Birth of a Nation

Standard(s) of Learning

Content

Summarize the Articles of Confederation, the constitution written during the American Revolution to establish the powers of the new national government.

Explain the following basic weakness of the Articles of Confederation:

• Provided for a weak national government
• Gave Congress no power to tax or regulate commerce among the states
• Provided for no common currency
• Gave each state one vote regardless of size
• Provided for no executive or judicial branch.

Define a federal system of government as a system that divides governmental powers between national government and the governments of the states.

Explain that the Constitution of the United States of America established a federal system of government based on power shared between the national and state governments.

Explain the following basic principles of government stated in the Constitution of the United States of America and Bill of Rights:

Separation of powers
The structure of the new national government was based on James Madison’s “Virginia Plan,” which called for three separate branches of government:
1. Legislative branch (Congress) makes the laws. Congress is a two-house legislature in which all states are represented equally in the Senate (two Senators per state) and people are represented in the House of Representatives (number of a state’s representatives is based on state’s population).
2. Judicial branch (Supreme Court) determines if laws made by Congress are constitutional.
3. Executive branch (President) carries out the laws.

Checks and balances
1. Each branch can check the power of the other.
2. These checks keep any one branch from gaining too much power.

Summarize the following information on the Bill of Rights that provided a written guarantee of individual rights:

• James Madison was the author of the Bill of Rights.
• The first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America provide a written guarantee of individual rights (e.g., freedom of speech, freedom of religion).

Explain that Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had opposing views on the role of the national government that resulted in the creation of two political parties.

Summarize the following party differences of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson:

Alexander Hamilton
- Leader of Federalists
- Favored strong national government
- Favored limits on states’ powers
- Favored development of industry on a national scale
- Favored a national bank.

Thomas Jefferson
- Leader of the Democratic Republicans
- Favored a weak national government
- Supported states’ powers
- Favored small business and farmers
- Opposed a national bank.

Explain that the debate over the role of the national government has continued throughout United States history. 

Sample Resources

Below is an annotated list of Internet resources for this organizing topic. Copyright restrictions may exist for the material on some Web sites. Please note and abide by any such restrictions.

“The U.S. Constitution Power Grab Game.” The Educator’s Reference Desk. Lesson #AELP-Gov0045. <http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons>. This site includes a game for teaching the concepts of checks and balances.

“The Checks and Balances System: A Worksheet.” Mr. Cassutto’s Cyberlearning-world. <http://www.cyberlearning-world.com/lessons/checks.htm>. This site offers a worksheet to list which branches of government have the power to check certain listed powers and which branches are checked.

A Roadmap to the Constitution of the United States. Oracle ThinkQuest Educational Foundation. <http://www.thinkquest.org/library/site_sum.html?tname=11572&url=11572/>. The site includes an annotated text of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the history of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, a description of landmark Supreme Court cases, and more.

Virginia Standards of Learning Assessments for the 2001 History and Social Science Standards of Learning. United States History to 1877. Test Blueprint. Virginia Department of Education, 2003/04. <http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Assessment/HistoryBlueprints03/2002Blueprint3USI.pdf>. This site provides assessment information for the course in United States History to 1877.