Metzger_Assignment #2

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University of Kansas *

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110

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Political Science

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Oct 30, 2023

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Bri Metzger POLS 110 30 August 2023 The Articles of Confederation were the first document that outlined the government structure for the United States of America after declaring independence from Great Britain. The Articles of Confederation had many flaws that caused large disagreements among states. Some of these flaws in national government powers included a lack of a national court system, no way to collect taxes nationally, and no power to regulate trade or put tariffs on foreign goods. The major turning point that solidified the need for ratification of the Articles of Confederation was Shays’ Rebellion. The lack of funding for a centralized military due to lack of national taxation caused havoc to be wrecked across Massachusets. This rebellion led to the forming of the Constitutional Convention. During the convention, the states were split between Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The Federalists wanted a representative democracy and they believed that elite control was preferred. The Anti-Federalists were on the opposite end, they wanted a direct democracy and they believed a centralized government authority would possess an elitist mentality that would be damaging for the people. These differences helped make up the constitution we have lived by for 230 years now. The first issue that was decided on was monetary values and the creation of a national currency. Due to the differences in monetary values of each state's currency, there was a large issue with the exchange rates between states. Citizens were losing money when traveling between states due to the differences. This is addressed in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5 in the Constitution. The clause allows the national government to regulate and disperse a singular currency. This regulated the trade between states and eliminated tariffs between states. The next issue the convention focused on was the lack of a national court system. This issue was solved with what is known as the Great Compromise. The Great Compromise was a

Bri Metzger POLS 110 30 August 2023 blend of the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan it provided a bicameral Congress made up of the House of Representatives in which each state was represented based on population and the Senate where each state had two senators it also stated that both houses of Congress have to work together to pass the laws. The Great Compromise also allowed for the creation of the judicial branch to handle disputes between states. The third main issue that the convention focused on was the lack of ability to enforce national taxation. In Article 1 Section 8, it is laid out that Congress has the power To set and collect taxes. This allows for funding things such as the postal system and the military. This clause set up prevention for things like Shay's Rebellion from happening again. Article 1 Section 8 Clause 1 also outlined how the government would be able to spend the tax dollars to appease the Anti-Federalists at the convention. While there was a lot of compromise during the Constitutional Convention a large portion of the decisions were relatively agreed upon. These issues were well known and caused struggles amongst individual states which helped those at the convention understand that these weaknesses needed to be solved. The largest fix that is considered to be a compromise would be the Great Compromise but other compromises did have impacts on the creation of the Constitution but did not necessarily directly relate to the Articles of Confederation's flaws.

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