Foundations of American Government

UNIT II FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

Lesson 3 Why was the U.S. Constitution written? What are the main ideas and principles of the U.S. Constitution, including the Preamble? SS.7.C.1.5 Identify how the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation led to the writing of the Constitution. SS.7.C.1.6: Interpret the intentions of the Preamble of the Constitution.

Source Adapted from lessons from the Center for the Teaching of American History at Binghamton University, http://ctah.binghamton.edu/coville/coville1.html

Overview In this lesson, students will explore the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, before being introduced to the main ideas and principles of the US Constitution, including the Preamble. Students will become experts on a particular principle of the Constitution and then work to teach their classmates about that principle.

Objectives  Students will discuss the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.  Students will identify the six goals of the Preamble.  Students will become experts on a particular principle of the Constitution.  Students will identify the main ideas and principles of the Constitution and uncover their specific source.

Time  Three 50 minute class periods

Passport Vocabulary  Federalism o A form of government in which power is divided and shared between national, state, and local government  Limited government o People give power to the government, the government’s power is not unlimited; in accordance with natural rights philosophy, a system restricted to protecting natural rights that does not interfere with other aspects of life  Individual rights o Specific rights that belong to each person, such as those listed in the Bill of Rights

1  Popular sovereignty o The natural rights concept that ultimate political authority rests with the people

 Separation of Powers o The division of powers among the different branches of government. In the United States, powers are divided equally among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.  Checks and balances o The distribution and balancing of power among different branches of government so that no one branch is able to dominate the others.

Strategies  Cooperative learning  Critical reading

Materials  Copies of “7 Main Principles” worksheet, 1 per student (see below)  Copies of the United States Constitution, 1 per student (see PDF file with this lesson)  Video Clip – Barney Fife reciting the Preamble http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=16465  Video Clip – “We the People” – School House Rock http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/schoolhouse-rock-election-collection.html#15039

Activities Day One 1. When the students enter the classroom, have them look at the following quote, which should already be written on the front board, and write down what they think it means. “The states during this period (1783-1787) were held together by a rope of sand.” George Washington Call on students to share with the class what they think. Then explain how this quote applies to the Articles of Confederation.

2. Organize students into groups of four. Have them imagine that the class is stranded on a small island without any adults or hope of being rescued in the foreseeable future. The students in each group will form an organized government that will run the island. While they are doing this, have them consider the following questions: o Who will be the leaders of the island? o What kind of defense will you have? o How will disputes be settled? o How will you make sure everyone is treated fairly? o Who will be in charge of food supplies?

3. When groups have completed this task, ask them general questions about how they came to their decisions. These questions should include: o How did you choose a leader? 2 o What process did you use in making these laws? o When making these laws, was there conflict or arguing? If so, how was it resolved? o Did you have to make any compromises? Students should then be asked to decide which group produced the best form of government. By having students judge each other’s decisions, flaws in the governments can be detected and discussed.

4. At this point in the lesson, use direct instruction to give a general overview of the Articles of Confederation. Try to do this in a way that you think that they will easily understand. Explain that the Articles of Confederation had major problems. Give a brief overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles, including the following: Strengths: first central government of the United States; ability to borrow money and operate a military with the support of the states; major legislation included the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance (1787) which banned slavery in the west and created a process to admit new states to the Union Weaknesses: central government had no executive or judicial branches; each state printed its own currency; central government could not control trade between states, raise taxes without consent of states, or raise a national military

5. Project the license plate version of “The Preamble” and ask students to try to write down (in regular words) what it says. Then ask students to try to locate seven goals found within the Preamble. When they have completed this, project the regularly written form of the Preamble with the seven goals highlighted in different colors. Then play “Preamble” by Schoolhouse Rock (http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/schoolhouse-rock-election- collection.html#15039). One by one, discuss what each of the goals of the Preamble means.

Days Two and Three

1. All students read over the “7 Main Principles” worksheet (summaries of 7 basic principles of the Constitution).

2. Students should fill in the summary column of the attached chart.

3. Split students into 7 groups, and assign each expert group one of the 7 basic principles.

4. Expert Groups – Instruct students to work with group members to find where their assigned basic principle is located in the Constitution. It may be in there more than once. It might not be stated in exactly the same words. Students should read carefully and discuss it within their group.

