DBQ on articles of confederation and constitution. plz help me

You don't really need to know much about the AOC. You need to know what kind of government was created. If you search hard enough, you'll find the DBQ and it's documents and figure out how to use them! You just need to realize that everything they give you has a purpose. I'm pretty sure that they're supposed to give you the DBQ first hand (as I was) but just in case: http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/ap/AofCDBQ.htm <---Copy and paste this link into the the address engine. (it's at the top, you know.)
Anyway, if you're still not sure, ask a different question. I took that DBQ about three weeks ago and still haven't gotten it back!

ok im not sure what the exact question is but I will give you info that I know.

I wrote an essay and this was some of the information that I put down.

. The government in the colonies set out to create the Articles of Confederation to prevent tyranny and be as traditionally “Un-British” as was possible. When the Articles seemed to not live up to par, delegates met in Pennsylvania to create the constitution, in which both tyranny and anarchy were being prevented in an attempt to create the perfect government.
In York, Pennsylvania, in 1787, delegates from all thirteen colonies met to create a new government. After the tyrannical rule of the British parliamentary system, the colonists tried to create a government that was “un-British” and focused on individual liberties and state’s rights, as were forgotten by Britain. The Articles of Confederation were designed to safeguard the states from tyranny and focus on local control. The delegates instituted a rule of one vote per state so that the larger states could not overthrow the opinions of shorter states, as could happen with apportioning votes based on population. Congress also had to ability to tax. The delegates did not want a distant government to be taxing residents so far removed, as was done in Britain. Parliament taxed the colonists without having a firm grasp of really what was occurring in such faraway places. The Articles of Confederation required 9 votes out of 13 colonies to pass any sort of law. This was designed so that a simple majority could not overrule the small minority. In order to create an amendment to the Articles, a unanimous vote was required. This was done in order to ensure that there was no tyrannical reign of some states over others. The delegates wanted every state to agree to changes so that it did not seem like they were overriding each other and thus unknowingly creating tyranny. Congress was also not allowed to regulate trade. Local control was placed on trade issues so that the colonists would not follow the mercantilist theory of government like Britain did. Britain imposed many infamous trade restrictions on the colonists so that the “mother” country could profit based on the economy of the colonies. This measure of the articles was designed to prevent this breach of justice from occurring. By placing trade restrictions within local governments, a distant government would not be imposing undue restrictions on a colony and thus the delegates could prevent tyranny. Congress was also not able to raise or maintain a standing army during peacetime. Since during the Revolutionary War, Britain maintained an army in the colonies and took advantage of colonial’s homes, the colonists were worried that maintaining an army in peacetime would promote the same behavior that occurred during the revolution where colonists were ordered to quarter troops.
Within the government of the Articles, there was an absence of the executive branch of government. There was no position in office higher than a governor. This was designed to ensure that no one in a place of power could impose his beliefs on another. It was known, in British government, that people in public office were usually those who were hungry for power and wanted to show superiority. The absence of the executive branch ensured that there was no president, and especially no monarch, like in Britain, where the people were subservient to the ruler. There was also no judicial branch. The delegates did not want one court to be deciding issues in every state. They felt that it was very unrealistic for a central court to be able to decide common law in a truly democratic way when the colonies were all so unique. This left the judicial system in the hands of each state individually. Each one of these provisions of the Articles showed that the delegates were first and foremost concerned with safeguarding tyranny. They had lived too long under the tyrannical government of Britain and wanted to make a true democracy. Although this was theoretically a perfect government, it was unrealistic to believe that all states would agree on everything and conflicts would not erupt, and thus there would be no way to resolve issues between states. Because of these differences, the Articles of Confederation could not last.
In May 1787, 55 delegates from all the colonies (except Rhode Island) met in Philadelphia to revise the articles of confederation. Although the articles were theoretically perfect, there were fatal flaws that made the government unmanageable. Shays rebellion demonstrated one of these issues. Congress was not allowed to maintain a standing army during peacetime and thus when Daniel Shays and a group of ex-revolutionary war soldiers marched on Massachusetts, there was no army to stop them. Shays led these men, all plagued with debt and high taxes, to forcibly prevent the courts in Springfield, Massachusetts from sitting. When there was no militia to control this uprising, private funds had to be collected to hire a volunteer army to disperse the rebels. This convinced many delegates to come to Philadelphia to try and reach a consensus on revising the articles that did not seem strong enough to hold a true government.
The stated purpose of the Philadelphia Convention was to revise the Articles of Confederation, but it was soon apparent to the delegates that an entirely new constitution was needed. Within the early weeks, the Articles had been abolished. Every state was to be given one vote, in this convention, and it would take a simple majority to pass any piece of legislature, unlike was true with the Articles. They were all required to take a secrecy oath and thus began the brainstorming of the US Constitution. The Constitution was created to prevent both anarchy and tyranny. Since the Articles were about prevention from tyranny, the Constitution wanted that same prevention plus the prevention of anarchy as was seem as a result of the Articles. The Framers thus tried to strengthen the national government while still maintaining individual liberties.
The Framers saw the obvious flaws in the Articles of Confederation and thus set out to reverse those weaknesses by creating a stronger national government. They immediately changed the rule of 9/13 states needed to pass a law and 13/13 for amendments because they realized that with such a difference of backgrounds, they would never have this much of an overwhelming majority even on very necessary issues. The ability to tax would also need to be reinstated because although the colonists were generous during the revolution, people are not willing to give money during peacetime and thus taxes will need to be drawn. The ability to regulate trade would also have to be given to the government. Trade wars erupted between states because clear cut boundaries and regulations were not established. An executive and judicial branch were also created because there needed to be a supreme authority, as long as there were other smaller governments. This created federalism, there was one central government with several state governments to check the powers. The Judicial Branch established the supreme court which dealt with issues between states that could not previously have been dealt with. The Supreme Court was the final authority on interpreting the law. Although all of these provisions strengthened the national government, the Framers still wanted protection against tyranny and there are many provisions in the constitution that provide individual liberties.

TimberlakeLVR1 wrote:ok im not sure what the exact question is but I will give you info that I know...QUOTE]

Um, you don't need to know all this! Just be cool about it and make sure you write about whether or not the government (between 1784-1790, when the AOCs were in power) was crappy (it was very crappy, by the way.) And research to give evidence. Use your book. do you use Brinkley? I can give you some good graphs if you do.

Aw screw it! You're not even logged in.

err..this is kind of late..but anyways...most important thing: articles of confed failed because they didn't give enough power to the national government...the central government could barely do ANYTHING..HOWEVER!! the best thing that came out of it were the land ordinances = V. IMPORTANT