Articles of Confederation, Constitution, and Bill of Rights

The Bill of rights  was our first ten rights of the Constitution. These rights were our basic rights that American citizens would all receive (really only white men). These rights included free religion and speech, the right to bear arms, power to the states and the people, the right to be defended in your cases, and other basic rights. The Constitution is an overall summary of American power and ideas. The first three articles define where our power comes from and how it is all split up. Articles four five and six deal with our concept of federalism and our states governments, as well as our state relationship to the government. Article 7 relates to the ability for the states to ratify. The Articles of Confederation was our first constitution and stated our states would be sovereign and independent, and congress would be the deciding factor for the disputes. Congress was given the power to create treaties and declare war, and the states could not decide on these. New laws were formed in 1787 by the constitutional convention