The Articles of Confederation were an adequate beginning to how we create a union, and establishing order within our country. This Confederation style of government helped our nation persevere through the Revolutionary War and give hope to those coming out of the “Mad” King George’s ruling. However, soon after, it would need to be altered as it quickly lost its effectiveness and left our war torn states in the need of a new constitution. But the article that is most detrimental to fulfilling the goals of that constitution, will have to be Article III: The Judicial Branch.
Article III establishes a supreme court and defines its jurisdiction (O'Connor, 44). Congress also gains the ability to appoint “inferior” courts such district and appellate courts. This case gave smaller states a fighting chance against larger ones through the great compromise of having two legislative bodies also termed as a bicameral legislature. This event is important because it shows that their decisions were being kept in mind rather than being disregarded due to their lower amount of state representatives, ultimately while changing the outcome in disputes. Although it is otherwise not stated in the Constitution, the Supreme Court gave itself the power of a judicial review through the case of Marbury vs. Madison, this event basically gave the Supreme Court the power to declare laws unconstitutional. The significance of this is that it allows laws in our constitution to be re-evaluated if deemed unlawful or does not “ Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity” (US Const. Preamble).
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Many people are uneducated on the fact that chief and regular justices are not actually elected, but rather appointed by the president himself to serve practically life terms. Because of this, they can better work on solving controversy and speaking forth in debates together.
This article also confessed that the salaries of the justices could not be lowered in office. This made swaying opinions in congress much harder because affecting pay rates negatively was no longer an option.In section two of article two, it is stated that if a person breaks a law in one state, and travels to another right after, when he or she is caught, they will be sent back to the state in which they committed the crime to be tried. This institution ensures that there will be an appropriate and fair trial due to other places having different rules. Without this law, a person could very much commit a terrible crime in one area then move to another area where punishment is not as severe as it would have been in the state the crime was carried out. This makes it certain that justice is served, again, tying back into the message of the preamble.
This article also implemented a way congress carries out its justice, through its means of solving issues involving treason. In short, it mostly states that someone cannot be convicted without there being two eyewitnesses to testify against them, or if he or she confesses in court. If found guilty, punishment would of course be in order, but the family of the convicted is not to be harmed or threatened at all. This ensures the safety of our nation by catching people in the act of supporting other countries against us, or by simply leaking information deemed classified. All of these institutions are important because they improve our federal court system and bring light to how we interpret the laws that put order in our country. This also makes it important that our judiciary remains non-partisan from things like media and self interest so that those who present themselves to supreme court can have assurance in their cases being handled fairly. Without it, there would be mass bias and corruption within the court system ,not that there isn't already some now, but it could have been way worse.
Although articles 1 and 2 are both good additions to the constitution, they appeal to the government itself rather than the rights and liberties of people as individuals and wholes. With that being said, we can see how this solves problems in the future like unity problems, leadership error, and problems with a unicameral legislature.
To sum up, article 3 of the Articles of Confederation has the most significant role in fulfilling the goals of the constitution as stated in the preamble by ensuring that liberties are protected, justice is served and that our nation is unified and strong enough to keep us civilized and in order.
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