Question

What is the difference between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution?

Answer 1

The Articles of Confederation were the Articles that formally banded the original thirteen colonies into one body (United States) it was drafted around mid 1776, and ratified in 1777. The Constitution was a document that sought to fix the perceived problems with the articles (problems that Federalists had), as it was extremely weak. Under the articles, Congress could only *REQUEST* states to pay taxes, versus having the right to levy taxes under the Constitution. The Constitution was adopted in 1787.

A fascinating comparison of the two documents can be found here.
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/chart.art.html