Content Objective: Students will discover the History of our Constitution. They will be able to distinguish the three branches of government.

Objectives: Objectives:

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Articles of Confederation Quiz History of the Constitution Charlie Brown Constitution movie

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They didn’t They didn’t want a want a strongstrong central central government government because of because of their bad their bad experiences experiences under British under British control.control.

It couldn’t pay the soldiers who

fought in the Revolutionary War.

This made them really angry with the new government.

It couldn’t repay France and Spain

for the money they loaned us.

This made them really angry with the new government. Sooo…..

Our “Founding Father” held another big meeting which they called the “Constitutional Convention.”

They held this convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

They elected George Washington to be the president of the convention.

What is a Constitution?

A plan for how a governmentwill work to do its job.

There were 2 BIG DEBATES!

1.How much power should they give thenew national government.

2. How would they have small states and large states represented that would be fair?

Articles of Confederation Quiz History of the Constitution Charlie Brown Constitution movie

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James Madison came up with

a plan called “The Virginia Plan.”

(Guess where he was from.)

This plan divided the power of the government

between the national and the state governments.

This sharing of power was called

a Federal System.

The Constitution of the United States

of America established a federal

system of government based on

power shared between the national

and state governments.

Structure of the Structure of the New National GovernmentNew National Government

How much power should they give thenew national government? (#1)

Three Separate Branches of Government

Legislative – Makes the Laws

Executive – Enforces the Laws

Judicial – Interprets the Laws

(Decides if laws are constitutional)

Checks and BalancesChecks and BalancesEach branch can check (or block)

the power of the other.

These checks keep any one branch

from gaining too much power.

The Great CompromiseThe Great CompromiseHow would they have small states and large states represented that would be fair? (#2)

The Legislative Branch would be divided into 2 parts (or “Houses”)

The Senate – Each state would have 2 senators

The House of Representatives – Based on population

Our governmentOur government

Signed and RatifiedSigned and RatifiedThe Constitution was signed at the end of the convention.

George Mason would not sign it until he was promised that amendments would be made to protect individual rights.

Nine of the 13 states had to vote in favor of the constitution for it to be ratified.

Ratified – Become the law.

Bill of Rights◦ James Madison was the author of the Bill of Rights.Based on George Mason’s

“Virginia Declaration of Rights”and

Thomas Jefferson’s “Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.”

◦ The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America guarantee individual rights (e.g., freedom of speech, freedom of religion).

Articles of Confederation Quiz History of the Constitution Charlie Brown Constitution movie

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