Confederation Vs. Federation the Need for Change
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The US government transformed itself from a very weak government to a strong central government from 1776 to 1876. The maitenance and creation of order was deeply needed in america at this time. Due to the US Constitution, The Articles of Confederation, and the Bill of Rights America went through so much needed changes. Around 1776 America wanted a weak government because they had such a fear of monoarchy. When the trasformation of the new strong central government began many more problems occurred
and even contributed to the Civil War.
The first attempt for a new government was in 1781 when the Articles of Confederation was formed. The Articles of Confederation was like a contract that bounded the 13 colonies together which gave each individual state power over its own decisions. Some conflicts arose from this. So, the next step was the creation of the US Constitution. The Constituion was a set of laws that defined the powers of the government. This fell through when there was nothing mentioned about slavery.
Many, many conflicts arose from the states slavery issue. After much thought it was deceided to come up with a comprimise. “For every free state there will be a slave state”. This seemed to work until Lincoln was elected in 1860 and then slavery was abolished. This played a key role in the beginning of the civel war where 600,000 people lost there lives. This is a great example of why the Constitution had failed. So the 13 amendment was formed and slavery was officially abolished.
Now around 1865 America was in great need for some reconstruction. With the states having their local powers revoked they did not want to lose their right to life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness. With the new central government in control new federal supremacy was formed and initiated new checks and balances to ensure the government was running properly.
From 1776 to 1876 America under went several major changes and transformed it from a very weak government to a very strong central government due to the Articles of Confederation, the US constitution and the Bill of Rights. Each one had failed in some way but in the end learned from its mistakes and became the strong nation we have today.