United States Constitution
Session 2: Government between the Revolution
and the Constitutional Convention

Materials

• “Window Notes” Template for note-taking (Attachment A)
• Class textbook

Instructional Activities

1. Display the following prompt on the board or overhead:
   
   Think of something in your life that was generally a negative experience. Were there any good aspects of it? Did anything good come of it?
   
   After students have had a few minutes to write about their experiences, let them share their responses with each other in pairs and then share with the whole class.
   
   
2. Tell the students that this was the situation in the United States during the 1780s. Although we generally do not look back at the accomplishments of the Confederation government with a great deal of pride, some of the accomplishments were good.
   
   
3. Have the students use their textbooks to take “window notes” on major events that happened between the end of the Revolution and the Constitutional Convention. (A “window notes” template is provided in Attachment A.) Their notes should include the following points:
   
   The Land Ordinance of 1785:
   •    The ordinance authorized the surveying of the Northwest Territory.
   •    The ordinance divided the Northwest Territory into townships six miles square, each composed of 36 “sections” of 640 acres.
   •    The ordinance stipulated that surveyed land would be sold at auction, starting at a dollar an acre.
   •    The ordinance provided for the proceeds from the sale of one section to be used to fund public education.
   
   Shays’ Rebellion (1786):
   •    The American economy was in deep depression in the 1780s.
   •    The shortage of currency made it difficult for people to pay their debts and taxes.
   •    Farmers feared foreclosure (the bank’s seizure of mortgaged property if payments are not made).
   •    In 1786, a group of farmers in western Massachusetts, under the leadership of Daniel Shays, blockaded the courthouse to keep it from doing business and then attacked the federal arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts.
   •    The inability of the central government to put down this rebellion convinced many people that a stronger central government was needed.
   •    This was one factor that led to the Constitutional Convention.
   
   * The ordinance authorized that three to five states could be created out of the Northwest Territory. * * The ordinance set up stages that an area would go through on its way to statehood: - Congress would appoint a governor and a council to rule until the population reached 5,000. - At that point, settlers could elect an assembly to pass laws until the population reached 60,000. - At that point, settlers could adopt their own constitution and petition Congress for statehood. *
   
   The Northwest Ordinance of 1787:
   •    The ordinance authorized that three to five states could be created out of the Northwest Territory.
   •    The ordinance authorized the admittance of new states as full equals to the original 13 states.
   •    The ordinance set up stages that an area would go through on its way to statehood:
   - Congress would appoint a governor and a council to rule until the population reached 5,000.
   - At that point, settlers could elect an assembly to pass laws until the population reached 60,000.
   - At that point, settlers could adopt their own constitution and petition Congress for statehood.
   •    The ordinance protected civil liberties, made provision for public education, and prohibited slavery within the Northwest Territory.