HISTORY LESSON: Comparing Article of Confederation / US Constitution

http://www.usconstitution.net/constconart.html ^ | n/a | History Channel

[Liz]

Comparing the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution

The United States has operated under two constitutions. The first, The Articles of Confederation, was in effect from March 1, 1781, when Maryland ratified it. The second, The Constitution, replaced the Articles when it was ratified by New Hampshire on June 21, 1788.

The two documents have much in common - they were established by the same people (sometimes literally the same exact people, though mostly just in terms of contemporaries). But they differ more than they do resemble each other, when one looks at the details. Comparing them can give us insight into what the Framers found important in 1781, and what they changed their minds on by 1788.

The following is a comparison, detailing the similarities and differences between the Constitution and the Articles. The topic page for The Articles and the Constitution Explained Page may also be of some interest.

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Formal name of the nation Articles: The United States of America
Constitution: (not specified, but referred to in the Preamble as "the United States of America")

Legislature
Articles: Unicameral, called Congress
Constitution: Bicameral, called Congress, divided into the House of Representatives and the Senate

Members of Congress
Articles: Between two and seven members per state
Constitution: Two Senators per state, Representatives apportioned according to population of each state

Voting in Congress
Articles: One vote per state
Constitution: One vote per Representative or Senator

Appointment of members
Articles: All appointed by state legislatures, in the manner each legislature directed
Constitution: Representatives elected by popular vote, Senators appointed by state legislatures

Term of legislative office
Articles: One year
Constitution: Two years for Representatives, six for Senators

Term limit for legislative office
Articles: No more than three out of every six years
Constitution: None

Congressional Pay
Articles: Paid by states
Constitution: Paid by the federal government

When Congress is not in session...
Articles: A Committee of States had the full powers of Congress
Constitution: The President can call for Congress to assemble

Chair of legislature
Articles: President of Congress
Constitution: Speaker of the House of Representatives, Vice President is President of the Senate

Executive
Articles: None
Constitution: President

National Judiciary
Articles: Maritime judiciary established
Constitution: Federal judiciary established, including Supreme Court

Adjudicator of disputes between states
Articles: Congress
Constitution: Supreme Court

New States
Articles: Admitted upon agreement of nine states (special exemption provided for Canada)
Constitution: Admitted upon agreement of Congress

Amendment
Articles: When agreed upon by all states
Constitution: When agreed upon by three-fourths of all states

Navy
Articles: Congress authorized to build a navy; states authorized to equip warships to counter piracy
Constitution: Congress authorized to build a navy; states not allowed to keep ships of war

Army
Articles: Congress to decide on size of force and to requisition troops from each state according to population
Constitution: Congress authorized to raise and support armies

Power to coin money
Articles: United States and the states
Constitution: United States only

Ex post facto laws
Articles: Not forbidden
Constitution: Forbidden of both the states and the Congress

Bills of attainder
Articles: Not forbidden
Constitution: Forbidden of both the states and the Congress

Taxes
Articles: Apportioned by Congress, collected by the states
Constitution: Laid and collected by Congress

Ratification
Articles: Unanimous consent required
Constitution: Consent of nine states required

[Liz]

President Bush wants schoolchildren to learn more about American history. We can all use a refresher course every now and then.

[lentulusgracchus]

Nice precis. Thanks for the post. Constitutional bump.

[Marobe]

Thanks for posting this Liz. I agree, school children should be exposed to real American history more than what
is presented today. Un-Holywood isn't a good source.
My skin crawls when I hear young adults, 'guess who the Vice-President is at present', 'how many states are in the USA '....It makes the goal of herding the sheeple much easier for the globalists.

[Liz]

The scope and dimension of ignorance about American history is mind-numbing. These posts are intended to make us know more so that we can teach the uninformed.

Isn't it ironic that the schools are saturated with the anti-family anti-American Planned Parenthood curricula at thw same time we exclude American history?

Planned Parenthood teaches kids K-12 with our tax dollars how to get abortions, wear condoms, have recreational sex, that they don't have to listen to their parents, and so on and so forth ad infinitum ad nauseaum. At the same time PP'hood runs the largest chain of abortion clinics in the US.

This is nauseating....and unnerving.

Out with Planned Parenthood.

In with American history, should be our cry.

[kitkat]

Nice subject, Liz. If you post any more about American history, please ping me.

I was THRILLED to hear about President Bush's initiative to teach children in PUBLIC schools about American history and the good old-fashioned Civics.

Also, Lynne Cheney's children's book about American history is a treasure.

The wheel has turned. The time has come, for us to teach our children to love this country, and to know how fortunate we are to live here.

[Greeklawyer]

Even if there is american history. The leftist teachers spend more time teaching how to condem the founding fathers and not any of the good.

Teachers should be required to divulge to parents and students their political affiliation.

Are there any good history education computer programs?

[Congressman Billybob]

As a longtime student of both documents, I looked at this with great interest to see whether they got it right. Mostly they did.

Here are the errors in the History Channel analysis:

1) Under the Articles there was a "President of the United States Assembled." He was a "parliamentary" exectutive because he was elected by Congress. He served a one-year term. The first "President of the United States" was John Hanson of Maryland. There were eleven of them before the Articles were abandoned.

An illustration of how weak that Presidency was under the Articles is the fact that when John Hancock was elected, he was too ill to go to the Capitol in New York, during his entire term. The government (mis)functioned as usual in his absence.

2) They have the name of the nation wrong under the Articles. It was, "The United States in Congress Assembled."

3) They have the amendment power under the Constitution wrong. Under the Articles (Article 23), amendment occurred only with unanimous consent of the states (one of many defects that caused the Articles to fail). Under the Constitution, amendments must either be proposed by Congress, or by a Convention called for that purpose, which the states can demand. Ratification then comes EITHER by 3/4ths of the state legislature OR by ratifying conventions called and elected in each state. Ratifying conventions have been used twice; once for the Constitution itself and once for the repeal of Prohibition.

Other than these points, this is an accurate comparison.

Congressman Billybob

Click for major article on turnover in the House of Representatives: "Til Death Do Us Part."

Click for latest book: "to Restore Trust in America"

[Liz]

Try the Smithsonian Institution web site - has lots of good sources. Click here:



http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmah/timeline.htm

[Liz]

The leftist teachers spend more time teaching how to condem the founding fathers and not any of the good.

Chief roadblack. And the NEA is solid DemoRat.

[Liz]

This is a history less on the Congress' oath of office posted a few weeks ago. Click here:



http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/742538/posts

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Green Knight]

The first "President of the United States" was John Hanson of Maryland.

*slaps forehead* D'OH!

Back in high school I had an english teacher who had a bunch of questions on a bulletin board on index cards. Each one had a dollar value. If you could answer the question, you get the dollar amount on the card. The highest value one was for $10 and the question was who was the first President of America. I spent MONTHS racking my brain for the answer, even looking at South America looking for candidates, not to mention questioning history teachers in the school, but I never got the right answer. And there's the answer right there. I'm an idiot! I can't believe I didn't even CONSIDER this! Then again, I really didn't learn who these Presidents were at school. Never even heard of this. Learning about this period was along the lines of "The Founders wrote the Articles of Confederation, Shay's Rebellion occured, and the Founders decided the Articles didn't work so they wrote the Constitution".

Hmm. I wonder if I can still collect those $10?