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As James Madison said, “The essence of government is power; and power lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse”. This brought the question to the founding fathers as to how to prevent the abuse of governmental power or tyranny while protecting individual rights to life, liberty and prosperity. Attempting to establish a governmental structure for the newly independent colonies, the founding fathers established the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. This document was concerned with limiting the power of the central government, and virtually all power was given to the states. Although this system effectively governed for many years, it was not effective to hold the country together. Under the Articles of Confederation, the government lacked the power to tax and regulate interstate commerce, could not act in any matters relating to war, foreign relations, money or requisitions without the approval of at least nine of the thirteen states. Congress could not enforce sanctions against the states for any of the decisions it made, executive and judicial branches were weaker than the state legislature, there were no provisions for president, there were no Federal courts, and the Articles