The Articles of Confederation was the first governing document of the United States after the Revolutionary War. However, it had significant weaknesses including that Congress could not raise taxes, regulate trade between states, or enforce laws. This led the founding fathers to create a new Constitution to address these issues and establish a stronger central government with balanced powers between the federal and state governments. Key compromises during the drafting of the Constitution included the Great Compromise, which established representation in Congress, and the Three-Fifths Compromise, which determined how slaves would be counted for representation.
I use a flip chart for the 7 Principles that the kids make and can take notes on. There are diagrams on some of the slides too. Definitions are included on every slide along with examples of each principle.
I use a flip chart for the 7 Principles that the kids make and can take notes on. There are diagrams on some of the slides too. Definitions are included on every slide along with examples of each principle.
This presentation was developed as an introduction to the Boy Scout merit badge, Citizenship in the Nation. It can also be used as an overview for an American Government class.
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1. What were the various problems with the Articles of Confederati.docxpaynetawnya
1. What were the various problems with the Articles of Confederation?
The Articles of Confederation was the first system of government in the new country of America. After the countless amount of issues born out of being owned by Great Britain, the expectations of the new system were as such: that power would be given through the people, that power would be expressed through a representative of the people, and that the representative was one of the needs and interests of the people. And while that sounds ideal, great almost, it doesn’t work out. The Articles as described in class, were pretty much bad/not good. Where the people were looking for the framework for an actual government, they seemed more like a firm league of friendship. The Articles, founded in 1778 lasted 10 years. Under this system there was no president or judiciary, any decision required a 9 out of 13 votes, so if it came down to 2/3rds there would be no decision made. The Articles allowed the declaration of war, conduct of foreign affairs, treaty creation, but could not tax. But hey two cool positives are that it won them the war and we also gained Ohio! And it was a tremendous disaster by the fact that it did not collect taxes, which was probably because the big debt from the war they had previously won.
No tax means no power, and inadvertently no money either. This became a bigger problem because the newfound America had borrowed money and weapons from the French, and since they were in debt they couldn’t pay the French back. The inability to tax left the founders hands tied; they couldn’t tax so they were unable to address their debt issue. And as the debt intensified, there was a rebellion in Massachusetts kicking off known as “Shays Rebellion.”
2. How did Shays Rebellion motivate “the founders” to hold a convention to resolve the problems of the Articles?
Shays Rebellion was the rebellion of the people (primarily farmers) against their government and more specifically, the affects of the Articles of Confederation. The huge debt problem affected everyone; farmers/civilians couldn’t pay mortgage, faced debt, and would land in jail. Shays Rebellion occupied the jails, courts, etc. and while the origins of this movement started in Massachusetts, movements were being started all over the new country because Massachusetts wasn’t the only state facing issues.
At this moment the economic elite realized they needed to strengthen the central government in order to fight debt/put down the rebellion. And it is from this realization that the Constitution was born, the document that laid down the foundation for “freedom, liberty and rights.” But to whom were these rights attributed? It is important to note that the Constitutions original purpose was not about giving us our rights, but how to control the people. And we must divorce ourselves from the notion that the constitution gave us any rights. Eventually in late of May 1787 George Washington calls the convention into se ...
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2. Articles of Confederation Made during the Revolutionary War Implemented Right after the war ended Had a lot of problems…why? No one had the power to really do anything…
3. For example: Under the Articles of Confederation, the government could NOT… Raise taxes – couldn’t pay off Rev. War debt Very hard to change (needed a unanimous vote) Congress couldn’t regulate trade between states No president- there was a congress and the men took turns running the Congress, one year terms Sates had most of the power No national money Sizes of states didn’t matter, each state got one vote Only one branch of government
4. Why couldn’t they do these things? The founding fathers were afraid that someone would abuse the power of the government…its what they were most afraid of
5. So, they got together to fix the Articles of Confederation But it was so messed up, they decided to make a whole new governing document! That brings us to The Constitution The very beginning of The Constitution has a list of goals…its called the Preamble –(pre because it comes before the rest of the document – it’s the introduction)
6. By FRIDAY: you will memorize the Preamble…lucky you! But what the heck is it talking about? Let’s find out. Blah, blah, blah….
13. And secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity,
14. Do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America
15. What was the “GREAT COMPROMISE?” First of all, what is a compromise? The great compromise has to do with Congress and how each states votes are counted. You give a little to get a little Of what you want.
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18. What was the compromise about? Big states felt their votes should be counted more because they had more people Little states were worried that if the big states had too much power, the little states would never be able to get what they wanted.
19. Resolution aka “The Great Compromise” We would have two houses: the House of Representatives has votes based off the # of people in each state (435 people; different # from each state) The Senate has the same number of votes for each state (100 people; 2 from each state)
20. But that led to another problem…Ugh… Should slaves be counted in the population of a state for the House of Representatives? Southern states said… Northern states said…
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22. So…they came up with “The 3/5 Compromise” Slaves could be counted as 3/5 of one person So, how many slaves do you need to have 6 people added to your state total… Use your math…I know you’re learning about fractions! 10! 10 slaves would only count as 6 people…
23. Constution BAV Amendment – formal change to a document Compromise – giving something up to get what you want Domestic/foreign – in or from a country/in or from another country Federalism – national and local government working at the same time Impeach – kick out a government official from office Plurality – having the most number of votes…but not necessarily a majority Preamble – an introduction to a document Ratify – to formally approve Suffrage – the right to vote Temperance – the avoidance of using alcohol Unconstitutional – a law that goes against something in the constitution
25. Why do their term lengths vairy? So that way, not everyone is new at the same time….we stagger our leadership so that someone always knows what’s going on
26. AMENDMENTS 1-10 = THE BILL OF RIGHTS Open “we the people book” to page 157 and get our your learning targets http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=C21AD41A-DF76-4446-9441-7531DDB0086B&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US