Major Issues of the Constitution

Reference on the Central Government: Articles of Confederation Compared to the Constitution

The left column shows common governmental responsibilities. The two columns on the right show whether the responsibility is assigned to the central government with the Articles of Confederation and with the Constitution.

	Central Government With …
	Articles of Confederation	Constitution
Responsible to conduct foreign affairs	Yes – Congress. Failure: Jay-Gardoqui Treaty	Yes – Executive with Congressional approval
Responsible to declare war and peace	Yes – Congress	Yes – Congress
Able to coin money	Yes	Yes – Congress
Able to levy taxes	No Failure: impost duties amendment	Yes – Congress
Able to raise troops	No	Yes – Congress
Able to regulate commerce	No Failure: No commercial treaty with Britain	Yes – Congress
Method to change the system	13 state legislatures agree	Amendment process – 2/3 to propose – Congress or state legislatures 3/4 to ratify – conventions or state legislatures
Method to write laws	9 votes (1 vote per state)	Majority of House and Senate

Reference on the Interconnected System Balances in the Constitution

A Look at the Interconnections

The examples show a few of the interconnected system balances built into the American governmental system. (Note: Since approximately 1900 there has been an indirect but major change in these system balances. If you’d like details, just ask.) The table highlights how important are the actions of the people in the small-r republican government central to the Constitution.

Issue	The People	Congress	President	Judiciary	The States
Compensation		Independent compensation	Independent compensation	Independent compensation
Division of power and role	Vote	Legislative (writing the law)	Executive (“faithful” execution of the law)	Judicial (judging the law)
Impeachment		House: impeach. Senate: try all impeachments	Grant reprieves and pardons except in cases of impeachment
Laws, 3-way division of power	Vote	Write and pass laws. Override Presidential veto.	Approve or veto laws. Execute faithfully the laws.	(Constitutionality of law developed, or clarified, later)
Military defense	Right to keep and bear arms	Declarations of war. Control military rules	Commander in Chief
Responsibility for data collection on system health	- Peaceable assembly. Petition the government for a redress of grievances. Freedom of speech, or of the press. Right to elect representatives who hear their issues. Protections to the people in trials and for transparency even with trials for treason	Cannot abridge rights of the people and the press to assemble, petition, speak, or write. Freedom of speech while serving the people			Requirement to have representative elections and districts
Treaties		With advice and consent of Senate by 2/3 of their votes	Make treaties		Cannot make treaties
When, How (as initially written in the Constitution)	Vote directly or indirectly.	House—every 2 years—by voters Senate—every 6 years—by state legislature	Every 4 years—by electoral college	Supreme Court—for life

WCJC Department:	History – Dr. Bibus
Contact Information:	281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu
Last Updated:	2013
WCJC Home:	http://www.wcjc.edu/