Chaos in the Classroom! When a teacher doesn’t enforce the rules… What does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like?

Controlling a classroom… Is a lot like governing a country! Was our new independent American government able to keep control over the rowdy 13 states? Let’s find out today!

America After War When the American Revolution ended, and the United States of America had achieved independence, the founders of our nation had to figure out a plan of government. Their first idea for this plan was called the Articles of Confederation.

Fear of a Strong Government Because the newly independent states feared the possibility of a strong national government overpowering them and taking away their rights, the Articles of Confederation created a weak national government. They made sure it was weak by preventing the Congress from having any real power.

THINK-WRITE-PAIR-SHARE Why do you think Americans were afraid of having a national government that had too much power?

What could the national Congress do? Make war and peace Raise an army and navy Print money Create a postal system Why didn’t they have the power to do any of these things? Because they couldn’t impose (charge) taxes! The Congress could only get money by asking for donations from the state governments.

THINK-WRITE-PAIR-SHARE Do you think states wanted to give money donations to the national government? Explain.

Problems with a Weak Government In reality, none of the states wanted to give money to the national government, so Congress had no real power! What problems did this cause? States started to argue with each other about trade and taxes. Some states wanted to increase the amount of money they had by taxing goods that were bought from other states. This angered the other states because it hurt their economy! States also started to argue with each other about land boundaries. With all of this new territory in the west, people started to settle west and fight with each other over land claims.

THINK-WRITE-PAIR-SHARE Think back to your do-first. How is this situation similar to the teacher who didn’t enforce rules in her classroom?

The Articles weren’t ALL bad… Though Congress did not have the power to levy taxes, it did successfully pass laws to control land settlements in the west. This was a strength of the Articles of Confederation—under this plan of government, Congress was able to pass TWO important laws:

Law #1: The Land Ordinance of 1785 This was the law that gave guidelines on how split up western lands. All new western lands were divided into six-mile squares called “townships.”   The townships were divided into 36 sections of 640 acres each.   One section must be used to build a public school for the township.   The rest of the sections could be sold to settlers.  

Law #2: The Northwest Ordinance This was the law that gave guidelines on how new territories could become official states. Divided western lands into smaller territories, which each had a governor.   Once the territory had 5,000 free males, it could elect its own legislature (group of elected lawmakers)   When the territory population reached 60,000, it could write its own constitution and send it to Congress for approval.   If Congress approved the constitution, the territory would officially become a state.  

Today’s Key Ideas! In your own words, summarize TWO strengths and TWO weaknesses of our first plan of government, the Articles of Confederation: STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES  

Strength + Weakness Foldable! Take a look at the teacher example foldable. Use your foldable template to fold along the dashed lines. Once you have folded it correctly, the foldable should have two flaps with a black line down the middle when you open up the flaps.

Make your Cover! 5 minutes On the LEFT flap, write “Articles of Confederation Strengths.” On the RIGHT flap, write “Articles of Confederation Weaknesses.” Create a visual that goes along with the word “strength” and a visual that goes along with the word “weakness” Take 5 minutes to label it, decorate it, and color it!

Explain & Illustrate the Strengths! 10 minutes In your own words, explain what our Congress was able to do under the Articles of Confederation. Then, draw a picture to show the strengths!

Explain & Illustrate the Weaknesses! 10 minutes In your own words, explain what our Congress was NOT able to do under the Articles of Confederation and explain why. Explain the problems that this caused. Then, draw a picture to show these weaknesses!