The Power of Government PDF

**The Power of Government** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |    | | | | James Madison influenced the ratification\...

**The Power of Government** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |    | | | | James Madison influenced the ratification\ | |  of the U.S. Constitution. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ The Revolutionary War was over, and the former colonies were finally independent of Great Britain. The war united the colonies under a single cause, but the leaders needed to find a way to solidify that union. In this unit, you will learn about and compare the two systems of government established in the United States following the Revolutionary War, and the roles that influential people played in writing and ratifying the United States Constitution. \ \ As you progress through this unit, think about how concepts relate to the following Essential Question: \ \  How much power should a government have?\ \ You will build upon the Essential Question throughout the unit and revisit it in the unit review. **Objectives** - Analyze how and why the government was set up under the Articles of Confederation - Identify strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation - Analyze problems with the Articles of Confederation and the effect of those problems - Describe how the Northwest Ordinance established a method for settlement **Key Words** - Bill of rights - cede - constitution - currency - depression - Land Ordinance of 1785 - Northwest Ordinance - Shays's Rebellion **A Written Framework for Government** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |   | | | | The Articles of Confederation were drafted\ | |  and approved at Independence Hall\ | |  in Philadelphia, PA. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Around the same time that the Declaration of Independence was being written, the Continental Congress drafted a document known as the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation were, in a way, America\'s first constitution. The Articles represented the first written framework for a national government in the United States. The purpose of the Articles was to set up an alliance of states. This alliance could then ensure that the central government never had too much power. The Articles of Confederation, however, had not yet established an executive branch to enforce the laws, or a judicial branch to interpret the laws, like what exists today.\ \ In this lesson, you will learn how and why the government was set up under the Articles of Confederation, and identify some of the weaknesses that led to the eventual ratification of the U.S. Constitution. **The Articles of Confederation** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |   | | | | In 1777, after much debate,\ | | the Continental Congress approved\ | |  the Articles of Confederation. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Representatives in Congress chose a confederate structure for the Articles of Confederation because it gave the majority of power to the individual states, and limited the power of a national government. Members of the state legislatures and the Continental Congress selected this type of power structure because of the excessive control the British monarchy influenced on the colonies before the Revolutionary War. The leaders of the new American nation wanted to prevent this type of pressure from rising up in their own national government. The Articles of Confederation developed from the idea that government required a separation of powers in order to be fair and just. Within the union of states that made up the United States, the Articles of Confederation gave each individual state the power to act as independent bodies separate from other state governments and the U.S. government.\ \ The following text is about the state constitutions and Articles of Confederation. Pay attention to the way the notes are formatted and how only the important text was filled out.\ **\ Directions**: Before you read, write the lesson name on the blank at the top of the Lesson Note-Taking Organizer and copy the comprehension question(s) from that slide into the Comprehension Questions box. As you read through the lesson text, outline the section and define key words and people in the Notes section on the right. Write the answers to the comprehension questions as you find them in the reading. When you review your notes later, identify the main idea from each section of your notes and add those in the Main Concept sections on the left. Then briefly summarize the entire page of notes in the Summary space at the bottom. Continue this on a new page for each of the Instruction slides of the lesson. Finally, write the questions provided on the Activity and Review slides in the Lesson Activity and Review section and answer them using the notes you take.\ \ Select the link to access A Weak Confederation Lesson Note-Taking Organizer.\ \  [A Weak Confederation Lesson Note-Taking Organizer](https://www.connexus.com/content/media/1861213-4122016-82746-AM-1426008052.docx)\ \ Before you read the text, preview the following comprehension questions that have been provided for you on the first page of your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer. Use the text to help you answer them. 1. What was a strength of the Articles of Confederation? 