1. CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK TO US GOVERNMENT

2. 18th Century America had yet to become the United States

3. American War of Independence 1775 - 1783 Colonists increasingly unhappy with rule of parliament and king A call for increase in taxes from GB led to the rallying cry ‘no taxation without representation’ A long war with victories and defeats on both sides Ultimately the colonists gained independence as they had the home advantage and the war became increasingly costly for GB

4. Declaration of Independence 4 th July 1776 Heavily influenced by the ideas of Locke Identified the rights to which all people were entitled Challenged traditional belief that monarchs were chosen by God and should never be questioned ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness…’

5. Articles of Confederation - 1781 A Confederation of the 13 states had been instituted to fight the British It was however, inadequate after the war had been won: it had no executive, no judiciary and the legislature was weak The articles of confederation ensured the government could not interfere in the affairs of the 13 states but also mean government was weak and could not deal with problems It was thus decided to review the system of government in a Constitutional Convention

6. Philadelphia Convention – 25 th May 18 th Sept. 1787 Area of disagreement 1: Big states vs. small states Virginia wanted representation in the legislature to be based on population, this would give big states more power New Jersey wanted each state to have one vote in the legislature so small states could not be ignored What was the Connecticut Compromise?

7. To show relative sizes of states

8. Philadelphia Convention Area of disagreement 2: At time of Convention almost one third of people in the south were slaves. Northern states which had no slaves wanted all slaves to be counted for taxation purposes but not for representation to the legislature Southern states wanted opposite What was the three-fifths compromise?

9. Bill of Rights Ratification of new constitution could not take place unless these guarantees were given Which rights are protected? How are these rights protected in the UK?