The Constitution

Fall 2009 ---black and gold…for all you Mizzou fans…puke

Articles of Confederation

Made during the Revolutionary War Implemented Right after the war

ended Had a lot of problems…why? No one had the power to really do

anything…

For example: Under the Articles of Confederation, the government could NOT…

Raise taxes – couldn’t pay off Rev. War debt Very hard to change (needed a unanimous

vote) Congress couldn’t regulate trade between

states No president- there was a congress and the

men took turns running the Congress, one year terms

Sates had most of the power No national money Sizes of states didn’t matter, each state got

one vote Only one branch of government

Why couldn’t they do these things?

The founding fathers were afraid that someone would abuse the power of the government…its what they were most afraid of

So, they got together to fix the Articles of Confederation

But it was so messed up, they decided to make a whole new governing document!

That brings us to The Constitution

The very beginning of The Constitution has a list of goals…its called the Preamble –(pre because it comes before the rest of the document – it’s the introduction)

By FRIDAY: you will memorize the Preamble…lucky you!

But what the heck is it talking about? Let’s find out.

Blah, blah, blah….

We, the people of the United States

In order to form a more perfect union,

Establish Justice,

Insure domestic tranquility,

Provide for the Common Defense,

Promote the General Welfare,

And secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity,

Do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America

What was the “GREAT COMPROMISE?”

First of all, what is a compromise?

The great compromise has to do with Congress and how each states votes are counted.

You give a little to get a little Of what you want.

What was the compromise about?

Big states felt their votes should be counted more because they had more people

Little states were worried that if the big states had too much power, the little states would never be able to get what they wanted.

Resolution aka “The Great Compromise”

We would have two houses: the House of Representatives has votes based off the # of people in each state (435 people; different # from each state)

The Senate has the same number of votes for each state (100 people; 2 from each state)

But that led to another problem…Ugh…

Should slaves be counted in the population of a state for the House of Representatives?

Southern states said…

Northern states said…

So…they came up with “The 3/5 Compromise”

Slaves could be counted as 3/5 of one person

So, how many slaves do you need to have 6 people added to your state total…

Use your math…I know you’re learning about fractions!

10! 10 slaves would only count as 6 people…

Constution BAV

Amendment – formal change to a document Compromise – giving something up to get what you want Domestic/foreign – in or from a country/in or from another

country Federalism – national and local government working at the

same time Impeach – kick out a government official from office Plurality – having the most number of votes…but not

necessarily a majority Preamble – an introduction to a document Ratify – to formally approve Suffrage – the right to vote Temperance – the avoidance of using alcohol Unconstitutional – a law that goes against something in

the constitution

Learning Target #14

Qualifications

President

Senator Representative

Justice

Age

Citizenship

Education

Which Branch?

Term Length

Why do their term lengths vairy? So that way, not everyone is new at

the same time….we stagger our leadership so that someone always knows what’s going on

AMENDMENTS

1-10 = THE BILL OF RIGHTS Open “we the people book” to page

157 and get our your learning targets

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=C21AD41A-DF76-4446-9441-7531DDB0086B&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

Ranking the Amendments

1, 2, 10, 18, 19

1, 5, 10, 15, 22

1, 3, 4,

13, 18

1, 2, 4, 9, 26

1, 3, 5, 8, 13