2. What was Maryland's demand before agreeing to the Articles of Confederation? Use your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer to take notes on the information as you read.\ \ Access Topic 4: A Constitution for the United States, Lesson 1: A Weak Confederation in *American History*. Read Each State Creates a Constitution and The Articles of Confederation. \ \ Now check your answers to the questions about the reading. If you don't already have the correct answers in your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer, cross out the incorrect answers and replace them with the correct answers **Disagreements and Concerns ** In addition to the disputes over the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, other states argued that there was not a strong central government to help resolve conflicts among the states. National debt was also a concern and without a central government to enforce the payment of taxes, many states refused. Congress found success, however, in the laws passed that outlined how to establish and govern land in the area known as the Northwest Territory.\ \ Under the Northwest Ordinance, the Northwest Territory would be divided into different territories. Congress would appoint a governor to oversee each territory. Each territory earned greater political power as its population grew. With this process, each territory had a clear path to statehood. Each territory could elect a territorial legislature once the territory had 5,000 voters. Once a territory elected its own legislature, a representative of the territory was sent to the national Congress. Although that representative could not vote with the Congress, the territory would have a voice in the national government. A territory took the next step to statehood when the population reached 60,000 voters. Voters were always free men, not slaves or women. With 60,000 voters, the territorial legislature could submit a constitution to Congress. The constitution would lay the foundation for the government of a state. If Congress approved the constitution, the territory could become a new state.\ \ The Northwest Ordinance ensured that all new states coming into the Union would enjoy equal status with all the states already in the Union. The Northwest Ordinance also banned slavery in any new territories and in states created in the Northwest Territory north of the Ohio River.\ \ Before you read the text, preview the following comprehension questions and copy them into the next topic of your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer. Use the text to help you answer them. 1. How did foreign countries take advantage of the weaknesses of the confederation? 2. What did the Land Ordinance of 1785 do? 3. What did the Northwest Ordinance do? 4. What was the requirement for a territory to be able to apply for admission to the nation as a new state? Use your Lesson Note-taking Organizer to take notes on the information as you read, following the example provided for you in the previous slide.\ \ Access Topic 4: A Constitution for the United States, Lesson 1: A Weak Confederation in *American History*. Read Weaknesses of Confederation and An Orderly Expansion.\ \ Now check your answers to the questions about the reading. If you don't already have the correct answers in your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer, cross out the incorrect answers and replace them with the correct answers. **A Need for Change** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |   | | | | 8 | | | | During Shays's Rebellion, a group\ | |  of farmers attacked courthouses. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ The United States experienced a fiscal crisis (or economic depression) shortly after the Revolutionary War. The major causes of the Depression of 1785 were a drop in prices for goods and services, a decrease in trade between the states, and a decrease in trade between the United States and other nations.\ \ The causes of the Depression actually began during the Revolutionary War. Congress borrowed huge amounts of money from France to finance the war. Congress printed money, but it was worthless, and therefore the United States was unable to pay its war debts. This affected trade, and the country went into an economic depression. To make things worse, the Articles of Confederation did not allow the Continental Congress to collect taxes. The government relied on monetary donations from the states. In effect, Congress had to beg the states for money.\ \ Other problems arose when people attempted to trade between states. For instance, a South Carolina farmer who sold his crops in Massachusetts would be paid in Massachusetts money. But the farmer had no use for Massachusetts money after he returned to South Carolina. On top of that, states tried to tax each other! Many states imposed import duties, or taxes, on any goods from other states. The Massachusetts buyer might have to pay taxes to buy goods from South Carolina. As a result, trade between the states failed. All these factors only helped to worsen the Depression.\ \ The lack of a centralized government left Congress helpless to resolve the economic situation. Congress was unable to impose any rules that might help the economy. Furthermore, countries such as France demanded repayment of Revolutionary War debts from the United States. Some nervous citizens began to wonder if the idea of independence had been a mistake. In Canada, British officials waited for an opportunity to return to the U.S. and resume control. Clearly, the federal government had to reform its structures and its relationships with the states.