The Constitution Of The United States National Government

The Constitution The American Constitution is â€Å"a system of basic laws and principles that establish the nature, functions and limits of a government or other institution† (Harr, Hess Orthmann, 2012). The purpose of the Constitution was to make it so that no single person would be able to have power over all others. Before the Constitution even came about, there was the first development of the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation were written after the United States had declared independence from Great Britain. It established what the functions of the United States national government would be. This created a weak central government and it did not allow each individual state to create their own foreign diplomacy†¦show more content†¦By November of 1778, New Jersey agreed to ratify the Articles. Then in February of 1779, Delaware agreed. Maryland finally agreed to ratify the Articles in March of 1781 when Virginia agreed to relinquish t heir western lands. While the Articles of Confederation did create a sovereign, national government, it also brought limits to the states’ rights. It limited their right to conduct their own foreign policy and diplomacy (OHBPA, n.d.). The Articles of Confederation had many problems surrounding it. Congress didn’t have the authority to enforce the 1783 Treaty of Paris provisions and the exportation of convicts from the British government could not be prevented by the Confederation government (OHBPA, n.d.). There were also issues with the fact that any acts that were passed by congress could not be enforced because there was no executive branch to enforce them. Congress needed a 9/13 majority vote in order for laws to be passed. Regardless of the size, each state only had one vote in Congress. Congress didn’t have any power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, nor did they have the power to tax. In order for any Amendments to the Articles of Confe deration to be passed, they need a unanimous vote. There was also no national court system (Constitutional Facts, n.d.). All of these problems had the delegates realizing that they needed a more powerful central