1. Chapter 8 The Constitution By: Ashley, Jacob, and Christian

2. Lesson 1 The Constitutional Convention

3. Reasons for Change In the 1780’s, a lot of the Americans were poor from all of the taxes. Poor farmers refused to let the courts meet. Leaders of the states argued about the national government. Patrick Henry argued that the reason that they fought the British was because they did not want a strong government ruling them. In 1787, most of thy states except Rhode Island sent representatives to a convention in Philadelphia. Their goal was to change the Articles of Confederation.

4. The Work Begins George Washington was chose to be the leader of the Constitutional Convention. Delegates liked to have private discussions so they could speak freely about every thing. Some delegates wanted a strong government, and others wanted the states have more power to the states. The Constitution became the supreme law of the land.

5. A Major Debate A lot of the delegates disagreed often. Virginia delegates created a plan called the Virginia Plan. William Paterson accused the Virginia plan of “ striking the existence of the lesser states”. The larger states could pass more laws because they could get more votes. The New Jersey Plan, passed by William Paterson, said the small states had the same amount of representatives as the larger states.

6. Working Together For a longtime, delegates argued about how the states should be represented. The Connecticut Compromise was based on the two- house congress idea. Both houses in the two-house congress had to each approve of each bill before it could be official. Only the house with representation could propose tax bills.

7. Compromises for Slavery Population effected the representation of the states. Southern delegates wanted to count the enslaved African Americans when figuring how many representatives the state needed. Northern delegates disagreed with counting slaves for states. Delegates finally agreed to count 3/5 of the slaves in the states in the number of the representatives in the states. Northern delegates were afraid that if the Constitution stopped the slavery in the Southern States, they would stop bringing in the slaves. Congress banned slavery trading with other countries, even though, slaves could still be bought.

8. Lesson 2 Three Branches of Government

9. The Preamble Gouverneur Morris was chosen to write the final copy of the Preamble. He started it with “ We the People of the United States…”. The Preamble was called the new Constitution by the conventional delegates. It explains the basic functions of the United States. The Preamble states that the government should establish justice, and to protect the states.0

10. The Legislative Branch The Three Branches are called: The Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, and Judicial Branch. The Legislative Branch is also known as the lawmaking branch. It gives powers to build armies and navies, declare war, and printing money. The Congress got divided into two groups: the House of Representatives and the Senate. In each senate, each state will only two senators. The House of Representatives can only have two-year terms, but the Senate can have 6-year terms.

11. The Executive Branch The Executive Branch enforces laws, which is the congress. Some delegates though having one executive would be too much like king. The person must always be at least 35 or more to be elected president. The president can also be a different culture as long as they lived in the states for 14 years. The president is elected for a 4-year term. The president had the power to reject bills. Delegates could remove the president from office if he was guilty of a crime.

12. The Judicial Branch The Judicial Branch decides whether the laws are working properly, the Judicial Branch is the judges in court. The Supreme Court was and still is the highest court of the United States. When the Supreme Court started there was only six judges, now there are nine. After time passed, delegates wanted to change the constitution. When amendments went nation-wide, ¾ of all the states had to approve of it. When they are just proposed to congress, 2/3 of the people have to vote.

13. Lesson 3 The Bill of Rights

14. The Struggle to Ratify On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was completed. 36 of the 39 delegates signed the constitution. Congress passed a law that made every one celebrate Constitution Day. The law was removed because the Articles of Confederation stated that 9 of the 13 states had to approve of it. Some delegates wanted to limit the Federal Governments power and restore power individually, while others wanted to make a bill that had the states rights on it.

15. The Vote of Approval All of the delegates in Delaware wanted to approve the Constitution. Federalists wanted a strong government, while anti-federalists wanted to have more power to the states and self-government. The thought of the Bill of Rights eased many peoples thoughts of the governments power in the future Rhode Island was the last to approve of the Constitution and finally approved in 1790.

16. The Bill of Rights The government promised ten amendments, or changes to the Constitution. These changes were put into a bill called the Bill of Rights. The first change gave any people freedom to choose religion or even no religion at all. The second change protected peoples right to be armed or carry weapons. The third change says the government can’t force the people to house the soldiers. The fourth change protected people from unfair searches. The fifth all the way through the eighth have to do with the law. The ninth change says that people have more rights than what is listed to the Constitution. The tenth change says the government can’t do anything that’s not listed in the Constitution.

17. The New Government 1789, George Washington had become the United States first president. John Adams was his assistant or called the vice president, and later became president. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson argued about the government, one wanted a strong government, which was Alexander, and the other wanted less of a central government. The reason this is so important is because it was the start of the political parties. In 1800, the nation moved to Washington, D.C. ad today that is known as the nation’s capital.

18. Lesson 4 A Constitutional Democracy

19. Sharing Powers The Constitution had to give the government power to govern the United States, so the constitution supplied the branches with different but equal powers. The branches had to work together to keep stuff in order but if the branches did not work together, then they couldn’t pass laws, they couldn’t make treaties, they couldn’t even use military power to defend the United States. The government takes care of stuff that change the United States every day. They keep our soldiers trained and well equipped for battle at all times, they support parks all around the world and help clean and protect it, it even runs programs to take care of children, the sick, and the elderly.

20. Checks and Balances Each branch of government had different powers which allowed them to look over each other. If one of the branches had to much power, it was the other branches responsibility to balance it out. This called “check and balance”. The president checks the power of the congress by rejecting the bill that the congress passed. Congress can check the presidents power by overriding the refusing of the president. The supreme court can check the congress by making new laws or unconstitutional actions of the government. ( all the branches check each other, this is just an example)

21. State Powers State governments are just as busy as the federal government. Their responsibilities include building and managing state highways and parks, overseeing public schools, colleges, and universities. The power of the state governments don’t have are listed in the constitution. They can’t create money, raise armies, or make treaties with other countries. They can’t even set up trade with other states unless arranged by the congress.

22. State and Local Governments The government has three stages( two of them we have already mentioned ), federal, the United States government, state, your state’s government, and local, your town or county’s government. They basically all have the same laws with taxes to pay for government services. The state governments and the local governments both have executive, judicial, and legislative. Although the state gets votes for representatives to represent their state.

23. Rights and Responsibilities Our government is based on four basic principles called justice, equality, responsibility, and freedom. The government gets all of it’s power from the people. All citizens can vote for their representatives and leaders. Some people even write letters to the leaders telling them what they want or expect from the government. Citizens can run for office if they want to, but if they do, they should have some experience of what they are in for before they decide to run. Some citizens also make flyers to hand out so they can try to convince people who to vote for.

24. Thank You We hope You enjoyed our presentation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jacob: slide animator and presenter Ashley: background creator Christian: computer wizard and PowerPoint typer