History of the United States Constitution
The history of the (second) Constitution of the United States begins with the history behind the creation of the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution. The Articles of Confederation were, in effect, a loose confederation that joined together thirteen independent states to mainly deal with foreign policy. For all other purposes they remained sovereign states. The greatest weakness of the Articles of Confederation is that it had no direct connection to the people themselves. It recognized state sovereignty. Each state collected its own taxes, provided its own militia and printed its own currency. A weak Congress was the chief instrument in the new government. There was no executive branch. The recent tyranny suffered under Britain's King George III made the new country's leaders wary of a strong central government. In Congress, each state only had one vote. States with small populations had the same voting rights as states ten times their size. Amending the Articles required a unanimous vote, which was virtually impossible with thirteen states each having their own interests.