Bill of rights vs. The articles of confederation?

Question

I have a college essay I have to write and I am having a bit of a hard time with this. The essay topic is at least 5 paragraphs regarding the Bill of Rights vs. The Articles of Confederation. How are they similar? How are they different? The directions are to "compare and contrast". I am not at all sure what to write or where to begin. Could someone please give me their thoughts or answers if you know this or where to find the information.
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Start with the fact that the Bill of Rights weren’t even addressed in the Articles of Confederation.

Maybe the founding fathers didn't feel the need; the original idea for the Federal Government was for it to be weak. Even under the Federal Constitution it was still weak until it took on the power of Income Tax.

Still the states had enough power to violate our civil rights like forcing civilians to let soldiers live in their homes. The British did this to cheaply house their soldiers and to turn those American homes into hostages. You never hear about that issue any more because of the Bill of Rights.

The 4 fundamental freedoms of Assembly, Speech, Press, and Religion probably came right out of Thomas Jefferson's mouth, but they weren't in any document to that date, except under the freedom to pursue happiness in the Declaration of Independence. Once Jefferson got that idea for a freedom to do something he really didn’t nail it down until the Bill of Rights and that made it a firm stone in the American Governmental Foundation, one of the firmest, because it protects those rights against the states. Under the Articles of Confederation the States had most of the power and few limits on it. They had no limits on the ability to abridge a person’s civil rights.

The Constitution is called a living document because it can be edited, yet the only examples of those amendments are the Bill of Rights. They set the precedence though and each amendment has been based on those original 10. The Articles of Confederation had no method to be amended, they had to be totally thrown out and a new document written. The Texas State Constitution was written for the Wild West. It states that spittoons must be placed on the street every 50 yards, and that carrying wire cutters in your hip pocket is illegal. This dates back to the time of Billy the Kid and the Range Wars. It has been interpreted to mean it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon. The Texas State Constitution is obsolete and in the 1970s they tried to re-write it, and it was impossible. The Texas Legislature has a Senate and a Congress with too many members in both houses to agree to write a new constitution. The State Constitution has been amended, but can’t be replaced. Because of this a lot of it is obsolete, and can never be fixed.

The Bill of Rights was the first time that an official document that organized a government had been written since the Magna Carta. Back then those rights were intended for the nobles and land owners, but the Bill of Rights cover all the citizens, even children are protected by the Bill of Rights against cruel or unusual punishment. I think that is the only constitution that provides protections to minors.

You can compare the Bill of Rights to the Articles of Confederation by what the Articles lack and what the Bill of Right has. That should be enough to get a 10 paragraph paper.

Answer 2

You can google both of them, and then read them, and then compare and contrast them.

The Bill of Rights is simply the first 10 amendments of the current US Constitution.

The Articles of Confederation pre-exist the Constitution.

Hint. They are both in favor of a small Federal government, and greater individual, and State's rights.