Immediately after the document was adopted, Antifederalists began publishing articles in the press criticizing it. In New York, opposition to the Constitution was particularly strong, and ratification was seen as particularly important. Instead, it established an entirely new system, including a robust central government divided into legislative, executive and judicial branches.Īs soon as 39 delegates signed the proposed Constitution in September 1787, the document went to the states for ratification, igniting a furious debate between “Federalists,” who favored ratification of the Constitution as written, and “Antifederalists,” who opposed the Constitution and resisted giving stronger powers to the national government. The document that emerged from the Constitutional Convention went far beyond amending the Articles, however. In May 1787, 55 delegates gathered in Philadelphia to address the deficiencies of the Articles of Confederation and the problems that had arisen from this weakened central government. As the first written constitution of the newly independent United States, the Articles of Confederation nominally granted Congress the power to conduct foreign policy, maintain armed forces and coin money.īut in practice, this centralized government body had little authority over the individual states, including no power to levy taxes or regulate commerce, which hampered the new nation’s ability to pay its outstanding debts from the Revolutionary War.
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