The Articles of Confederation were a setof documents that werewritten before the Constitution, but were later changed,

and a new set of documents were written. In the Articles of Confederation, the 13 states were ruled by a Congress, but therewas no presidentat the time. Under the Articlesof Confederation, Congress didnot havethe powertocollect taxes fortheir military. In short, theArticlesofConfederationwerenotvery successful. To try to make the Congress and its ruling better, the idea for a Constitution was put forth.A Constitutionwas neededtokeepcoloniesin order,protectthem,andtocreateatypeofacentralgovernment. The Constitutional Convention was a group that decided matters of Congress. It was made up of delegates from each state. The Constitutional Conventionwas formed in1787 andthestatehousewhere itwasheldwaslocatedinPhiladelphia. The way that Congress ruled was not agreeable between the delegates that represented the states. Small states and large states were at a crossroads for voting. So something had to be done aboutit. Congress decided to createsomethingcalled theNewJerseyPlanandtheVirginia Plan. The Virginia Plan was in favor of large states. Each states number of votes would depend on its population. The Virginia Plan called for three branches of Congress: a legislative branch to create laws, an executive branchto execute them, and ajudicialbranchtointerpretandapplythose lawswithasystemofcourts. TheNewJerseyPlanwasinfavorofsmallstates.EachstateinCongress wouldhave an equal amountof votes,nomatterthesize.TheNewJersey Plan hadthree branches, just liketheVirginiaPlan.Thelegislativebranch onlyhadonehouse,however. A Compromise wasmadeto givelarge andsmall statesthe satisfaction they desired. Congress was to be made up of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. In the Senate, each state would get two votes total. In the House of Representatives, eachstates number of voteswoulddependofthepopulationofthatstate.

 The Ratification is the name of the process thatwas used forhow many stateshadtoagreetosomething,ortoputitintoaction.FortheArticlesof Confederation, allofthestateshadtoagreeonsomethinginorderforitto bepassed.Forthe Constitution, ofthe stateshad toagree,whichwas 9states. At onepoint,thethreebranchesofCongressgottoopowerful.SoChecks and Balances were made to fix this. Using them, no one branch got too powerful, because they limitedthe powersof eachother.The Balance of Power stated that each branch had a certain power that was equal to anotherbranch,yetallpowersofthebranchesweredifferent. We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,promote generalWelfare, and secure the Blessingsof Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this ConstitutionfortheUnitedStatesofAmerica. That is what is written at the beginning of theU.S.Constitution,and it is calledthepreamble. The Articles of theConstitution werelong andcomplicated,butherethey aresimplified: The first three articles of the Constitution explain what the legislative branch, executive branch, and what the judicial branch does. Things like the systemof courts, Congress,andhowthepresidentandvicepresident are chosen. Thefourtharticle explains the rules of adding newstatesinto the union, and the relationship between the government and the states. The fifth and sixth articles detail the rules for making new amendments andlaws,statingthattwothirdsofbothhousesofCongressmustagreeto propose an amendment. A positive votemust be castby threefourthsof the states to make that amendment a law. The seventh article givesthe names of the people who worked on them, and confirms thecreationof theUSconstitution.

In orderfortheConstitutiontobepassed,aBill ofRightswascreatedand added to it. It was mostly made up of the stuff that the british took away fromthestates. The first amendment is freedom of speech, press, and religion. The second amendment istheright to ownaweaponorbeararms.The third statesthat thegovernment cannot quartersoldiers in yourhomebyforce. The fourth is the right to privacy the police must have a warrant and a goodreason tosearchyour house. Thefifthamendmentgivesthepeople the right toremainsilent, and thingslikeinnocenceuntilprovenguilty.The sixth is therightto a quick and speedypublic trial,the right to knowwhat you have been accused of, the right to question witnesses against you, andthe right to have witnesses inyourfavor.The eighthamendmentisno crueland unusual punishments,and thebailcannotbeunusuallyhigh.The lastamendment,the tenth, isthatanypowersnotlistedbythegovernment arepreservedforthestates. The U.S. Constitution was necessary in order to make ruling the states more fair. James Madison was nicknamed the Father of the Constitution, because he was present at almost every meeting of the delegates,andhe tooknotesof anythinghecouldtakenoteof.TheBillof Rights was added to the Constitution, because without it, it would never have been passed. Congressplays a major rolewith votingandcreating the Constitution, along with its two houses:the Senateand theHouseof Representatives. There were three branches in Congress as well, the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. What came out of these branchesarewhatthetwohouses ofCongress voted on. The states received laws to govern them, but theystillhadpower so the governmentwas not incompletecontrol. TheConstitutionisveryhard tounderstand,butitisofgreatusetotheUnitedStatesofAmerica.