Practice Makes Perfect

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Practice Makes Perfect Attempts at Governement
American Revolution
The Constitution
Documents that Define America
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First Continental Congress

• This attempt at government was convened to
• discuss the reaction to the Intolerable Acts.

THINK ABOU IT...
What were the Intolerable Acts?
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Intolerable Acts

• These acts were basically punishments King
• George III put on the colonies for dumping
• tea into the harbor at the Boston Tea Party.
• Apparently King George III didnt think it was
• a cool thing to do.

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Intolerable Acts

• The Boston Port BillThe King of England closed
  Boston Harbor to everything but British ships.

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Intolerable Acts

• The quartering Act. The King sent a lot of
  British troops to Boston. The colonists had to
  house and feed the British troops. If the
  colonists didnt do this for the British troops,
  the colonists would be shot.

Can I get you guys anything else to eat? The
king said its free!
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Intolerable Acts

• The Administration of justice Act. British
  officials could not be tried in colonial courts
  for crimes. They would be taken back to Britain
  and given a trial there. That made the colonies
  a playground for British Officials to do whatever
  they pleased.

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Intolerable Acts

• The Massachusetts Government ActThe British
  Governor was in charge of all the town meetings
  in Boston. There would be no more
  self-government in Boston.

Listen up, people! I am the governor, and I am
in charge of you!
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Intolerable Acts

• The Quebec ActThis bill extended the Canadian
  borders to cut off the western colonies of
  Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia.

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What do you think?
How do you think the colonist reacted to the
Intolerable Acts? Hint We still call them the
Intolerable Acts today!
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Second Continental Congress

• This congress needed a leader. They chose George
  Washington as the Commander in Chief.
• This congress discussed independence.
• This congress also discussed whether each colony
  should set up a separate government.

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What colonists want..
Revolution
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Every Revolution Needs Leaders

• George Washington

ExtraFunInfo What was the name of
Washingtons horse? Answer Nelson
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• Samuel Adams
• He led a rowdy
• gang called The
• Sons of Liberty.

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Sons of Liberty

• These guys were not the leading men of Boston.
• They were shopkeepers and tradesmen who stood to
  lose the most from the Stamp Act.
• They started as nine, but by the end of 1765, The
  Sons of Liberty were in every colony.
• Their main objective was to get Stamp
  Distributors throughout the colonies to resign.
  These guys didnt play. They used violence if
  need be to obtain their goals.
• Many of the Sons of Liberty were printers, so
  their work was heavily publicized. Royal
  governors feared the Sons of Liberty so much,
  they went into hiding.
• This empowered other citizens to stand up for
  their rights.

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Declaration of Independence
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Declaration of Independence

• The colonies wanted the world to know why the
  colonies were breaking free from Great Britain.

We've got the right to choose andthere ain't no
way we're losinThis is our life-this is our
song.We'll fight the powers that be Just don't
pick our destiny cuz-You dont know us, you
don't belong.We're not gonna take it - no we
ain't gonna take it!We're not gonna take it ---
anymore.
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Declaration of Independence

• Thomas Jefferson took a leading role in writing
  the Declaration of Independence.
• All men are created equal was borrowed from
  John Locke. It actually meant all men were
  created equal under the law . All men had the
  same rights.
• Jefferson did not want a strong central
  government.
• Fellow committee member, Hamilton, wanted a
  strong central government.

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The Shot Heard Around the World

• The colonies were sitting on go...
• THEN

• Lexington and Concord
• The American Revolution Began with The Shot
  Heard Around the World

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The Shot Heard Around the World

• April 19, 1976
• Lasted only five minutes
• Started the American Revolution
• No one knows who fired first the British or the
  colonists.

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Saratoga

• Turning point of the American Revolutionary War.
• The colonists won here. Everyone loves a winner,
  and the French decided to help the Colonists
  fight against the British.

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Yorktown

• With the help of the French, the Americans earned
  their final victory here.

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Treaty of Paris

• American independence recognized
• United States Boundaries
• British soldiers were supposed to leave

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If at first you don't succeed...
Americas Attempts at Government
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Articles of Confederation

• Americas First Constitution
• It was weak.
• It had no power to tax.
• It had no power to regulate trade
• There was no executive or judicial branch of
  government.

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Back to the Drawing Board

• The colonists liked the ideas found in the Magna
  Carta. (The Magna Carta was signed in 1215 by
  King John.) The colonists liked it
• because it kept the king from
• taking rights away from people just because
  he wanted to do so.
• The colonists took some ideas from the Magna
  Carta.

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Other Bright Ideas Included in the Constitution

• Social Contract Theory
• --Government does the will of the people
• --The power of government is limited by
• the people
• --People voluntarily give up some power in
• order to establish a government.
• The purpose of government was to serve the people

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Constitutional Convention

• The delegates argued over the states rights.
• Finally.The delegates decided on Federalism.
  Federalism is when powers are shared between
  local, state, and national governments.

