Transcript After Independence

After Independence
What happens now?
APK: Activation of Prior Knowledge
___________________________________________________
Write at least 2-3 sentences describing a time when…
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
You
finally got your way or something you really wanted for a long time
___________________________________________________
and then did not know what to do with it.
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Question of the Day
___________________________________________________
How were the Founding Fathers able to resolve
___________________________________________________
their differences to form a federal government in
___________________________________________________
the United States of America?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
What has happened in America
recently? [From 1775-1783]

The United States declared independence from Great
Britain

Great Britain sent troops to take the colonies back

The United States created a written plan for their
new government called the Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation proved to weak and
ineffective

Because they Articles of Confederation were weak the
new states had to convene to create a new constitution
To keep you on track
Topics
Constitutional
Convention
Federalists and
AntiFederalists
Federalism
Virginia Plan
New Jersey
Plan
Connecticut’s
Great
Compromise
3/5ths
Compromise
Specific details/facts
Impacts or effects
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
•Delegates from all 13 former colonies met to share ideas about how best to
create a new federal government to replace the flawed Articles of
Confederation.
•The convention [meeting] lasted about four [4] months and was intended to write
and ratify [pass] a United States Constitution.
•Not everyone was happy with the result but because of their hard work
we have a framework of government that has lasted for over 200 years.
After all of the “drama…”

People within the old English American colonies
began to “takes sides.”

Factions developed.

A faction is a group of people who comes together
to organize and get something accomplished

The two main factions were:

Federalists-This group wanted create a constitution
that would unite all 13 colonies under one
government

The Federalists supported the U.S. Constitution

The Anti-federalists were worried that a national
government would be just like Great Britain and
control citizens too much.

Anti-Federalists were against the U.S. Constitution

The anti-federalists wanted to guarantee personal
freedoms such as speech and religion
Federalism


Federalism- Type of
government with
separate and individual
(sovereign states).
However, states must
follow a higher (federal)
law.
Separation of Powers

Although each of the 13
states was sovereign [power
and authority for themselves]
the state governments were
subject to the power of the
federal government.

So this meant that in any
disagreement between the
Federal/Central/National
government and the
states…

Who wins?

The Federal government!
Subordinate-inferior, under, responsible to.

Remember that this idea
was Montesquieu’s.
Federalists
 The
Federalists favored a
strong
federal/national/central
government.
 Small
states with fewer
people supported this
faction (The Federalists).
 The
Federalists wanted
Americans to approve the
proposed United States
Constitution.
Anti-Federalists
 The
Anti-federalists were
from larger states and they
favored stronger (state)
local governments.
Virginia
 The
Anti-federalist did not
trust a
federal/national/central
government because of
past experience of
mistreatment by England
prior to the Revolution.
Pennsylvania
How can we solve these issues?
 The
Compromise
 Each
side (Federalists
versus Anti-Federalists)
had to give up
something.
The problem for the new
states:
 What kind of government
would they have?
The Virginia Plan [large states]


James Madison came up with a
plan of shared power within the
new federal government.
There would be three (3)
branches [parts] of government.

Remember that this was
Montesquieu’s idea

A federal/national Legislature
[Legislative]
To propose, debate and pass laws

A federal/national Judiciary
[Judicial]
To interpret laws and hear appeals from
lower courts

An federal/national President
[Executive]
To lead and ensure laws passed by the
Congress are enforced
Virginia Plan [large states]

Executive (president)

Enforces (executes), carries out the
laws.

Provides leadership

Head of State

Commander-in-chief of military.

Chief Diplomat
Virginia Plan [large states]


Judicial Branch (Supreme
Court)
Interprets (explains/decides)
what the laws mean.

Hear appeals from lower
courts.

Settle legal disputes between
branches.

Based on what?

The U.S. Constitution!
Virginia Plan [large states]
As a large state, with thousands of slaves,
Virginia wanted to have a Congress
[Legislature Branch-people who made laws] that based on
the amount of representatives each state
had on each state’s population with only
one house.
 This
idea did not make states with smaller
population happy!
The New Jersey Plan [Small states]

In response to the Virginia Plan states with smaller
populations became nervous.

New Jersey believed larger states would dominate the
Congress.

They believed each state should have equal
representation.

No one state should be more powerful than another.
Connecticut’s Great Compromise
•The Delegates from Connecticut had an
idea to bring all sides together.
•A compromise to blend the ideas of
Virginia and New Jersey created a
bicameral legislature
•The new Congress would have two [2]
separate houses.
•The Senate and the House of
Representatives
•The Senate would have equal
representation [2 per state]
•The House of Representatives would
have membership based on the state’s
population [larger states would have
more]
The 3/5ths Compromise

Slave states wanted to include slaves in
their population counts even though
slaves were not considered citizens.

If allowed, this compromise would boost
population count and grant more
representatives to slave states in the
federal legislature (Congress).

This compromise could benefit large
population states such as Virginia.

This would create more voting power in
the Congress.

States with large slave populations
struck a deal with Northern states and
accepted the compromise.

For every 5 slaves states were allowed
to count 3 for purposes of population.



The result of the Philadelphia Convention was a ratified federal
U.S. Constitution.
All 13 states, except Rhode Island, ratified (passed and
accepted) the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and it became the
framework of our government.
The document is often a living document because the Framers
wrote it with knowledge that it future Americans would have use
it.
"There are
several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present
approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. ... I doubt too
whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a
better Constitution. ... It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this
system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will
astonish our enemies..."
--Benjamin Franklin
What did Benjamin Franklin mean by this?
Group work: Create posters

Group 1 N.J. Plan

Group 2 Virginia Plan

Group 3 The Connecticut Plan a.k.a The Great Compromise

Group 4 The 3/5ths Compromise

Students will assemble into groups and each group will
create a poster that will promote one of the above plans or
compromises as if they were to present it to the
Constitutional Convention to convince people to support it.
Include specific details and creative reasons why people
should support this plan or compromise.
321 Closure Assignment
[Be prepared to discuss this in class when I return]
3 lessons learned from the Constitutional Convention2 things you would ask either side in the Federalist/Anti-Federalist
debate-
1 decision you would have handled differently [why?]-
Images Sources





http://www.americanpresident.org/history/johnadams/biography/reso
urces/images/TreatyofParis.image.jpg
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/images/us_map_new.gif
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Treaty_of_Paris
_by_Benjamin_West_1783.jpg
http://www.scholastic.ca/bookfairs/contact/images/map_of_canada_
english.gif
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Scene_at_the_
Signing_of_the_Constitution_of_the_United_States.png