Is the Constitution an Improvement Over the Articles of Confederation?

In 1775, the Americans began their revolution against the oppressive British government. After the seven years war, to pay a massive war dept, the British created many new taxes for the colonies, most of which were based on trade. Many of these taxes were not simply trade regulation, but shattered free trade. To establish there new democratic country, they wrote the Articles of Confederation. Unfortunately the Articles were not full proof and a few years later were replaced with the Constitution. The Constitution much more successfully fulfilled the goals of the American Revolution.

The American Revolution was a war of ideals rather than true practicalities. Although the British instituted many new taxes in the colonies, the Americans actually were not heavily taxed and were in fact had much lower tax rates than those of the people living in Britain. The Americans even had the highest living standards in the world. Despite this the colonists found it necessary to revolt against the British. They believed that the British were infringing upon their rights. As was written in the Declaration of Independence, the American colonists believed that the purpose of government is to secure and protect the rights of the people. Thomas Paine also wrote in his "Common Sense," that the British were using and abusing the colonies and that the Colonies would be much better off without being a part of the (soon to be) British Empire with the British government looming over them. Truthfully, the Americans revolted solely for the rights of "liberty and the pursuit of happiness," as they spelled out in the Declaration of Independence.

The Articles of Confederation first set up a government in America. It established a very week limited national government that truly only had power in inter-state relations. It mentioned expressly state rights ("Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled" (Article II). Unfortunately individual rights were never mentioned and were left to the individual states to decide upon. This left the rights of the people unsecured and unprotected. States had the ability to infringe upon the rights of the people as did in Massachusetts, which led to Shay's Rebellion. Clearly, although those same men who wrote the Declaration of Independence wrote the Articles of Confederation, the Articles did not properly fulfill the goals of the American Revolution.

The Constitution soon replaced the Articles of Confederation, creating a nation with many secured rights for the people. Although there are nearly no rights mentioned in the Constitution, there are many rights in the Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments), which were ratified immediately with the original Constitution. By including a set of rights, the founding fathers made it so that the states all had to give the people the same rights and could not deny the rights of the people as they has been able to do under the Articles of Confederation. Also a stronger central government allowed the nation as a whole to have power over a single state, if one would become corrupt, or deviate from the Constitution. Finally, the Constitution created a government with much more direct representation of the populace with more elections for government officials. This indirectly helps to secure the rights that the Americans fought for as no one would vote for someone who they knew would take away their own rights.

Clearly, the rights, that the American colonists shed blood for, are much better protected and secured by the Constitution as compared to the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution has made sure that the American government shall forever uphold these rights that many died for. The original document that guided the American government, the Articles of Confederation, would have allowed the brave colonists to die in vain as the rights of the people could have easily be infringed upon and even totally ignored by the states of America.