...Historical Essay: Confederation and Constitution By History 405 Professor Aimee James January 26th, 2015 Historical Essay: Confederation and Constitution Confederation and Constitution As Colonial America moved from civil disobedience to open war with Britain, the States, at the behest of the Colonial Congress, started drafting constitutions and in the process “became laboratories for constitutional experimentation” ( Keene 120). The need to ensure a strong union and to ensure that it was strong enough to deal with both internal and external issues drove the colonies to send delegates to Albany to draft the Articles of Confederation. Ratified in 1781, the Articles of Confederation framed a new United States of America. The Articles of Confederation did not create a national government, “but rather a firm league of friendship” (Keene 121). Ultimately a fear of recreating the issues that were driving them from British rule shaped the Articles of Confederation and created a weak government with little power. It setup a national legislature called Congress where each state had one vote. It had no power to levy taxes, regulate commerce or otherwise interfere with the States. It could create money and declare war or peace. Notably any changes or amendments required a unanimous vote of Congress and “because of its weaknesses, Alexander Hamilton and other delegates called for a convention to be held in Philadelphia to improve and amend the Articles” (Articles of confederation 2014). The...
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...created after the publishing, the Articles of Confederation, created a much different economic system, focusing on the state rather than the federal government after events like Shay’s Rebellion and the necessity of slavery. Socially, new classes were created in support of the war and America becoming independent, known as the Patriots and the Loyalists....
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...Unit 1: Individual Project Margaret Mukula U.S. History-x-1302A-02 American Intercontinental University Abstract This paper addresses the literature that followed soon after the Revolutionary War. One of them being The Articles of Confederation which served as a written document establishing the functions of the national government of the United States after it was declared independent from Great Britain. It established a weak central government that mostly, prevented the individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy, (EB 2012). The Articles of Confederation mentions the Albany Plan which was an earlier, pre-independence attempt to join the colonies into a larger union. However according to the book (EB 2011) this had failed somehow because of the individual colonies being concerned about losing power to another central institution. That being the case though, it helped the American Revolution gain momentum and this lead to many political leaders see the advantages of a centralized government that could coordinate the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Franklin went on a drew up a plan for “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.” Some delegates, however, like Thomas Jefferson, supported Franklin’s proposal even though many others strongly opposed Franklin’s plan. Congress however did table this plan. (EB 2012). The Articles of Confederation therefore went on to mention how after the Declaration of Independence Continental Congress...
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...Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech in 1775 along with Thomas Paine’s “Common sense” pamphlet in 1776 greatly influenced the ideas of American colonists when they began questioning their role in the empire of England. The declaration of resolves of the first continental congress in 1774 and the declaration of independence, devised in 1776 had the same effect on these American Colonists. About a year after the declaration, the articles of confederation were published as the first actual constitution, having it’s own effect on personal feelings of colonists. On one hand, the American colonists had a self government which could have influenced their mindset during the 17th through 18th century. On the other hand, a speech by Patrick Henry, a pamphlet by Thomas Paine, two different declarations, and the articles of confederation all lead up to questioning in terms of authority in the empire of England and are what truly caused the mindset of American colonists to change. In March 1775, at the third Virginia convention, held in St. John's Church in Richmond, Patrick Henry gave his iconic “give me liberty or give me death” speech to discuss the latest relations with Great Britain. During Henry’s speech, he states "There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged...
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...Raghu Kommalapaty Period: D 10-24-25 I am a Federalist. I along with many other prominent personalities formed a group to support and influence ratification of the new constitution in 1787. We firmly believe that Articles of Confederation are not sufficient to manage this great new country of ours nationally. We believe that new form of government is needed contrary to the government as defined in Articles of Confederation. We Federalists believe that Articles of Confederation provide much powers to state governments and not sufficient to the National Government. National Government...
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...University of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Write one or two paragraphs in each section. Include citations for your sources. Documents Summary What was its influence on the Constitution? Magna Carta Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, is an English charter, originally issued in Latin in the year 1215, translated into vernacular-French as early as 1219,[1] and reissued later in the 13th century in changed versions. The later versions excluded the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority that had been present in the 1215 charter. The charter first passed into law in 1225; the 1297 version, with the long title (originally in Latin) "The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest," still remains on the statute books of England and Wales. The 1215 charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no "freeman" (in the sense of non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in existence today. Magna Carta was the principal document forced onto an English King by a group of his matters, the feudal barons, in an effort to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was followed and directly influenced by the Charter of Liberties in 1100, in which King Henry I had specified particular...
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...The Man Who Shaped America During the year of 1783, the heroic war for American Independence was coming to a close as King George III of England granted the colonists their independence to be a new and free nation. However, great challenges still laid ahead for the new citizens of the United States, ones that would still be debated to this day. In the midst of this turmoil, one man led the polarized nation through the battles that won them their independence and the crucial decisions afterward that would forever affect the entire course of history. George Washington was agreeably the most influential individual that impacted the history of the United States. Washington led an army of farmers to victory against the British military, the strongest...
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...democracy. The Continental Congress was struggling to find the right balance of government that would work under the principles and ideology of this fledgling nation. From the basics of freedom provided for in the Articles of Confederation grew the seeds of what would become the Constitution. It has long been maintained that James Madison was the “Father of the Constitution”, he himself would say that the constitution was not the “offspring of a single brain” but “the work of many heads and many hands” Granted the Constitution was a work of many but the ideas that outline the way our great nation are governed to this very day are attributed to the astute mind and forward thinking nature of James Madison. He came up with the Virginia Plan which was the blueprint that would eventually lead to the ratification of the Constitution. When the delegates convened between May and September of 1787 there was much distrust amongst them. They all feared a government with the potential for concentrated power. They had a fear of being overly regulated and felt the states themselves, should have say in the governing of the nation. The delegates had a tough road ahead of them to create a government of the people, governed by the people for the people. In the Articles of Confederation Congress was the lone institution while the states basically self –governed. This didn’t give much control over the nation as a whole to one institution, in fact Congress itself had very little to no say in...
