Compare And Contrast The Articles Of Confederation And The Constitution

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The foundation of both the Articles of Confederation (Articles) and Constitution were both based off of the ideals of enlightenment. However, the Constitution overall would be different than the Articles in regard to federalism (balance of power between states and government) and diplomacy. The Articles ultimate fail would cause the creation of the Constitution which is similar to the French Fourth and Fifth Constitutions. In the Articles, the distribution of power between the individual states and the central government were not balanced. States held the power over the people to create laws and militias. While the central government had the authority to create laws, they could no enforce the laws they created. This division of power divided the nation into thirteen separate ones. The …show more content…
In the Articles, the central government granted each state equal privileges and representation. Also called the separation of church and state two areas that had been closely related for many decades. With the Constitution went a step farther adding a Bill of Rights to protect the natural rights of man. Giving freedom of press and speech, and power to reform government. It also while lessoning it gave power to the states and maintained equal privileges. Representation though was now based off of population.

The Articles of Confederation is similar to the French Fourth Republic Constitution. Both attempted to established governments and both ultimately failed to meet their country's needs. The United States created the Constitution and France established the Fifth Republic Constitution. Each of these documents are still the base of both country's government today. The Constitution and the Fifth Republican Constitution contained some of the ideas form the previous documents, including a bill of rights, and move each country's government toward a more effective