Articles of ConfederationWeaknesses

January 13, 2015

SWBAT list the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation by completing a gallery walk.

Materials• INB• Pencil• highlighter

HW check: • Guiding questions p.20

ToC• Topic: Articles of

Confederation

Vocabulary p.21Gallery Walk p.22Guiding questions p.23HW p.24

Today in HistoryJanuary 13

• 1999 - Michael Jordan announced his second retirement from the NBA. He would "unretire" again in 2001.

• 2004 - Joseph Darby, a U.S. soldier at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, reported U.S. abuses of Iraqi prisoners to the Army's Criminal Investigations Division..

• 2010 – Two days after a powerful

7.0 magnitude quake in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, thousands of people are feared dead.

Do NowWhen the Minutemen faced the British Redcoats at the start of the Battle of Lexington, why did their captain yell, “Don’t fire unless fired upon”?a. He wanted to hear the “shot heard round the world.”b. He wanted to defend against attack, not start a war.c. He wanted to reserve ammunition for future conflicts.d. He wanted to lure his enemies peaceably back to Boston.When the Minutemen faced the Redcoats at the Battle of Lexington, their captain yelled, “Don’t fire unless fired upon” because . . . .

Problems with the Articles of Confederation p. 21

The Articles of Confederation were able to unify the colonies enough to wage war and create a treaty.

However, following the war the new country was burdened with debt. This was one of the many problems the United States faced that the Articles did not have a solution to because of the weak central government.

Station 1• Directions: Paste this page onto p.21 of your INB. Draw a

picture to illustrate the definition of each vocabulary word on the bottom of p.21

Station 1 Vocabulary1. Currency: a system of money in general use in a particular country2. Authority: the power or right to make decisions3. Inflation: a general increase in prices and fall in purchasing value of money4. Exchange rates: the value of currency for the purpose of conversion to another5. Trade: the action of buying goods and services

Raise your hand for a stamp to start station 2

Station 2

• Station 2: Gallery Walk (Examples) Directions: Paste this handout onto p.22 Walk around the room to gather information about this weakness of the Articles of Confederation. On the handout bullet point enough information to answer the guiding questions.

• Answer the questions using complete sentences on p.23 of your INB.

1. Debt

During the American revolution the U.S. had to rely on European loans from Spain, France, and the Netherlands.

The U.S. borrowed over $10 million during the war.

2. Inflation

• During the American Revolution coin circulation began to wane, so the U.S. began to print paper money and bills of credit to raise income.

3. Lack of Authority

The Articles of Confederation authorized Congress to mint and issue currency, it did not prevent or discourage the individual states from issuing their own currencies.

4. Trade Barriers

• This led to widely different values of currency from state to state.

• States would create high taxes on goods from other states in order to protect their local economy.

5. Trade Barriers• Congress could not

regulate interstate commerce. This led to much confusion relating to exchange rates and trade; some states accepted the currency of others, while other states refused to honor bills issued by their counterparts.

6. Lack of Authority• The Congress had to rely

on the states for its funding.

• Since it could not forcibly collect taxes, the states could grant or withhold money and force Congress to accept their demands.

Money, what money?

7. Inflation• Because it could not

collect taxes, Congress printed paper dollars. This policy, however, absolutely wrecked the economy because of an overabundance of paper dollars, which had lost almost all value.

Remember this picture from last year?Explain it to Mr. Booms for a merit.

8. Debt

• As a result of inflation an economic depression occurred. The U.S. owed too much money and no one would lend money to the U.S because they had a weak central government.

• Even more people fell into

debt because of the easy availability of credit.

Homework p.24

1. Complete the graphic organizer:What was the main idea of today’s lesson? What are four examples of evidence that you have to support the main idea?

2. Make a prediction 3-4 sentences: What do you think will happen next? What will Congress do? What will the citizens of the new country do?

Main Idea

Example 1

Example 2

Example 4

Example 3