1. 11th Grade United States History
Mr. Weber
King Hall Rm K3009
September 11, 2008

2. Activator: discuss in pairs then write
1. What does it mean to represent something or to be a representative?
2. What does it mean to separate powers?
3. What do you think “ratification” means?
4. What is the most important thing the Constitution does?

3. Objectives:
□ Students analyze the American Revolution, the divinely bestowed unalienable natural rights philosophy of the Founding Fathers and the debates surrounding the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and the addition of the Bill of Rights.
□ Students understand the history of the Constitution after 1787 with emphasis on federal versus state authority and growing democratization.

4. Agenda Activator and objective (5 minutes)
Why the need for a Constitution? Direct teacher presentation and student note-taking (45 minutes)
Ratification: Federalists and Anti-Federalists activity (45-60 minutes)
Argue for or against ratifying the Constitution and the need for a strong federal government. (10-15 minutes)

5. Why the need for a Constitution? (Cornell notes set-up)
1. Why were the Articles of Confederation no good?
2. What were the ideals of a “more perfect union?”
3. Why so many compromises?
4. What was the effect of Shay’s Rebellion?
5. What did constitutional government look like?
[Note: leave your self plenty of space to take notes as we talk about each question]
Summary: After the presentation write a brief summary.

6. Expansionist Motivations
Settlement claims west of the Alleghany mountains (1770s).
West of the southern states was territory of the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws.
Already at issue at Constitutional Convention in 1787 was whether new territory would allow slavery

7. 1. Why were the Articles of Confederation No Good?
1st Cont. Congress 1777: established limited national government (power still with individual states).
“States hereby enter into a firm league of friendship… for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare.”
Only one branch: the legislative (delegates from states). No executive or judicial.
Each state could send as many delegates as they wanted but each state only had one vote.
Congress could not collect taxes, raise money, and was powerless to regulate interstate commerce.

8. 2. What were the ideals of a more perfect union?
Fought monarchy of Britain.
New government would be a democracy (government by the people).
Specifically it would be a republic (people’s voice through elected representatives).
Self-important sense of historical revolutionary moment: chance to be an example to the world.

9. 3. Why so many compromises?
The major issues were:
Strong on weak federal government.
Representation: big states vs. small states.
How much influence to ordinary citizens.
Slavery
Expansion (linked to slavery)

10. 3. Compromise (continued)
“The Great Compromise.”
Should states with more people get more of a say?
Resulted from combination of Virginia and New Jersey Plans.
Created a legislative branch with two houses (bicameral):
Senate would have two representatives from each state (regardless of the size of the state). Small states were happy.
House of Representatives would have representatives based on the state’s population. Big states were happy.

11. 3. Compromise (continued)
“The Three-Fifths Compromise.”
Should slaves count as people for purposes of deciding how many representatives a state would have?
If slaves were included in the population count, southern states would get power in House of Representatives.
Compromised and counted African American slaves as 3/5 of a human being (letting southern slave states count 3/5 of their slave population for purposes of representation).

12. 4. Shay’s Rebellion (1787)
Economic hardship following Rev.
States printed money – inflation.
Mass. raised taxes instead.
Farmers in Hampshire county attacked a federal arsenal.
Importance: convinced many politicians of the need for strong federal government.

13. Note check: Summary Write a brief summary of the notes from
Articles of Confederation
More perfect union
Compromises: “Great” and “3/5”
Shay’s Rebellion

15. Ratification
To ratify something is to pass it or officially accept it.
Federalists: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay – in favor of a strong federal government and for passing the new constitution.
Anti-federalists: the term they gave those who were against the strong federal government and the new constitution. George Mason and Patrick Henry were most influential.

16. Ratification Activity
Your group is either Federalist or Antifederalist.
Your task is to convince your home state (represented by me and the rest of your classmates) either to ratify the Constitution (Federalists) or not to ratify the Constitution (Antifederalists).

17. Antifederalists
The Anti-Federalists did not want to ratify the Constitution. Basically, they argue that:
It gave too much power to the national government at the expense of the state governments.
There was no bill of rights.
The national government could maintain an army in peacetime.
Congress, because of the `necessary and proper clause,' wielded too much power.
The executive branch held too much power.

18. Federalists
The separation of powers into three independent branches protected the rights of the people. Each branch represents a different aspect of the people, and because all three branches are equal, no one group can assume control over another.
A listing of rights can be a dangerous thing. If the national government were to protect specific listed rights, what would stop it from violating rights other than the listed ones? Since we can't list all the rights, the Federalists argued that it's better to list none at all.