Ryan+Foltz

Articles of Confederation: -first constitution of the United States. 1777 -legally united what were initially seperate sovereigned states, into "The United States of America". -the states still retained their sovereignty, freedom, and independence -established a "firm league of friendship" between the 13 states. -the articles denied congress the power to tax, enforce laws, or regulate interstate commerce. -established a strong central governement, because the 13 induvidual states were afraid of induvidually losing power. -went into effect march 1, 1781. The Constitution -defines three major branches of government: legislative branch(bicameral congress), executive branch, judicial branch(supreme court). -carefully outlines the powers that should be withheld by each branch in government. -replaced the articles of confederation -established in sept. 17, 1787 -has been changed 27 times Various Plans And Compromises of the Constitution: The Virginia Plan: 3 branches in gov't, legislative, executive, and judicial. Representation in each house would be based on states population or the amount of money it gave to support government. The New Jersey Plan: retained the unicameral Congress of the Confed. Each state is equally represented. It called for a federal executive by more than one person. The Connecticut Compromise: settled the dispute between the Virginia and New Jersey plan by figuring out how the states would be represented in Congress. It would be bicameral, the house of reps would be decided on population of the states, and the senate members would be equal by state, 2 per state. 3/5 's Compromise: each slave is counted as 3/5 of a person when dealing with population for house representation. Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise: congress was forbidden the power to tax the export of goods from states. Imports although were taxed.