AMERICAN HISTORY > DISCUSSION POST > HIST-405N Week 2 Discussion 2: Confederation and Constitution – Graded An A+ (All)

HIST-405N Week 2 Discussion 2: Confederation and Constitution – Graded An A+

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HIST-405N Week 2 Discussion 2: Confederation and Constitution – Graded An A+ . 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 members of the Federalists were John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. The Anti-Federalists were those that were against the Constitution, and believed that the states were being robbed of the power to be able to make their own decisions. The best-known members of the Anti-Federalists were James Winthrop, Melancton Smith, Patrick Henry and George Mason (Antifederalists). References Antifederalists. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ushistory.org/us/16b.asp (Links to an external site.) Corbett, P. S., Janssen, V., Lund, J. M., Pfannestiel, T., Waskiewicz, S., & Vickery, P. (2014). U.S. History. Houston: OpenStax.

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