\ \ The economic issues of the postwar era came to a climax in Massachusetts in 1786. Many small farmers struggled to keep their farms during the Depression. Others lost their farms and ended up in debtors\' prison. A group of Massachusetts farmers finally made it very clear how bad things were in the country. Driven by anger and despair, Daniel Shays, a former Continental army captain, led the farmers in protest in what became known as Shays's Rebellion.\ \ In January, 1787, Shays led nearly 2,000 followers into Springfield, Massachusetts. The mob marched to the courthouse to prevent any more foreclosures on local farms. Shays and his group arrived in Springfield and ordered the members of the state supreme court to go home. Next, Shays and his men attempted to take the Springfield arsenal, where the state\'s weapons were kept. The Massachusetts militia came in to keep Shays\'s men from seizing the arsenal. Eventually the militia would capture many of the men involved in the rebellion, and Daniel Shays fled to Vermont after being condemned to death. Several years later, the state of Massachusetts pardoned most of the farmers, including Shays.\ \ There are two important lessons to learn from Shays\'s Rebellion. First, the uprising revealed the deep extent of the economic troubles facing the nation. Second, the rebellion cast light on the limited powers of the national congress. Congress was unable to adequately respond to the economic crisis. If the government had been able to restore the economy, men like Daniel Shays might never have left their farms in protest. Leaders in the states and in Congress realized it was time to change the structure of government before the nation collapsed.\ \ Before you read the text, preview the following comprehension questions and copy them into the next topic of your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer. Use the text to help you answer them.   1. How did the Depression impact farmers? 2. What prompted Americans to realize that the Articles of Confederation were not working? Use your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer to take notes on the information as you read.\ \ Access Topic 4: A Constitution for the United States, Lesson 1: A Weak Confederation in *American History*. Read Economic Problems Lead to Change.\ \ Now check your answers to the questions about the reading. If you don't already have the correct answers in your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer, cross out the incorrect answers and replace them with the correct answers. **Complete the following activities.** 1. Select the link to access the Two-Column Chart. Using text evidence, complete the chart by listing the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Across the top row, insert the column headers Strengths and Weaknesses. Then complete the chart by listing the strengths of the Articles on the left, and the weaknesses on the right. After you complete the chart, answer the following question in your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer: - How did the weaknesses of the central government under the Articles of Confederation contribute to the nation's problems after independence? Use details from the text to support your answer.  [Two-Column Chart](https://www.connexus.com/content/media/1296460-8262015-103801-AM-1735614305.pdf) 2. Select the link to access the Claims to Western Lands Interactive Map from the Realize™ website. In your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer, answer the following question: - Why do you think smaller states thought that larger states with western lands would become too powerful?  [Claims to Western Land Interactive Map](https://www.connexus.com/extra/ThirdPartyProviders/Pearson/AHMG/Interactive_Maps/A0156062/A0156062/player.html)\ \ Select the link to access the Claims to Western Lands Text Version.  [Claims to Western Lands Text Version](https://www.connexus.com/content/render.aspx?idDocument=7010929) 3. Select the link to access the Problems and Effects of Articles of Confederation Interactive Chart from the Realize™ website.\ \  [Problems and Effects of Articles of Confederation Interactive Chart](https://www.connexus.com/extra/ThirdPartyProviders/Pearson/AHMG/Interactive_Charts/A0156063/A0156063/player.html)\ \ Select the link to access the Problems and Effects of the Articles of Confederation Text Version.  [Problems and Effects of the Articles of Confederation Text Version](https://www.connexus.com/content/render.aspx?idDocument=7010927) 4. Copy the following questions into your Lesson Note-Taking Organizer. Then answer the questions based on what you learned in this lesson. - Describe two events that highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that prompted leaders from several states to call for a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. - Why do you think the early leaders of the nation adopted such a weak system of government like the Articles of Confederation? - How did the leaders of the fledgling nation react when they realized that the Articles of Confederation weren't working well?