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Federalist Paper

• Everybody isnt going to agree. It is true today
  and it was true then. The Federalist Papers were
  written to persuade New York to ratify the
  Constitution.
• Patrick Henry (the give me liberty or give me
  death guy) opposed it.

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The Constitution of the United States

• The preamble
• This part of the constitution establishes that
  the power of government comes from the people.
• It also insures the rights of the people.
• Separation of Powers
• This establishes the powers of the legislative
  branch (congress), the executive branch
  (president), and judicial branch (the supreme
  court) of government. Understand the colonists
  were not very trusting of government at this
  point, so they wanted to make sure each branch of
  government checked and balanced the other two
  branches (Checks and Balances). No dictatorships
  were going to form here!

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The Constitution of the United States

• Our founding fathers were pretty slick. They
  realized that they couldnt address everything
  that could possibly come up in governing a
  country. So they included an Elastic Clause.
• If the Constitution didnt address a subject,
  then the states had the power to address it in
  their individual state constitutions.
• The Constitution allowed for amendments (changes)
  when the people saw fit.

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Compromises

• The delegates had to make some compromises to get
  the Constitution ratified.
• The Great Compromise
• --Representatives would be based on
• population in the House of Representatives
• --All states get two representatives in the
• Senate.
• Three-Fifths Compromise
• --Five slaves counted as three people

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Bill of Rights

• First ten amendments of the Constitution
• Lists rights of the people
• When these were added, the Constitution was
  passed.

Do you know the bill of rights?
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Bill of Rights

• Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion, and Petition
• Right to keep and bear arms
• Conditions for quarters of soldiers
• Right of search and seizure regulated
• Provisions concerning prosecution
• Right to a speedy trial
• Right to a trial by jury
• Excessive bail, cruel punishment
• Rule of construction of Constitution
• Rights of the States under the Constitution

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Great Awakening

• Religious revival of the 18th century
• Encouraged missionary work among Indians,
  resulted in establishment of more colleges and
  divided many demoniations

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How will this look on the AHSGE?
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• The First and Second Continental Congresses was
  an attempt
• A. for colonists to begin acting as a national
  government
• B. disunite the 13 colonies
• C. write a constitution
• D. organize a militia
• The leader of the Sons of Liberty
• A. Paul Revere
• B. George Washington
• C. Samuel Adams
• D. Patrick Henry
• Which describes Thomas Jeffersons role in the
  Revolution?
• A. Commander in Chief of Revolutionary Forces
• B. Leader of the Sons of Liberty
• C. Philosopher who wrote, Common Sense
• D. Author of the Declaration of Independence

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• 4. Study the passage below.
• We the People of the United States, in Order to
  form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,
  insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the
  common defence, promote the general Welfare, and
  secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and
  our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
  Constitution for the United States of America.
• This passage is the
• A. First amendment to the Constitution
• B. Beginning of the Declaration of Independence
• C. Preamble to the Constitution
• D. Elastic clause of the Constitution

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• 5. The MAIN reason that the Articles of
  Confederation were ineffective was
• A. They gave the president too much power
• B. The national government did not get enough
  power
• C. States refused to follow the document
• D. It did not have the support of most Americans

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• 6. A key concept of the United States
  Constitution is a separation of powers. This is
  illustrated by
• A. the three branches of government
  Legislative, Executive and Judicial
• B. the three levels of government National,
  State and Local
• C. the power of the presidency
• D. the decision making ability of the Supreme
  Court
• 7. A sharing of powers between national, state
  and local governments is known as
• A. Democracy
• B. Republicanism
• C. Federalism
• D. Individual Rights

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• 8. Study the list below.
• First ten amendments of the United States
  Constitution
• Described rights of the people of the United
  States
• Included rights that protect people from the
  government
• Inclusion of these rights led to the ratification
  of the Constution
• The information in this list BEST describes
• A. The Constitution
• B. The Articles of Confederation
• C. The Federalist Papers
• D. The Bill of Rights
• 9. Large states and small states disagreed on
  the number of representatives that each state
  should be allowed to have in the legislative
  branch. This argument ended with
• A. The large states winning
• B. The Great Compromise
• C. The Treaty of Paris
• D. The Three-Fifths Compromise

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• 10. According to the Three-Fifths Compromise
• A. Every five slaves would count as three people
  in determining the number of representatives for
  each state
• B. Northern states would be allowed five
  representatives in Congress and southern states
  would be allowed three
• C. The United States did not calculate the
  number of slaves in determining the number of
  representatives for each state
• D. Every five slaves would count as five people
  in determining the number of votes that the
  states would receive when voting for the
  president

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Answers

• C
• C
• D
• C
• B
• A
• C
• D
• B
• A