8.2.2

Analyze the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, and the success of each in implementing the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
             The Articles of Confederation were written in 1777, and were America’s first constitution. The Articles provided for a new central government where the states had little power. The government under the Articles was made up of a Confederation Congress. This Congress had the power to conduct foreign affairs, maintain foreign affairs, borrow money, and issue currency. However they could, realistically, only borrow money during wartime. There was virtually no power in a central government, because of the powers that remained in the states. There weren’t three branches of government (there was no executive branch). There was a congress, but it was a body of representatives that came together as a single body. There was no Senate or House of Representatives. There was an ill-defined judicial system. In this Congress it would take 9 out of 13 states to approve anything (borrow money, coin money, spend money, etc.). This document was a narrow minded “selfish” document with a deep distrust of any form of strong central authority. The Articles of Confederation did not implement the ideals of the Declaration of Independence in any way.
             The Constitution (shown on the next page) was written in 1787and set up an entirely new system of national government that what the Articles of Confederation set up. The delegates from 12 states who wrote the Constitution, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, are known as the Founding Fathers of America. While each document established a government that gets its power from the people, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution was a brilliant document that implemented the ideals of the Declaration of Independence by stating “in Order to form a more perfect Union, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity . . .”. In the Declaration of independence in the first section it states that certain unalienable rights include Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. The Constitution states this in its Preamble, and carries it out in its Articles and Amendments. The constitution implements the ideals of the Declaration of Independence very well, and started the United States of America.


More Information:

   1.    Encyclopedia Britannica DVD - 1999 edition


Recommended Books:

   1.    The American Journey: Building a Nation
          by Joyce Appleby, Alan Brinkley, James McPherson, and National Geographic Society