5. Instruct students to fill in the worksheet for their Expert Group assignment.

6. When Expert Groups have finished their work, set up rotation for cooperative teaching groups. Round Robin or jigsaw will work (depending on sizes of groups).

7. Each expert will teach their material to those assigned to different expert group topics.

3 8. Students will fill in their charts as they discuss each of the 7 Basic Principles of the Constitution.

Extension Suggestion Have students work in pairs to create political cartoons showing one of the basic principles of the U.S. Constitution that they learned from their peers (in other words, students should not draw a political cartoon of their own expert group principle).

4 CENTER FOR THE TEACHING OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Where did you find the Principle stated in the Give a direct Summary -- Constitution? It quote from In your own 7 Basic may be there the words -- Principles more than once. Constitution Explain the List the page showing basic numbers to help proof. Principle. you find it again later.

Popular

Sovereignty

Limited

Government

Separation of

Powers

Checks and

Balances

Federalism

Republicanism

Individual

Rights

5 TEACHER CONTENT KNOWLEDGE RESOURCE

UNIT II FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

Lesson 3 Why was the U.S. Constitution written? What are the main ideas and principles of the U.S. Constitution, including the Preamble? SS.7.C.1.5 Identify how the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation led to the writing of the Constitution. SS.7.C.1.6: Interpret the intentions of the Preamble of the Constitution.

Passport Vocabulary  Federalism o A form of government in which power is divided and shared between national, state, and local government  Limited government o People give power to the government, the government’ power is not unlimited; in accordance with natural rights philosophy, a system restricted to protecting natural rights that does not interfere with other aspects of life.  Individual rights o Specific rights that belong to each person, such as those listed in the Bill of Rights.  Popular sovereignty o The natural rights concept that ultimate political authority rests with the people.  Republicanism o The form of government in which the supreme political power resides in the people who are qualified to vote; government is carried out by representatives who are responsible to the people.  Separation of Powers o The division of powers among the different branches of government. In the United States, powers are divided equally among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.  Checks and balances o The distribution and balancing of power among different branches of government so that no one branch is able to dominate the others.

This document addresses the following issues:

1. The core components of the Articles of Confederation 6 2. The main ideas and principles of the U.S. Constitution 3. The U.S. Constitution as the solution to the Articles of Confederation

1. The core components of the Articles of Confederation

The first government of the United States following the Declaration of Independence was the Articles of Confederation. A confederation is a state-centered, decentralized government where the primary powers of government are held at the state level. The Declaration of Independence spoke of the many abuses of King George III, who, as a monarch, ruled over the executive, legislative and judiciary powers of the government. In the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson stated that both King George III and the form of government in place at the time both failed to protect the colonists’ “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” The unitary government, one that centralized the legislative, executive and judicial powers, was unacceptable to the colonists when they sought to create a government after declaring their independence from the British crown.

The colonists decided to create a government that was quite different from a unitary system where the powers of government were concentrated in a single person. This decentralized system reflected the colonists’ fear of a powerful central government. Under the Articles of Confederation, states retained their freedom and independence. Each of the 13 states had a vote in the weak national Congress (appointed by the state governments), while a vote of all 9 states was required in order to pass any laws and a unanimous vote of all 13 states was required for the Articles to be amended. The national Congress was also denied the power to tax, so it could not pay for the army and navy needed to defend the nation.

The result of this decentralized approach was that each state functioned in many ways as an independent country. Several states negotiated their own trade agreements with those countries that the king had previously convinced not to have a relationship with the colonies, while other states established their own militaries. The result of these state actions was that the states did not function as a nation. Fears emerged that 13 states functioning as independent countries would make the nation vulnerable.

Together the lack of powers held by the weak national Congress coupled with each state’s independent and often conflicting actions, raised concerns that the Articles of Confederation were not designed in a way to protect the new nation.

Adding to these concerns was Shays Rebellion, when 2000 western Massachusetts farmers marched on county courthouses to prevent land foreclosures. The farmers’ land was threatened with foreclosure because they were assured that they did not have to pay taxes and other debts on their land during the Revolutionary War. These promises were not kept, which prompted the farmers to revolt in 1786. Congress would not respond because it was too weak and did not have its own army.

