HIST-405N Week 2 Discussion 2: Confederation
and Constitution
Initial Post
For the initial post, address the following:
• Pick two (2) issues of the Articles of Confederation and describe the main
problems that the United States was faced with under the Federation
government.
• Analyze two major debates (see textbook Section 7.4) by which the Constitution
was created in the summer of 1787.
Then, address one (1) of the following to your initial post:
• Discuss the ratification process of the Constitution of 1787.
• How did ratification lead to the formation of America's first two political parties,
the Federalists and Anti-Federalist?
• What were the major differences between the Federalist and Anti-Federalist, and
who were the best-known members of each party?
The two issues of the Articles of Confederation that I am going to discuss are how it was
difficult to pass any law, and how the Congress didn't have the power to tax citizens.
The Congress not having the power to tax citizens was an issue because they solely
relief on the states to voluntarily send tax money to the government. "Without revenue,
the Congress could not pay back American creditors who had lent it money" (Corbett,
2014). Lack of money and funds lead to the government not being able to maintain an
effective military. The reason that it was difficult for passage of any law is because it
took agreement between nine states out of thirteen. Revising the Articles required the
consensus of all the states, which was also very difficult to accomplish.
Two major debates by which the Constitution was created in the summer of 1787 were
the question of slavery and democracy. "The question of slavery stood as a major issue
at the Constitutional Convention because slaveholders wanted slaves to be counted
along with whites termed 'free inhabitants,' when determining a state's total population"
(Corbett, 2014). This was an issue when it came to taxation. The amount each state
was required to pay in taxes was decided by a state's total population, which included
free and enslaved individuals. Eventually the Confederation Congress adopted the
three-fifths compromise, resulting in the slaveholders gaining a significant tax break.
The representatives to the Constitutional Convention were concerned about democracy,
because they thought that it encouraged anarchy. "Thus, to avoid giving the people too
much direct power, the delegates made certain that senators were chosen by the state
legislatures, not elected directly by the people" (Corbett, 2014). The delegates also
added an additional measure by creating the Electoral College, to prevent the citizens
from directly electing a president.
The major difference between the Federalists, and Anti-Federalists were their views on
the Constitution. The Federalists were known as those that supported the Constitution,
along with believing that a centralized republic was the best solution. The best-known
This study source was downloaded by 100000849840424 from CourseHero.com on 07 -15-2022 08:50:29 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/73953654/Week-2-Discussion-2-Confederation-and-Constitutiondocx/
and Constitution
Initial Post
For the initial post, address the following:
• Pick two (2) issues of the Articles of Confederation and describe the main
problems that the United States was faced with under the Federation
government.
• Analyze two major debates (see textbook Section 7.4) by which the Constitution
was created in the summer of 1787.
Then, address one (1) of the following to your initial post:
• Discuss the ratification process of the Constitution of 1787.
• How did ratification lead to the formation of America's first two political parties,
the Federalists and Anti-Federalist?
• What were the major differences between the Federalist and Anti-Federalist, and
who were the best-known members of each party?
The two issues of the Articles of Confederation that I am going to discuss are how it was
difficult to pass any law, and how the Congress didn't have the power to tax citizens.
The Congress not having the power to tax citizens was an issue because they solely
relief on the states to voluntarily send tax money to the government. "Without revenue,
the Congress could not pay back American creditors who had lent it money" (Corbett,
2014). Lack of money and funds lead to the government not being able to maintain an
effective military. The reason that it was difficult for passage of any law is because it
took agreement between nine states out of thirteen. Revising the Articles required the
consensus of all the states, which was also very difficult to accomplish.
Two major debates by which the Constitution was created in the summer of 1787 were
the question of slavery and democracy. "The question of slavery stood as a major issue
at the Constitutional Convention because slaveholders wanted slaves to be counted
along with whites termed 'free inhabitants,' when determining a state's total population"
(Corbett, 2014). This was an issue when it came to taxation. The amount each state
was required to pay in taxes was decided by a state's total population, which included
free and enslaved individuals. Eventually the Confederation Congress adopted the
three-fifths compromise, resulting in the slaveholders gaining a significant tax break.
The representatives to the Constitutional Convention were concerned about democracy,
because they thought that it encouraged anarchy. "Thus, to avoid giving the people too
much direct power, the delegates made certain that senators were chosen by the state
legislatures, not elected directly by the people" (Corbett, 2014). The delegates also
added an additional measure by creating the Electoral College, to prevent the citizens
from directly electing a president.
The major difference between the Federalists, and Anti-Federalists were their views on
the Constitution. The Federalists were known as those that supported the Constitution,
along with believing that a centralized republic was the best solution. The best-known
This study source was downloaded by 100000849840424 from CourseHero.com on 07 -15-2022 08:50:29 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/73953654/Week-2-Discussion-2-Confederation-and-Constitutiondocx/
