AOC FRQ-My Response

AOC FRQ

A1. One problem of decentralized power that existed under the Articles of
Confederation concerned taxation. No national system existed for tax collection which could have been used for a number of services including paying a national military to protect the new nation from French and English pirating. One solution that the Constitution provided to address taxation was laid out in Article I which provided congress with the power to collect state revenue in the form of taxes.

A2. Another problem of decentralized power that existed under the Articles of
Confederation concerned the absense of a national judiciary. A number of legal disputes emerged between states which lacked a national form of arbitration. One solution that the Constitution provided to the lack of judicial authority included the creation of the judicial branch under Article III of the Constitution which would among other things, provide legal authority to the national government to resolved disputes among the states.

A3. Yet another problem of decentralized power that existed under the Articles of
Confederation was the absense of a national currency. Under the Articles of Confederation, no guidance was given states related to currency. Consequently, each state printed their own money which created significant problems including hyperinflation within states as well as trade disputes between states.
One solution that the Constitution provided to address the problem was the authority given to Congress to coin money as well as the new prohibition on states from continuing to print their own currency. As the result, a new national currency was created which solved a number of economic problems througout the colonies.

B1. Tensions between decentralized and centralized power do continue to exist.
Environmental Policy continues to illustrate this tension. The federal government has for over 30 years implemented clean air standards using the Environmental Protection Agency as its enforcement agency. Many states have been told to clean up their air to acceptable national standards or potentially face sanctions from the federal government. In some cases, the threat of a cutoff of federal highway funds has been used as a means to get states to comply with federal clean air standards. While there has been substantial improvement in air standards over the past 30 years, tensions have continued to boil over between states and the federal government over air quality issues. With a current nationalwide economic recession, many states citing financial concerns have recently balked at certain government mandates related to clean air demonstrating that tensions between decentralized and centralized power do continue to exist.