The articles of confederation and the u.s. constitution dbq answer key

The Founding fathers did not want to create a government with too much power so they created the Articles of Confederation. This government turned out to be a failure. In 1787, the founding fathers met again to create a new framework of government. Most people feared creating a government that was too strong. To create a new government there had to be many compromises, the U.S. Constitution is the result of these compromises reached in Philadelphia in 1787. The Articles of Confederation were too weak and created many problems which led to a stronger National government. Two weaknesses of the Articles of confederation were that Congress did not have the power to tax. Another problem was that the states had most of the power and the National Government had little power. Two decisions made by the…show more content…
The Constitution was a much stronger government. Document #4 shows how the framers made a stronger national government under the constitution. Document #4 shows what the great compromise did. It tells us how the Great compromise created a Congress that was made up of two different branches. One branch is the Senate that has equal representation. This means that every State has two Senators. The other branch which is the House of Representatives has representation based on the population of each state. This means that states with higher population have more Representatives. Document #6 shows Checks and balances. Checks and Balances were set in so that none of the Branches of the Constitution would become too powerful.This document shows how each Branch has the power to check on the others. An example of this is how the Executive Branch is allowed to Veto or refuse signed laws. This means that if a law is passed by Congress then the Executive branch can decide whether to carry it out or to veto the law. Checks and Balances are an example of how the Constitution separated

The Articles of Confederation were the first set of guidelines for the government in America that was ratified in 1781. The Articles of Confederation limited the powers of the government, gave most of the control to each individual state, did not require a president, and was quickly found to be ineffective. It left America at risk to be invaded by other countries or to suffer from economic problems. If another country wanted to conduct business in America, they had to deal with each state individually. Any amendment required unanimous approval (Evans & Michaud, 2015). The U.S. Constitution fixed the imbalance between the state and national government. It established Congress, which was made up of the U.S. Senate with two representatives