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Students Name
Professors Name
Institution
Course
Date
Articles of Federation versus Constitution
Introduction
An article of Federation is the first system that the American States created after the
Revolutionary War and was adopted by the Congress on November 1777. The articles of
Federation comprised of a preamble and thirteen articles, which were ratified on 1781 making it
the ruling document in the States (Holcombe 54). The government retained most of the power
under the articles, an occurrence that lead to lose of authority of the central government over the
states to individuals. The Articles shadowed the government, and there was the need for a
stronger Federal government. In 1789, the Federal Constitutional Conventional drafted the
Constitution of the United States of America, and it took over the Articles of Federation which
restored the power to the central government. The Articles of Federation had several weaknesses
that led the government to form the Constitution. This essay contrasts the two documents
highlighting the factors that made the Constitution preferable to the other document.

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Articles of Federation versus Constitution
Comparing the Constitution of 1787 with the Articles of the Federation, the States became
united after the Constitution unlike before when all the thirteen states carried out activities
separately. The rule of the Federation led to lack of development in trade since States had the
power to put barriers to goods from the others due to localism unlike the Constitution that
encouraged international trade as the president signed the treaties with other nations. Again, the
constitution brought the nation together. For instance, according to McGillivra (p. 93), the British
State restricted the Americans from trading freely within their territories because the Articles of
the Federation could not decide on a uniform traffic barrier between the Northern and the
Southern States which was a weakness of the policy compared to the Constitution.
There are various weaknesses of the Articles of Federation that led to the formation of the
Constitution. First, they could not tax the people and in most cases, they were indebted by the
troops who fought for the States (Hoffman 58). Stating the changes brought by the Constitution
Natelson (303) argues that the US Constitution had granted the Congress as well as the States the
power to levy and collect taxes from the citizens. Secondly, the Articles of Federations were
weaker and differed from the US Constitution in that, for any document to be ratified, they
required the consent of all the states unlike in the Constitution whereby, three-quarter of the
states was what was needed to pass it. This means that any process carried out under the Articles
of the Federation rule took longer before it is agreed upon due to the process it involved all the
states but for the Constitution, all they did was to get the consent from nine states out of the
thirteen, and they could pass the law.

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Regardless of the fact that the Congress has been granted the power to ask for requisition
funds from the states, the mistrust between the states was another weakness that the Congress
suffered under the Articles of the Federation. There were disputes over the Western land since the
various Congress leaders could not agree on one policy, so it resulted in Shays rebellion
(Hoffman 61). The rioters were against paying taxes and debts to the Congress leaders due to the
mistrust between them. The smaller populations argued over, the bigger ones for they had shares
in the Western lands which they could sell and settle their debts.
The fact that the two documents were structured to act as the control the states implies
that they differed from each other in several ways. Specifically, the articles of Federation were
structured in a unicameral legislature such that the power originated from the people (Hoffman
57). Each State had one person to represent them in Congress regardless of the population and
was later endowed the mandate to govern the country. In their leadership, the Congress had the
power to establish temporary courts, which could settle disputes among the states together with
an executive committee, but they did not have the power to enforce laws. For the Articles of
Federation, laws were changed when the states were in agreement regardless of the population in
each state.
On the contrary, when the Constitution was amended, certain changes took place, which
limited the direct power of the people since it was centralized. One great change that the
Constitution administered was the division of power to avoid concentrating it on one body. It
divided it into three governmental branches, which include Legislative, Judicial and the
Executive (Hoffman 62). According to the Constitutional setting, the Executive comprised of the
President, Vice President, and the Departments. On the other hand, the Judicial composed of the
Federal courts and the Supreme Court, while the Legislative consisted of the House and the

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Senate. Every group was granted certain powers, but they could not complete the whole process
without involving the other two branches. The Constitution allows the citizens to vote to elect the
Federal government (McNeese 50).
The Legislative power was the most important since all the powers granted shall be
vested in a Congress of the United States. The Congress, on the other hand, has the power to
impeach both the judges and the executive officials. The executive power which is vested in the
President ensures that all laws adhere to and it is upon him to appoint the Senate, the diplomats
the judges and many other officials. The Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court, and it
plays the role of ensuring that the legislation is consistent with the Constitution.

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1787 Constitution, direct power was limited to the people since the three branches had to appoint
most of the leaders. Together with the differences that occurred between the two documents, they
had similarities in the way they were applied. One similarity between the two was that they both
had limits for different offices and the powers varied according to the supremacy of each. The
States adhered to the rule of both the documents either the Constitution or the Articles of
Federation. In both eras, the central government was in charge of the money and not the states.
Conclusion
Both the Articles of Federation and the Constitution were two documents that were used
in the States to define power to the people. After the Federation failed to control the states and
unite them, a Constitution was formed that centralized the power and limited peoples direct
power over the nations leadership. For instance, trade was made freely among the states and
unity between the states was restored. The Constitution brought a great change to the States, and
that contributed to their development and civilization.

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Work cited
Hoffman, Aaron M. Building Trust: Overcoming Suspicion in International Conflict. Albany,
NY: State University of New York Press, 2006. Print.
Holcombe, Randall G. From Liberty to Democracy: The Transformation of American
Government. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2002. Print.
McGillivray, Fiona. International Trade and Political Institutions: Instituting Trade in the Long
19th Century. Cheltenham, UK: Edwarde Elgar, 2001. Internet resource.
McNeese, Tim. The U.s. Constitution. St. Louis, Mo: Milliken Pub, 2001. Print.
Natelson, Robert G. "What The Constitution Means By "Duties, Imposts, And Excises"--And
"Taxes" (Direct Or Otherwise)." Case Western Reserve Law Review 66.2 (2015): 297351. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Sept. 2016.

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