017), later the federalists such as James Madison and
John Jay Alexander Hamilton authored the Federalist papers with the aim of convincing the anti-
federalist to adopt the new constitution. The only condition through which the ant-federalist
approved was that the bill of rights is indicated to allow for certain freedoms such as those of
religion and right to trial by injury.

HISTORY ESSAY 6
References
Books, W. (2017). The American Reader: A Brief Guide to the Declaration of Independence, the
Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. Open Road Media.
Epstein, L., & Walker, T. G. (2018). Constitutional law for a changing America: Rights,
liberties, and justice. CQ press.
Halberstam, D. (2018). 'A People for Certain Purposes': On the History and Philosophy of
Federalism (s) in the United States and Europe.
Londregan, J. B. (2017). Ideas, Words, and the 1788 Ratification Debates.
Maggs, G. E. (2017). A Concise Guide to the Articles of Confederation as a Source for
Determining the Original Meaning of the Constitution. Geo. Wash. L. Rev., 85, 397.
McGuire, R. A. (2018). North-South Alliances During the Drafting of the Constitution: The
Costs of Compromise. InPublic Choice Analyses of American Economic History (pp. 13-
51). Springer, Cham.
Morone, J. A., & Kersh, R. (2016). By the people: Debating American government. Oxford
University Press.
Schattschneider, E. (2017). Party government: American government in action. Routledge.