Topic:
Forming a New
Nation
Essential Question:
How is the Constitution superior to the
Articles of Confederation?
 Articles of Confederation
 America’s 1st constitution
 Adopted during the Revolutionary
War (1777)
 Weaknesses:
 States had more power than the
federal (national) government
 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
 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
 Foreign affairs
 Rebellions
 Shays’ Rebellion
 Rebellion of farmers in
rural Massachusetts (1786)
 Showed the failure of the
Articles of Confederation
Shays
Shattuck
 Rebellion of farmers in rural Massachusetts (1786)
 Showed the failure of the Articles of Confederation
 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
 Constitutional Convention
 James Madison
 Author of the Virginia Plan
 Based on Montesquieu’s ideas
 “Father of the Constitution”
 Based on Montesquieu’s ideas
 “Father of the Constitution”
 George Washington
 President of the Constitutional
Convention
 George Washington
 President of the Constitutional Convention
 Important compromises
 Great Compromise
 Proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut
 Compromise between large and small states
 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
 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
 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
 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
 Unified the states
 Created a strong national
government and a national
court system
 A “living document”
 Amendments
 Elastic Clause
 Amendments
 Elastic Clause
 Signed in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787
 Elastic Clause
 Signed in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787
 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
 Ratifying the Constitution
 Federalists
 People who supported the ratification (approval) of
the Constitution
 Wanted a strong national government
James Madison
Alexander Hamilton
 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
George Mason
Patrick Henry
 Some wanted stronger state
and local government
 Some wanted a bill of rights
 Federalist Papers
 Essays that supported:
 A strong national
government
 Ratification
 A strong national government
 Ratification
 Written by:
 James Madison
 Alexander Hamilton
 John Jay
 Alexander Hamilton
 John Jay
 Bill of Rights
 The first ten amendments to the Constitution
 Some states refused to ratify the Constitution
without it
 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
 Written by James Madison in 1789
 Added to the Constitution in 1791
 Discuss
 The Federalists
 The Anti-Federalists
 The Federalist Papers
 The Bill of Rights
 Write a sentence comparing
the Federalists and the
Anti-Federalists