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...Influences on the Constitution Table No Name HIS 301 August 1, 2013 Professor Documents that became part of the US Constitution Magna Carta A document originally written by barons in 1215 and called the Articles of the Barons, is later modified and a formal version of the document was written and became known as Magna Carta. According to "Magna Carta" (n.d.), “In the 17th century, however, two defining acts of English legislation–the Petition of Right (1628) and the Habeas Corpus Act (1679)–referred to Clause 39, which states that "no free man shall be… imprisoned or disseised [dispossessed]… except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land." Clause 40 ("To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice")” (The Document and Its Legacy). This document would have big implications for the future of the American legal system. A specific part of this document was influenced in part of an amendment and written into the Constitution of what is known to become the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. The document became the basis of a higher law that could not be altered, even by legislative acts. It embraced the leaders of the American Revolution and parts of it are embedded in the US Constitution and enforced by the Supreme Court. The part of which we referring to say, “Nor shall any person be deprived...
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...University of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Complete each section below. Include citations for your sources. |Documents |Summary |What was its influence on the Constitution? | |Magna Carta |Written in 1215, the document was a series of written promises |The magna carta served as the first piece of legislature attempting to keep the | | |that the King would rule England and deal with the people |rights for the people fair. The Americans saw it and read about it and decided it | | |fairly according to feudal law. It was an attempt by the barons|was time America had “higher law” ideas and design a document to give the people | | |to stop the king from becoming an oppressor more than a ruler. |rights and to protect them from oppression, such as the people during the time of | | | |the magna carta were suffering. | |Mayflower Compact |The mayflower compact served as the document needed to keep the|Much like the magna carta, the mayflower compact was put into...
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...Nazmul Hossain History and writing 190 October 12, 2015 Slaves and Representation The United States constitution was created to have enough power to govern effectively and enough weakness to limit it. A large part of that power and weakness comes from the congress and its representatives. Representation within the government became an issue because everyone wanted equal voice. The Three-fifth compromise was an agreement between these diverse opinions to create a proper system of representation. It was a temporary fix to the issue for a much larger problem. The Three-Fifths Compromise is the third clause in Article one, Section two. Article one is aimed towards Legislative branch and specifies the job and limits of the branch. Section...
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...University of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Complete each section below. Include citations for your sources. |Documents |Summary |What was its influence on the Constitution? | |Magna Carta |Magna Carta is a document that King John of England was forced |Magna Carta served to lay the foundation for the evolution of parliamentary clause | | |into signing. The document was a succession of written promises|of the United States Constitution and enforced by the Supreme Court. | | |made between the king and his subjects that he would govern | | | |England and its people in accordance with the customs of feudal| | | |law. ("History Learning Site ", 2000-2013). | | |Mayflower Compact |Mayflower Compact is one if the first governing document of |The Mayflower Compact called for equality amongst people and...
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...landed proprietors and commercial classes against royal prerogative, and which corresponded to the economic conditions prevailing in America at the close of the eighteenth century. They associated strong government with monarchy, and came to believe that the best political system was one which governed least. A majority of the radicals viewed all government, especially if highly centralized, as a species of evil, tolerable only because necessary and always to be kept down to an irreducible minimum by a jealous vigilance. Jefferson put the doctrine in concrete form when he declared that he preferred newspapers without government to government without newspapers. The Declaration of Independence, the first state Constitutions, and the Articles of Confederation...
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...Influences on the Constitution Marlene Monarrez HIS/301 December 3, 2012 Instructor: Andrew Van Ness Influences on the Constitution Table |Documents |Summary |What was its influence on the Constitution? | |Magna Carta | Issued by King John of England in 1215 when Englishmen went to the colonies they were | The Magna Carta gave Englishmen certain human rights, | | |given charters that guaranteed them and their heirs would “have and enjoy all liberties and |freedom of religion, reform of justice system and regulated | | |immunities of free and natural subjects.” The document clearly stated that no free man could|officials. The Magna Carta limited the king’s power and created | | |be prosecuted by any means other than the law of the land. |what we know today as parliament. | | |The Magna Carta had been the very first document which proclaimed personal liberties. The | | | |Magna Carta was forced upon an English Emperor by a team of barons. This had been the first |This was used as...
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...Five Nations of the Iroquois: History of how they came together and exist now. Marceline Kilbourn Bryant and Stratton Professor Sheehan July 22, 2014 The Five Nations (Haudenosaunee) originally known as the Iroquois League is presently based in upstate New York. Originally, the League consists of the nations of Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. In 1722, the transition to what is called the Six Nations came to being when Tuscarora joined. According to history, the Five Nations started as distinct tribes by the middle of the 15th century. Each nation occupies a distinct territory and performs a different task. Iroquois influence and earlier domination ranges from Canada, to the Great Lakes and from Allegheny Mountains to Virginia and Kentucky. To live harmoniously with each other, the people from each nation came together and formed the Iroquois League which means Nations of Peace and Power as per their language. Would this change prove to be affluent or detrimental to the future of the Iroquois people? The League also known as the confederacy was known to have been established before contact with Europeans (Tooker, 1978) and its influence through alliances with other Indians, stretched east to west from New England to the great lakes, with Canada and south of Georgia. Strategically...
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