Were the Articles of Confederation So Bad?
SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS AND C3 TEACHERS 4th Grade Articles of Confederation Were the Articles of Confederation so bad?
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union Library of Congress Alexander Purdie
Supporting Questions
1. What are the Articles of Confederation? 2. What were the Articles strengths? 3. What were the Articles weaknesses?
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Were the Articles of Confederation so bad?
Tennessee Social 4.37 Weaknesses of Articles of Confederation, including no power to tax, weak central government, and Studies Standards the impact of Shay’s Rebellion. Staging the Discuss the ways that the Articles of Confederation are perceived today. Compelling Question
Supporting Question 1 Supporting Question 2 Supporting Question 3 What are the Articles of What were the Articles strengths? What were the Articles weaknesses? Confederation?
Formative Performance Task Formative Performance Task Formative Performance Task
List the powers described in Articles Write a paragraph explaining the Write a paragraph explaining the of Confederation strengths of the Articles of weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation Confederation Featured Sources* Featured Sources* Featured Sources* Source A: The Articles of Source A: “The Articles of Source A: “10 reasons why America’s Confederation and Perpetual Union Confederation: The First Constitution first constitution failed,” an essay of the United States,” a blog post from the National Constitution Center from Caitlyn at the Library of Congress
ARGUMENT. Construct an argument (e.g., detailed outline, poster, essay) that addresses the compelling question using specific claims and relevant evidence from historical sources while acknowledging competing Summative views. Performance Task EXTENSION. Design an information graphic depicting both sides of the argument about the Articles of Confederation.
UNDERSTAND. Examine a local, state, national or state law or public policy that is through to be problematic Taking or poorly functioning. Informed ASSESS. Determine how the law or policy might be change and how people might be information about these Action potential changes. ACT. Share a plan for changing the law or policy in a public forum or online.
*Featured sources are suggested and links are provided. It may be that these links are broken and we apologize in advance for the inconvenience.
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Overview
Inquiry Description This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the Articles of Confederation focusing on the good and bad of the document. Students will read portions of the Articles and examine sources that point out the good and bad. The compelling question is written in such a way that acknowledges the generally accepted negative interpretation of the Articles of Confederation, so staging the question to help students understand this is important. This this inquiry highlights a 4th grade Tennessee standard that follows along with this negative view of the Articles of Confederation. It is important to note that students will benefit if they have an understanding of the colonial period and some of the tensions that had been building between the colonies and the government in England.
Note: This inquiry is expected to take two to three 40-minute class periods. The inquiry time frame could expand if teachers think their students need additional instructional experiences (e.g., supporting questions, formative performance tasks, featured sources, writing). Teachers are encouraged to adapt the inquiry to meet the needs and interests of their particular students. This inquiry lends itself to differentiation and modeling of historical thinking skills while assisting students in reading the variety of sources. Resources can also be modified as necessary to meet individualized education programs (IEPs) or Section 504 Plans for students with disabilities.
Structure of the Inquiry In addressing the compelling question “Were the Articles of Confederation so bad? students will have an opportunity to learn about this foundational document by reading excerpts from the Articles. They will examine the positive and negative aspects of the system of government created. Among other things, the negative aspect of the Articles of Confederation included the reality that the new national government no power to tax and thus was unable to fund the initiative that those in power thought were essential to growing the new nation. The weak central government and limited authority to require states to abide by the rules of the Confederation contributed to the crisis of Shay’s Rebellion. At the same time, the government under the Confederation successfully prosecuted the war effort, defeating British forces and establishing the Untied States as a new nation. The successes of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the Land Ordinance of 1784, and the North West Ordinance of 1785 are evidence that the government under the Articles of Confederation was productive in some important ways.
THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 4.0 INTERNATIONAL LICENSE. 1 ARKANSAS C3 TEACHERS HUB Staging the Compelling Question
The compelling question asks if the often-maligned Articles of Confederation might not have been so bad. Approaching the study of the Articles of Confederation from this perspective might intrigued students who may want to think differently about the content they are learning in social studies. Since this will likely be the first time that students have learned about the Articles of Confederation, it will be important to help students understand the general perception of the document. In the staging task, teachers might prompt students with text or an image that suggest the Articles of Confederation were a failure. Students might also ask adults what they think of the Articles of Confederation and bring those responses to class for this staging task. Again, the idea to help students understand general perceptions.
Teacher Notes: Teachers may use this cartoon to prompt students’ introduction to the negative portrayal of the Articles of Confederation. There are lots of version of this cartoon online, just search “Articles of Confederation rough seas ahead.”
Supporting Question 1
The first supporting question asks, what are the Articles of Confederation? Students are asked to read the text of the Articles of Confederation and make a list of the powers described in the document.
The source for this supporting question is the full text of the Articles of Confederation. The document is organized as 13 Articles detailing the rules for establishing and maintaining the national government of the colonies. The text is, as a whole, as long and complex. Students will very likely struggle to read all of the text. Teachers may adopt different strategies to support students’ engagement with the text. Excerpts may be pulled from the document. One strategy is to take the first few sentences from the longer sections to reduce the overall number of words. Teachers may choose to machine edit the text using resources such as Rewordify (https://rewordify.com/). Students may be grouped to read individual articles and then share across groups. Oral or machine audio reading might also be an option.
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• Featured Source A is the Articles of Confederation. A full text version of the document is available at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/artconf.asp
Supporting Question 2
The second supporting question is, what were the Articles strengths? This question is often not asked in social studies. By asking it here, students are provided an opportunity to think past conventional ways of thinking and begin to form their own informed understanding of the Articles of Confederation.
The source for this supporting question was selected to provide students with access to information about the positive aspects of the Articles of Confederation. • Featured Source A is a blog post by Christine Sellers from Library of Congress. In this post, Sellers describes some of the positive aspects of the Articles of Confederation. The blog post is available online at https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2011/09/the-articles-of-confederation-the-first-constitution-of-the-united- states/
Supporting Question 3
The third supporting question is, what were the Articles weaknesses? Students examine a list of weakness and synthesize what they have read by writing a paragraph about those weaknesses.
The following source was selected to provide students a broad overview of the weakness of the Articles of Confederation. • Featured Source A is a short essay from the National Constitution Center titled, “10 reasons why America’s first constitution failed.” The essay is available online at https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/10-reasons-why-americas-first-constitution-failed
Summative Performance Task
At this point in the inquiry, students have examined the actual Articles of Confederation and have looked into the strengthens and weaknesses of the document.
Students should be expected to demonstrate the breadth of their understandings and their abilities to use evidence from multiple sources to support their claims. In this task, students will make an argument about whether the Articles of Confederation were such a bad thing.
Students’ arguments will likely vary, but could include any of the following:
THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 4.0 INTERNATIONAL LICENSE. 3 ARKANSAS C3 TEACHERS HUB ● The Articles of Confederation were bad for the new nation because the national government was too weak. ● The Articles of Confederation were good for the new nation because important things were accomplished. ● The Articles of Confederation were a mixed bag with some good and some bad.
To extend their arguments, students may make an infographic that synthesizes multiple arguments and represents the variety of views that they may have on the Articles of Confederation.
Students have the opportunity to Take Informed Action by examining a local, state, national or state law or public policy that is through to be problematic or poorly functioning. Student may then work to determine how the law or policy might be change and how people might be information about these potential changes. Finally, student can share a plan for changing the law or policy in a public forum or online.
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