The most important difference was that the Articles of Confederation gave very little power to a central government while the Constitution created a strong central government.
Other major differences include:
Articles of Confederation:
- no Bill of Rights
- gov't has no power to collect tax
- to make amendment, vote of states had to be unanimous
- no president (executive branch)
- only one "house" in Congress (unicameral)
- states could coin there own $ (so there were multiple currencies)
- Congress had between 2 and 7 reps per state
- representatives in Congress were appointed by state legislature (no popular vote)
U.S. Constitution:
- Bill of Rights
- gov't can collect tax
- amendment needs 3/4 vote
- has an executive branch
- two houses in Congress (bicameral)
- only U.S. gov't can coin $ (one currency for nation)
- Congress has 2 senators per state and representatives depending on the size of the state's population
- senators appointed, but representatives elected through popular vote
