Confederation Vs Virginia

756 Words4 Pages
The original constitution of America, The Articles of Confederation, was generated in 1781, and lasted until 1789. This document outlined the basis of democracy, as American’s have come to know it today. Due to the post-traumatic stress disorder from Britain’s iron fist, many Americans were wary of creating a strong national government. Instead, they agreed upon higher power to the states in order to, in theory, give the people more power. However, like many processes of trial and error, the Articles of Confederation had a plethora of ramifications. The Articles of Confederation endowed the states with unnecessary powers. For example, states were permitted to create or repeal laws at any time they chose, causing confusion among their citizens…show more content…
In order to provide a solution to crumbling America, wise politicians proposed different plans to be utilized as the constitution. The first plan suggested was the Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan’s main purpose was to create an efficiently run national government, that could attend to occurring issues, yet not become too overbearing. In the Virginia Plan, it was proposed that there would be three independent branches within the federal government, the executive branch, in charge of enforcing the laws, the judiciary branch, in charge of interpreting the laws, and the legislative branch, in charge of creating the laws. Creating this division in the national government would allow for an equipped central power, a factor lacked by the Articles of Confederation, but would restrict that power from becoming too commanding. Other ways the Virginia Plan monitored the restrictions of the federal government include, a salary limit on legislators, a Council of Revision, which would veto acts of legislators, and representation based on state…show more content…
The New Jersey plan kept the basis of the Articles of Confederation. Although it did recognize that, the Articles of Confederation was not perfect and constructed new laws that would regulate domestic and foreign trade. Which would help to diminish the tension between the states by relieving them of the responsibility of regulating trade. This plan also was the first to introduce a national executive. The creators of this plan believed having a central figurehead would promote national unity, and strength. The plan also generated new laws, in order to prevent unruliness between the states, like Shay’s Rebellion, for example, or the territorial wars. This new proposed law stated that the national military could use force against any state which chose not to abide by the laws laid out in the constitution. It was believed through immense fear this concept would help to instill loyalty towards the United
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