Articles and Constitution

The Articles of Confederation were the first documents in the United States that laid down laws and rules of government.  In other words it was the first Constitution of the United States. The Articles of Confederation was agreed on by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777. The Articles of Confederation gave little power to the central government and gave the states most of the power. The central government was not able to tax or enforce laws. The Articles also only had a Legislative branch and not a Judicial or Executive. That means that there was no President of the United States or a Senate and House of Representatives. Due to the several flaws the Articles of Confederation had the colonists decided that it needed to be replaced.



The Constitution is the legal document that replaced the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution was created on September 17, 1787 and the majority of it was written by James Maddison. The Constitution was almost the exact opposite of the Articles of Confederation. It gave power to the central government and introduced the Judicial and Executive branch to the government. Therefore we had a Senate, House of Representative, and President. It Aalto made a court system which was not included in the Articles of Confederation. It also made it to where that the President was elected  by electoral colleges. The Constitution mad it to where we have the power to tax people as well. Another power the Constitution had was the power to raise an army.