1. Topic: Forming a New Nation Essential Question: How is the Constitution superior to the Articles of Confederation?

2.  Articles of Confederation  America’s 1 st constitution  Adopted during the Revolutionary War (1777)  Weaknesses:  States had more power than the federal (national) government

3.  Weaknesses:  States had more power than the federal (national) government  Congress could not:  Tax  Regulate trade  No national court system  No system of checks and balances

4.  No national court system  No system of checks and balances  Critical Period (1781-1789)  Period between the end of the Revolutionary War and the Ratification of the Constitution  Problems with:  Debt  Foreign affairs  Rebellions

5.  Foreign affairs  Rebellions  Shays’ Rebellion  Rebellion of farmers in rural Massachusetts (1786)  Showed the failure of the Articles of Confederation ShaysShattuck

6.  Discuss  The Articles of Confederation  The Critical Period  Write a sentence describing why Shays’ Rebellion was important  Rebellion of farmers in rural Massachusetts (1786)  Showed the failure of the Articles of Confederation

7.  Rebellion of farmers in rural Massachusetts (1786)  Showed the failure of the Articles of Confederation  Constitutional Convention  James Madison  Author of the Virginia Plan  Based on Montesquieu’s ideas  “Father of the Constitution”

8.  Based on Montesquieu’s ideas  “Father of the Constitution”  George Washington  President of the Constitutional Convention

9.  George Washington  President of the Constitutional Convention  Important compromises  Great Compromise  Proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut  Compromise between large and small states

10.  Proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut  Compromise between large and small states  Representation in the House of Representatives:  Determined by population  Representation in the Senate:  2 per state

11.  Representation in the Senate:  2 per state  Three-fifths Compromise  Designed to get southern states to agree to the Constitution  Each slave counted as 3/5 of a free person for both taxation and representation

12.  Designed to get southern states to agree to the Constitution  Each slave counted as 3/5 of a free person for both taxation and representation  The Constitution  The U.S.’s formal plan of government  The supreme law of the land  Based on Madison’s Virginia Plan

13.  The supreme law of the land  Based on Madison’s Virginia Plan  Unified the states  Created a strong national government and a national court system

14.  Unified the states  Created a strong national government and a national court system  A “living document”  Amendments  Elastic Clause

15.  Amendments  Elastic Clause  Signed in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787

16.  Discuss  James Madison  George Washington  Compromises  The Constitution  Write a sentence describing one of the following:  James Madison’s importance  How the Constitution is a “living document”  Elastic Clause  Signed in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787

17.  Elastic Clause  Signed in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787  Ratifying the Constitution  Federalists  People who supported the ratification (approval) of the Constitution  Wanted a strong national government Alexander Hamilton James Madison

18.  People who supported the ratification (approval) of the Constitution  Wanted a strong national government  Anti-Federalists  People who opposed the ratification of the Constitution  Two main reasons:  Some wanted stronger state and local government  Some wanted a bill of rights Patrick Henry George Mason

19.  Some wanted stronger state and local government  Some wanted a bill of rights  Federalist Papers  Essays that supported:  A strong national government  Ratification

20.  A strong national government  Ratification  Written by:  James Madison  Alexander Hamilton  John Jay

21.  Alexander Hamilton  John Jay  Bill of Rights  The first ten amendments to the Constitution  Some states refused to ratify the Constitution without it

22.  The first ten amendments to the Constitution  Some states refused to ratify the Constitution without it  Written by James Madison in 1789  Added to the Constitution in 1791

23.  Discuss  The Federalists  The Anti-Federalists  The Federalist Papers  The Bill of Rights  Write a sentence comparing the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists  Written by James Madison in 1789  Added to the Constitution in 1791