2. Why do you think our school has rules? Write three lines explaining why you think it is important to have rules to follow. Please share with a partner.

3. This newly declared nation needed a government to keep order and laws to govern it. The Continental Congress debated and argued about how the new government should work.

4. They finally created and approved a new set of laws called the Articles of Confederation in 1777 which created a new government.

5. Because the delegates were afraid of giving the government too much power like the king and Parliament had in Britain, the Articles formed a weak central government.

6. In the new government, there was no main leader or president. There was a congress, but it also had little power.

7. Why do you think the leaders of the new United States of America created a federal government that didn’t have much control or power over the people? Write three lines explaining your thinking. Share your thoughts with a partner.

8. The Continental Congress (now called the Congress of the Confederation) wanted the states to have more control over their citizens than the federal government.

9. On September 28, 1776, Pennsylvania created its own state constitution that set up the government for the state.

10. It created a one-house legislature, or law-making body, with representatives from each county.

11. It also listed the rights of all Pennsylvanians in the Declaration of Rights.

12. The founding fathers were very concerned with people’s rights. What is a right, and tell what you think is your most important right as a citizen of the United States of America, and why it is important to you?