Know Your Rights!

Constitution Unit!
A Weak Nation
Constitution Unit!
The Articles of Confederation
● After winning the American Revolution, American had to
form a new government for their land.
● They wanted it to be a republic.
● The Continental Congress debated on plan, which will
became The Articles of Confederation.
The Articles of Confederation continues...
● The Articles of Confederation was a plan to create a national government. The
Articles created a plan that left most of the power with the states, rather than the
national government. Under these rules, each state created its own laws, printed
its own money, and collected its own taxes.
● This plan had to be ratified by the all of the 13 colonies.
○ Ratify means to approve something.
● The Articles of Confederation was ratified in 1781.
The Articles of Confederation continues...
● The Congress was the main governing body, which mean
they made laws for the new nation.
● The Congress could not pass laws to collect taxes from states.
● The Congress could only ask states to pay taxes to support
the Congress.
Three Branches of Government (Power Words)
● Legislative Branch - is the part of government that passes
laws.
● Executive Branch - the government is headed by a leader,
such as a president.
● Judicial Branch- is a court system that interpret the laws.
Problems with the New Plan.
● Since the Congress could not pass a law to collect taxes, so they could not pay
debit from the American Revolution.
● Each state could make their own money.
○ The money could have different values per state.
○ How could this be a problem?
● Inflation became an issue.
○ When prices rise very quickly.
● The national government was powerless dealing with other countries.
● All this issues caused a group to form, the nationalist.
○ They wanted a stronger national government.
○ The leader was George Washington.
Shays’ Rebellion 1786-1787
● 1,100 farmers in Springfield, Massachusetts protested taxes in an armed uprising,
led by Daniel Shays.
● Many soldiers had been farmers before the war. When they returned to their
farms, they found they could not afford to pay the high taxes and debt that they
had been charged on their land.
● If they could not afford to pay the taxes, their farms were taken and they were
thrown in jail.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787
● Congress also had to decide what to do with the Northwest
Territory that they had won in the Revolutionary War.
Congress passed two ordinances
● The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, made slavery illegal in the
territory and also described how this territory could become
a state.
How Strong is Your Government
Activity
Constitution Unit!
How Strong is Your Government Activity Expectations
● You can work in pairs or individually.
● You will need to sit next to partner. (Have students move
seats before starting activity.
● You should be working at level 0-1, when working in small
groups.
● When speaking in whole group, students need to speak at a
Level 2.
States:
● You are the legislator for your state.
● You will need to manage the money, taxes, and laws for your
state.
● You all have different types of currency.
● The value of the money varies from state to state.
● You are not required to pay taxes to Congress, when asked.
● You will be asked different task, and you have to make a
choice for your state.
National Government (Congress):
● You are a member of Congress.
● You will need to manage all states and deal with foreign
countries.
● You also have your own currency.
● You have not passed a law to collect taxes from states, so they
are not required to pay taxes.
How Strong is Your Government Activity.
● The American Revolution is over, and the Article of
Confederation is the new laws of the land. If you are a
legislature of a state, you will need to manage the money, taxes,
and laws of your state. If you are in the national government,
you will need to manage all states, and also deal with issue
outside of the country.
Task 1
National Government:

You have to pay each state 2 squares to pay soldiers for fighting
in the American Revolution.

Colonies:

The Congress is asking for taxes (3 of your currency) to pay back

France for the American Revolution, but you have to rebuild in a
bridge that is 1 of your currency.
Task 2
National Government:

Walk around to different states and try to collect taxes.

Colonies:

You have to spend 2 circles to pay soldiers. Remember it is not a

law to pay Congress taxes, so you have a choice.
Task 3
National Government:

France is demanding you to pay back money you owe. They

want 7 of your currency. You will walk around and try to collect
money from the states. What will you do?

Colonies:

You have to decide whether to pay the government or keep

money for another expense.
Discussion
1) Who had more power during the time of Articles of
Confederation?
2) Why do you think the States had more power?
3) Was it fair for the states to have a lot of power?
4) What were some of the issues that occurred during
this activity?
Let’s Have a Convention!
Constitution Unit
The Constitutional Convention
● The Constitutional Convention was a meeting to revise the Articles of
Confederation, but the delegates eventually replaced the articles with a new
Constitution.
● A convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
● 55 delegates came together to discuss how to change the Articles of
Confederation.
● It was becoming apparent that the Articles prevented the states from working well
together.
Influential People
George Washington

● The delegates unanimously elected him as the leader of the convention.

James Madison

● He was a delegate from Virginia, and he played an important role in the creation
of the Constitution.

Alexander Hamilton

● He was a delegate from New York. He wrote “The Federalist”, which was a series
of essays that explained the new government to the public and reasons why they
should ratify the Constitution.
Influential People
Edmund Randolph

● He was a delegate from Virginia. He presented the Virginia Plan at the

convention.

William Paterson

● He was a delegate from New Jersey. He presented the New Jersey Plan at
convention.

