Which of the following was a power granted by the Articles of Confederation?

On July 12, 1776, a little over a week after the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress introduced the Articles of Confederation. They were an attempt to loosely knit the 13 states together in a Union, while leaving most authority to the individual states themselves. In short, the Articles of Confederation granted Congress with the power to raise armies, declare war, and sign treaties, but prohibited Congress from other things such as the power of taxation, regulating trade, or collecting tariffs. The Articles of Confederation were signed by such statesmen as John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and John Witherspoon. 

After a few years of debate, the original 13 states finally ratified the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781. This became the authorizing document for the U.S. federal government for over six years. During those six years, the central government stepped-in to deal with an increasing number of states’ rights issues such as taxes and trade. Many founders got worried that the states would lose more and more rights if the federal government was allowed to get more and more powerful.

As a result, on May 25, 1787, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, instead of revising them, the representatives ended up replacing them altogether with one of the most significant documents in world history, the United States Constitution.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

After Benjamin Franklin left the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, he was asked:

Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

Franklin replied, 

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

Indeed, the United States of America is a “republic,” a system of government where power is granted to representatives elected by the people. America is also a “constitutional republic,” where the representatives are limited by a set of rules approved by the people. Although the U.S. isn’t a straight democracy, its representatives are democratically elected. Therefore, as American citizens, we participate in ruling ourselves. When we pledge allegiance to the Flag “and to the republic for which it stands,” we are basically pledging allegiance to being in charge of ourselves, exercising our authority through the government representatives we pick.

However, as our founders warned us, a republic only lasts as long as its citizens have morals, values, and self-control. In 1798, John Adams said:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other…

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge … would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.”

During debates about the U.S. Constitution, the founders continually voiced concern about giving their new government too much power. They had just fought a war to free themselves from the monarchy in Britain, so they were totally done with that system of tyranny. 

George Washington delivered a simple recommendation to the drafters of the Constitution:

First, the general Government is not invested with more powers than are indispensably necessary to perform functions of a good government.

“Second, these powers … are so distributed among the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches … that it can never be in danger of degenerating into a … despotic or oppressive form; so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the People…

“It will at least be a recommendation to the proposed Constitution that it is provided with more checks and barriers against the introduction of tyranny…”

Following George Washington’s lead, some of the founders insisted on more so-called “checks and barriers against the introduction of tyranny.” These men were called “anti-federalists,” and included Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and George Mason. They feared the new federal government might become too powerful and take away individual liberties, as King George III had done in Britain. They pushed for “restrictive clauses” that should be added to the Constitution to prevent an abuse of federal power.

George Mason was an anti-federalist and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, where he helped write the U.S. Constitution. His hard stance on “checks and barriers” earned him the title, “Father of the Bill of Rights.”

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. They stand as the foundation for American principles such as individual liberty, limited government, and the rule of law.

Which of the following was a power granted by the Articles of Confederation?

The First Amendment is perhaps the broadest and most famous of the Bill of Rights. It recites our inherent freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petitioning our government. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Without these individual rights, we really don’t have a free and functioning republic. Without our freedom of political opinions, moral convictions, and religious values, we would quickly return to an authoritarian regime, where one party controls everything. With respect to religion, President Ronald Reagan said:

The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny.”

The Second Amendment protects our right to bear arms. The Third Amendment protects us against the housing of soldiers in our homes. The Fourth through Eighth Amendments focus on our rights to a fair system of justice, including protections against unreasonable searches, unfair trials, and cruel and unusual punishment.  

The last two amendments – the 9th and 10th – spell out that the list of individual protections in the Bill of Rights is not meant to exclude others. By contrast, all powers claimed by the federal government must be expressly stated in the Constitution. Powers not granted to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution belong to the states or the people. In America today, this seems more important to remember than ever before.

The Articles of Confederation, Constitution, and Bill of Rights

Which of the following was a power granted by the Articles of Confederation?

Randall Niles

Randall acts as the lead writer for ColdWater’s Drive Thru History® TV series and Drive Thru History® “Adventures” curriculum.

What did the Articles of Confederation give most power to?

The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments.

What are the 10 powers granted to Congress under the Articles of Confederation?

Terms in this set (10).
Make war and peace..
Send and recieve ambassadors..
Make treaties..
Borrow money..
Set up a money system..
Establish post office..
Build a navy..
Raise an army..

What are 3 main points of the Articles of Confederation?

Article 1: Created the name of the combined 13 states as The United States of America. Article 2: State governments still had their own powers that were not listed in the Articles of Confederation. Article 3: The combined states were responsible for helping to protect each other from attacks.

What were the powers granted and denied by the Articles of Confederation?

The national legislature was the Confederation Congress. ... .