Shays’ Rebellion prompted representatives from five states to meet in Annapolis, Maryland in February 1787 to call for a constitutional convention of all 13 states the following

7 May in Philadelphia. Congress stated that the purpose of this May convention was “the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.”

2. The main ideas and principles of the U.S. Constitution

The delegates attending the constitutional convention (Rhode Island did not send a delegate) in Philadelphia ignore Congress’ instructions. It was the delegates’ goal to create a new government that respected the will of the people (missing from the unitary system under King George III) while creating a strong central government (missing from the decentralized government).

The founders accomplished these goals by creating several government structures that together gave the people a voice in government, limited government power and respected that the national and state governments would have both separate and shared powers. These structures included:

a) The Great Compromise: The Great Compromise created a bicameral (bi=two, camera=chamber) or two house legislature. The New Jersey plan, which would have given each state equal representation in the legislature, was reflected in creating the Senate, where each state is represented by two members regardless of size. The Virginia plan, where the states were represented in the national legislature based on each state’s population, was reflected in creating the House of Representatives, where each state is represented based on its population with the proviso that each state was guaranteed one representative even if that state was smaller than a typical congressional district. The Great Compromise brought these two ideas together, where the Congress combined the House of Representatives and the Senate insuring that each state was represented equally and based on its population.

b) The North-South Compromise: Southern states were concerned that the northern states would enjoy more representation because they had larger populations when compared with the white population in several southern states. The southern states were concerned that the northern states would impose unfair taxes on them, while the south would also be disadvantaged by the northern industrial interests.

The North-South Compromise, also called the Three-Fifths Compromise, addressed these concerns by counting slaves in the population count for purposes of representation. The southern states would be allowed to count each slave as three-fifths of a person. The result changed the south’s representation in the House of Representatives. Without counting slaves, the southern states would have 35% of the seats in the House of Representatives; when counting slaves, the southern states enjoyed 45% of all seats in the House of Representatives.

c) Separation of Powers: The new system separated legislative, executive and judiciary powers into three separate branches of government. This insured that power would not be concentrated in one place as it had been under King George III. Members of each branch served for different terms of office, had to meet different qualifications, were selected through different means (the U.S. Senate was selected by state legislatures until the 17th amendment (1913)), and could not serve in more than one branch at the same time (One exception: The Vice-President

8 serves as the President of the Senate and breaks ties in the Senate. The Vice-President is not elected to the Senate).

d) Checks and Balances: Checks and balances insured that no branch of government would function without influence by at least one other branch of government. This approach insured that independent powers held by each branch would not be abused. Checks and balances take different forms for different forms of government. For example, the president may veto an act passed by Congress, while the president may appoint members of the U.S. Supreme Court with the approval (“advice and consent”) of the Senate. The principle of checks and balances was further enhanced in 1803 when the U.S. Supreme Court gave itself the power of judicial review in Marbury v. Madison.

3. The U.S. Constitution as the Solution to the Articles of Confederation (graphic)

Problem with the Articles of Constitutional Solution Confederation Power of the National Government The Supremacy Clause (Article VI) A Stronger Congress (Article I) No Power to Collect Taxes An Expressed Power (Article I, Section 8) No Power over Interstate and Foreign An Expressed Power plus the Power to Commerce Regulate Instruments of Commerce (Bankruptcy, Coining Money, Enforcing Patents and Copyrights, etc). No Mandatory Power to Raise an Army An Expressed Power (Article I, Section 8) National Government had only Specific, Congress given Implied Powers (Article I, Limited Powers Section 8, Clause 18) The “Necessary and Proper” Clause No Independent Executive A President Chosen Indirectly by Voters (Article II) Enforcement of National Laws dependent Establishment of a Supreme Court and on State Courts Grant of Power to Establish Lower National Courts (Article III) The Amendment Process Liberalized Amendment Rules

What Might Break The Solution Too Much Power Federalism Separation of Powers “Separate Institutions Sharing Power” Bicameralism Differing Terms Differing Means of Selection, thus Differing Constituencies Differing Formal Qualifications Checks and Balances

REFERENCES

9 Edling, Max M. A Revolution in Favor of Government. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Hardin, Russell. Liberalism, Constitutionalism, and Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Holcombe, Randall G. From Liberty to Democracy. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2002.