Roger Sherman

● He was a delegate from Connecticut. He presented the Great Compromise, which

some say he saved the Constitutional Convention.
Virginia Plan
● The plan proposed that the Congress be given more power over the states.
● The national government will be the executive branch of the government, which
means they will carry out the laws created by Congress.
● The national government should have judicial branch to interpret laws passed by
Congress.
● Lastly, larger states should have more representatives in Congress than smaller
states.
● Edmund Randolph proposed this plan at the convention.
New Jersey Plan
● The smaller states had one issue with the Virginia Plan.
○ What could have been the issue?
● The smaller states did not believe that larger states should have more power than
the smaller states.
● Therefore, William Paterson proposed the New Jersey Plan.
● This plan proposed that each state, large or small, have the same amount of
representatives in Congress. (All states will be equal.)
The Great Compromise
Compromise means each side gives up something to reach an agreement.

Roger Sherman created this plan.

In this plan:

● He suggested the Congress be made up of two parts called houses.

○ One house will be the Senate, and the other will be House of Representatives.
● Senate
○ Each state will represented by two senators, so all states have equal power in the Senate.
● House of Representatives
○ States number of representatives is based on the population of the state, so larger states would have
more representatives than smaller states.

Do you think this plan will work?

Three-Fifths Compromise
Slavery

○ States that practice slavery, southern states, wanted slaves to count within the
state’s population, but they did not want slaves to count when it came to
being taxed.
○ Northern States objected this idea.

Three-Fifths Compromise was worked out.

○ Enslaved people would be counted in the states population for representation

in Congress and for taxes.
○ Only ⅗ of the slaves would be counted in the population and for taxes.
■ 50,000 slaves, only 30,000 will be counted in the population.

What do you think about this compromise?

Three-Fifths Compromise
● Also, Northern and Southern came to agreement about the slave trade.
● Northern delegates agreed the Congress will take no action against the slave trade
for 20 years.
● This agreement was honor 20 years later, when congress outlawed importing
slaves.

Why do you think they stop importing slaves after 20 years later?
Debate Time!
Here are your groups:
● Congress- Destiny, Kayleigh, Tyler, Emeer, Sera
● Virginia Plan-
○ Group 1- Jonas, Amarya, Jordan,
○ Group 2- Nic, Jameson, He’yla
● New Jersey Plan-
○ Group 3 -Morgan, Andres, Jeremy
○ Group 4- Achaius, Abby, Jaelyn
● Great Compromise Plan -
○ Group 5 AJ, Alise, Myles,
○ Group 6 - Gabe, Lov’aya, Vivian.
Debate Activity Expectations
● You can work in pairs or individually.
● You will need to sit next to partner. (Have students move
seats before starting activity.
● You should be working at level 0-1, when working in small
groups.
● When speaking in whole group, students need to speak at a
Level 2.
Instructions
1. You will work in your small group for 15 minutes research your plan.
a. Every person in your group should be researching your plan.
2. After ten minutes, you will combine with you the other group and discuss what
you all have found.
3. Each group except Congress wiil construct an argument for the debate.
a. The argument needs to be at least 1 minute long, where your group will propose one to two things
about your plan.
b. Then, explain why this plan is important to the common good.
4. Each group will prepare a question to ask each group about their plan.
5. Congress will read about all plans to have background knowledge.
a. You will determine which plan will be enter into the Constitution.
Debate Order
1. Virginia Plan
2. New Jersey Plan
3. Great Compromise Plan

Congress will be listen to all plans.

Discussion
● What plan do you think will be important to add
in the Constitution?
● If you could combine plans to add to the
constitution, which plans would you combine?
Why?
● How did compromising work for the
constitution?
Constitution was Created!
Preamble
The Constitution starts with the Preamble.

● The Preamble states the major goals of the Constitution.

○ To ensure justice.
○ To ensure peace.
○ To defend the nation.
○ To protect the people’s well-being and liberty.
The Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure
domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure
the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for
the United States of America.
Things to Know about the Constitution
● The Constitution states the power only the national government will have.
○ For example, only the national government can produce coins and money.
○ Another example, only the national government can make laws to trade with foreign countries.
● The Constitution leaves many other powers to state government, these are called
reserved powers.
○ For example, the state government can manage education and elections in their state.
○ Another example, is passing tax laws and managing roads.
Separation of Powers
The Constitution divides the national government into three branches.

● Legislative Branch
○ Headed by Congress, will make the laws.
● Executive Branch
○ Headed by the President, will enforce laws.
● Judicial Branch
○ Headed by the Supreme Court, will interpret laws.
Check and Balances (Power Word)
● To make sure any branches do not become too powerful. Check and balance was
created, so one branch can check the power of another.
○ The President can veto laws made by Congress. (Executive Branch to Legislative Branch)
○ The Congress can overturn the veto if ⅔ of the its members still want the law.(Legislative Branch to
Executive Branch)
○ The Supreme court can overturn both the Congress and President, if the courts finds actions to be
against the Constitution. (Judicial Branch to either Legislative Branch or Executive Branch)
Time to Ratify the New Constitution!
Classroom Constitution Activity
 Your Rules Must

● Be 6-10 rules
● Be mostly general
● Be mostly positive
● Be 5th grade appropriate
● Be clear and readable