View/Download PDF
The Articles of Confederation - LP1
Matthew Graham
Constitutional Ratification _Graham
Students will analyze the Articles of Confederation to identify its strengths and weaknesses. They will access background information from the Internet and complete a graphic organizer. After they have listed the strengths and weaknesses, they will summarize the information. After completing the reading and graphic organizer, students will write an essay or choose to act out a skit. The essay or skit will demonstrate the students' knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and why a revision was eventually necessary.
- Constitutional Topic: The Articles of Confederation
- "Articles of Confederation: Strengths and Weaknesses" comparison handout
- How to Cite this website
- Essay Rubric
The U.S. Government Printing Office
90 minutes
1
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, and why was a revision of the Articles of Confederation necessary?
Post the following statement:
Make a list of the ways in which Government can affect you today. Include as many examples as you can.
Students will be presented with the question "What are the powers of a government?" Students will brainstorm for possible answers and the teacher will write the responses on the board. After a good list is created and the necessary answers have been given (this may require some prompting), the teacher can facilitate a discussion as to whether or not the answers given are correct. When a good list of "powers" has been posted on the board, the teacher will discuss the necessity of these powers. A partial list of governmental powers are listed below for reference:
POWERS OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
Broad View
Legislative - make laws
Executive - carry out or enforce laws
Judicial - interpret laws
National Government
- Print money
- Regulate interstate (between states) and international trade
- Make treaties and conduct foreign policy
- Declare war
- Provide an army and navy
- Establish post offices
- Make laws necessary and proper to carry out the these powers
In addition to their exclusive powers, both the national government and state governments share the power of being able to:
- Collect taxes
- Build roads
- Borrow money
- Establish courts
- Make and enforce laws
- Charter banks and corporations
- Spend money for the general welfare
- Take private property for public purposes, with just compensation
Source: The U.S. Government Printing Office
- Students will fill in the "Articles of Confederation: Strengths and Weaknesses" handout using the information found at http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_arti.html
- After completely filling in the handout, students should demonstrate their knowledge of why a revision in the Articles of Confederation was necessary by choosing one of the following activities to complete:
- Essay. Write a 5 paragraph essay about the Articles and why a revision was necessary. A bibliography page should accompany the essay. Students should access http://www.usconstitution.net/cite.html and read the provided information to ensure they properly cite the website. Students will be given a rubric that will be used to evaluate their essay. They should use the rubric to ensure that all the necessary components of the essay are addressed. The essay will likely need to be finished for homework and turned in the next day.
- Skit. Students may form groups of 3 and "act out" a skit that illustrates a strength or weakness contained in the Articles of Confederation. The rest of the class will try to guess exactly what strength or weakness the group is attempting to portray. Students will be given a rubric that will be used to evaluate their skit. They should use the rubric to ensure that all the necessary components of the skit presentation are addressed. The group should use time after the graphic organizers have been filled out in class to plan with their group. Additional time may be necessary and should be completed outside of class. Presentations can be made one or two days after the lesson.The weaknesses that should be indicated through the essay or skit are listed below.
Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
- Congress (the central government) was made up of delegates chosen by the states and could conduct foreign affairs, make treaties, declare war, maintain an army and a navy, coin money, and establish post offices (however, measures passed by Congress had to be approved by 9 of the 13 states).
- No system of checks and balances.
- Congress was severely limited in its powers.
- It could not raise money by collecting taxes
- it had no control over foreign commerce
- it could pass laws but could not force the states to comply with them.
- Thus, the government was dependent on the willingness of the various states to carry out its measures, and often the states refused to cooperate.
- The articles were virtually impossible to amend, so problems could not be corrected.
After the graphic organizer has been completed using the information from the Internet, the teacher will return to the list on the board and discuss whether or not the Articles of Confederation contained any of the powers of government listed on the board. The discussion will wrap up by showing that the Articles did contain weaknesses that made a revision necessary, and the class will review what those main reasons were.
- Teachers may choose to have students review the information from the website through the use of a computer lab.
None
Writing Rubics_LP 1 Graham
Skit Presentation Rubric_LP1_Graham
Articles of Confederation_LP1 Graham