Monday 1/12/15
RAP
List three basic concepts of government that influenced
government in the English colonies. (Ch. 2.1)
Today:
Student News
Review Ch. 2.1 and 2.2
Read the “Declaration of Independence”
Ch. 2.3 reading and section assessment #1-6
Ch. 2.1 “Our Political Beginnings”
• Limited government:
• Government is not all powerful; government is restricted in what it may do,
each individual has certain rights; came from GB
• Representative government:
• From GB; government should serve the will of the people—people should
have a voice in deciding what government should do and not do. “by the
people, for the people”
• Magna Carta:
• A great charter that King John of England was forced to sign by the barons of
England in 1215. They wanted protection from the heavy handed and
arbitrary acts by the king. Trial by jury, due process of law, protection of life,
liberty and property.
As a class
• Please read the primary source, “The Magna Carta,” on page 33, and answer
the three questions at the end.
• Title in your notes Magna Carta
1.
2.
3.
What basic American right has its origins in Article 39 of the Magna Carta?
Which article provides the basis for the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which states that
no person can “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”?
What limits does Article 12 place on the king’s power to tax?
• Petition of Right:
• Limited the king, Charles I of England's power in 1628 – no longer imprison or
punish any person but by the lawful judgment of his peers. Challenged Divine
Right.
• English Bill of Rights:
• Parliament drew up a list of provisions known as the English Bill of Rights, in
1689, for King William and Mary. It prohibited a standing army in peacetime,
except with consent of Parliament; right of fair trial, freedom of excessive bail,
etc.
• Albany plan of Union:
• 1754, a plan offered up by Benjamin Franklin, he proposed an annual congress
of delegates from all 13 colonies. Here they would meet to discuss the colonies
issues. The representatives would have the power to raise military and naval
forces, collect duties, tax, regulate trade, make war and peace. This was ahead
of its time.
Declaration of Independence pg.40-43
• Popcorn read:
• Please complete the Comprehension questions #1-5 as we read. 
• Keep in your notes
Tuesday 1/13/15
RAP
• What were the Articles of Confederation?
• Were they a good idea? Explain.
Today:
• Finish section assessment Ch. 2.3—show Gipson for stamp
• Begin reading Ch. 2.4 and complete handout on Creating the
Constitution and 2.5 – federalists v. anti-federalists.
Please read Ch. 2.3 “The Critical Period”
• Complete the section assessment in your notes.
• Have Gipson stamp your answers to questions 1-6! Before you read 2.4 and
2.5
If you complete your section assessment please grab a handout on the
podium.
Handout on Ch. 2.4 and 2.5 readings –please complete by
Wednesday.
Wednesday 1/14/15
RAP
• How had the Articles of Confederation created a government unable
to deal with the nation’s troubles? (pg.45)
Today:
CE presentations
20 minutes to finish Ch. 2
Will Review Ch. 2 tomorrow.
Thursday 1/15/15
RAP
• Describe the framers of the Constitution.
• How do they compare to our leaders in Washington today? Explain.
Today:
• Review Ch.2
• Quick Study of Ch. 2 for quiz
Ch. 2.3: The Critical Period
• Articles of Confederation:
• Plan of government giving the states more power than the central government.
• Many weaknesses
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One vote for each state, regardless of size.
Congress powerless to lay and collect taxes or duties.
Congress powerless to regulate foreign and interstate commerce.
No executive to enforce acts of Congress
No national court system
Amendment only with consent of all states.
A 9/13 majority required to pass laws.
Articles only a “firm league of friendship.”
• Many realized the need for a stronger government.
Ch. 2.4: Creating the Constitution
• Framers of the Constitution, met in Philadelphia, on Friday May 25,
1787.
• Wealthy, prestigious, and men of public experience.
• 39 had been members of the Continental Congress; eight signed the
Declaration of Independence.
• Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Richard
Henry Lee were not at the Convention.
• Met at Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence had been
signed.
• Worked in secrecy.
• William Jackson kept the journal for the convention.
• James Madison also took notes, and he soon became the main contributor to
the Constitution. Also, he is known as the “Father of the Constitution.”
• Virginia Plan:
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On May 29th, created the first plan for the convention.
Work was mainly the work of Madison.
3 separate branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
Congress would choose a “national Executive” and a “national Judiciary.”
State officers should take an oath to support the nation
Basically a plan to revise the A o C.
Many delegates from the smaller states thought it was too radical.
• New Jersey Plan:
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Amendments to the A o C but not as radical as the Virginia Plan.
Retained the unicameral congress.
Each state had equal representation.
Federal executive of more than one person; chosen by Congress.
• Major disagreement between the two plans centered on:
• How should the States be represented in Congress?
• Would it be on the basis of their populations or financial contributions, as in the Virginia
Plan?
• Or would it be on the basis of State equality, as in the A o C and the New Jersey Plan.
• Connecticut Compromise:
• Agreed that Congress should be composed of
two houses.
• Senate – each state would receive two senators –
equal representation.
• House of Representatives – would be based on
population.
• Also known as the Great Compromise because it was
so pivotal to the writing of the Constitution!
• Three Fifths Compromise:
• How were slaves to be counted?
• Many thought it should be free people only,
northerners, but southerners wanted their slave
population included.
• So the compromise was that three fifths of the
slave population would be counted in slave
holding states.
• Commerce and Slave Trade:
• Congress was given the power to regulate foreign and interstate trade.
• This made many southerners nervous.
• They feared export duties would rise and the slave trade would be interfered
with, so an agreement had to be made.
• Congress was forbidden the power to act on the slave trade for a period of at least 20
years!
Which group were ignored, or even harmed by the compromises that
created the Constitution?
• Framers: educated, widely read and familiar with governments of
ancient Greece and Rome; Lock, Montesquieu, Rousseau. Also, some
are from the Second Continental Congress, Articles of Confederation,
and their own state governments.
• Some Framers: Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John
Marshall, Patrick Henry, James Monroe, and Richard Henry Lee but not all signed
the document. (Pages 49 and 771)
• Sources that influenced the Framers were William Blackstone’s
Commentaries on the Laws of England, Baron de Montesquieu’s The
Spirit of the Laws, Jean Jacques Rousseau’s Social Contract, and John
Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, and many more.