Name ______

SOL 1.7 Birth of a Nation(American Government) Study Guide

1.7a Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

1. The Articles of Confederationwas a constitution written during American Revolution to establish the powers of the new national government.

a)Provided for a weaknational government

b)Gave Congress no power to taxor regulate commerce (trade)among the states

c)Provided no common currency

d)Gave each state one vote regardless of size (population)

e)Provided for no executiveor judicialbranch

Sample question:

By 1785 the U.S. government was near collapse because the Articles of Confederation failed to-

  1. Create a judicial branch
  2. Include a bill of rights
  3. Allow the government to impose taxes
  4. Establish a national capital city

1.7b Historical Development of the Constitution

2. The Articles of Confederation were not working as well as the delegates were hoping. State delegates met in Philadelphia (city) to discuss revising the Articles of Confederation. This meeting is called the Constitutional Convention. Instead of revising the Articles, however, they decided to write a new constitution.

3. George Washington was elected president of the Constitutional Convention.

4. Delegates debated over how much power should be given to the new national government and how large and small states should be represented in the new government.

Basic Principles of Governmentinclude: Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances

5. Federal system of government: A system that dividesgovernmental powers between nationalgovernment and the governments of thestates.

6. The structure of the new national government was based on James Madison’s VirginiaPlan, which called for threeseparate, but equal, branches of government.

7.Legislative Branch (Congress) is a two house legislature in which all states are represented equally in the Senate(2 senators per state) and people are represented in the House of Representatives(number of representatives is based on state’s population). This was decided in the Great Compromise.

8.Judicial Branch (Supreme Court) determines iflaws made by Congress are constitutional.

9. ExecutiveBranch (President) carries out the laws.

10. Each branch can check the power of the other. These checks keep any one branch from gaining too much power.

11. Nine of the thirteen states had to vote in favor of the Constitution before it could become law.

12. James Madisonwas the author of the Bill of Rights, which arethe firsttenamendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, provide a written guarantee of individual rights/freedoms.

13. The Bill of Rights are based on the “Virginia Declaration of Rights” written by George Mason and the “Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom” written by Thomas Jefferson.

Sample Question

The Great Compromise calmed the fears of smaller states by:

  1. Ensuring that they would elect the same number of representatives as large states
  2. Giving the smaller states more votes
  3. Dividing Congress into two houses and giving the states equal representation in one of them and in the other one, representatives would be based upon the state’s population.
  4. Providing the same vacation benefits to all senators

1.7c Accomplishments of the First Five Presidents: Congress and the first five presidents made decisions establishing a strong government that helped the nation grow in size and power.

14. 1 - George Washington

  1. Federal Courtsystem was established.
  2. The Billof Rightswas added to the Constitution of the United States of America.
  3. Plans were initiated for development of the national capital in Washington, D.C.
    Benjamin Banneker , an African American astronomer, helped complete the design for the city.

15. 2 - John Adams

  1. A twoparty system emerged during his administration.

16.3 - Thomas Jefferson

  1. He bought the LouisianaTerritoryfrom France. (The LouisianaPurchase)
  2. Lewisand Clark explored this new land west of the MississippiRiver.

17.4 - James Madison

  1. The War of 1812caused European nations to gain respect for the United States.

18.5 - James Monroe

  1. He introduced the MonroeDoctrinewarning Europeans not to interfere with nations in the Western Hemisphere.

Sample Question

  1. Who was President when the Bill of Rights became a part of the Constitution?
  1. George Washington
  2. James Madison
  3. Richard Nixon
  4. Abraham Lincoln
  1. What do we call the warning given by a United States President to European power telling them not to interfere in North or South America?
  1. The Madison Treaty
  2. The Declaration of Independence
  3. The Monroe Doctrine
  4. The Bill of Rights

State delegates met in Philadelphiaand decided to write a new Constitution instead ofrevising the Articles of Confederation.
/ George Washington was elected president of the Constitutional Convention.
/ Delegates debated over:
(1) how much power should be given to the new national government and
(2) how large and small states should be represented in the new government.

The structure of the new national government included three separate branches of government:
/ The Great Compromise decided how many votes each state would have in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
/ The Constitution was signed at the end of the convention.