What is a government?

1. What is a government? • A system that is put in place, each role filled by people that are designated to act on behalf of a group of people (nation)

2. What is the difference between politics and government? • Government • is the system • Politics • Is the struggle between various groups to control or influence the government • It’s the different groups that try to run the system

4. What kind of government do we have? • Democracy • Rule by the many, people of the nation have the power in their government • Republic • System of government in which the people elect representatives to carry on the work of the government for them

5. Levels of Government (not branches) • National/Federal • State • Local (township, borough, school district, etc.)

8. Federalism vs Confederacy • Federalism • A governmental system in which power is divided between a strong _______________ government and a smaller ________________ government. • Confederacy • A governmental system in which there is a loose association between a more powerful ________________ government and a limited ______________ government.

10. Levels of Government (not branches) • National/Federal • State • Local (township, borough, school district, etc.)

11. Levels of Government What does each level do for you? Local Federal State

12. What creates/establishes a government?

13. What is a constitution?(not the U.S. Constitution)

14. A set of ideas (principles) that says the powers and duties of a government (theory) A constitution sets up the framework of a government (tells what positions exist in a system of government) and expresses what it can and cannot do. (practice)

15. How many constitutions have we had in our history?

16. How did we end up here? How did we end up with two?

17. + and – of parents! *Is life better with or without parents?

18. New fledgling nation…United States of America • Who was our parent? • GB • What did we just do to our parent? • Kicked them out • But life is better with a parent, so what do we do now? • Adoption (find a new parent – Spain, France, etc.) • Make our own “parent”/government • Sheepishly return to our old parent (GB)

19. Which do we decide? • To be our own parent and make a new government • What kind of document establishes a government? • A constitution (not THE US CONSTITUTION)

20. Take one… • Our first attempt at writing a constitution(creating a new government)… • Did it work? • NO! • How do you know? • B/C we do not use it today. • Let’s figure out how they developed it and why it didn’t work. Articles of Confederation

21. How did we get to this point?

22. If you were in charge of your own household, what would your rules be? Be specific Minimum of 5 *Are any of them the exact opposite of what you live under now? Why?

23. America is no different… • Created a government that was exactly the opposite of what they had before • No kings • No national military • States and local government had distinctly more power than the federal government

24. Articles of Confederation • First national/federal constitution (each state also created their own state constitutions) • The A of C laid out what our national/federal government would look like • Passed by the Second Continental Congress on Nov. 15, 1777 (not officially, unanimously ratified until 1781)

25. Articles of Confederation Single branch of national government (Congress) • Each state had one vote in Congress (no matter how big or small your state – what’s the potential problem with this?)

26. Articles of ConfederationThe national/federal government that was created … The good… The bad… The system was weak Could not collect taxes(in order to raise money for the nation) Had to askstates for money – states could say NO Could not regulate interstate trade(states traded based on rules that were best for them – Would the rules be the same in South Carolina and Massachusetts?) Had no executive branch (out of fear of a tyrannical king) Could not force anyone to abide by its laws Had no judicial branch/ national court system No way to settle disputes between states ( Could only askstates to provide a military • Was not like the Britishmonarchy(good b/c that’s what we just rebelled against) • Was able to make allieswith foreign countries and sign treaties • Was able to declare war and make peace • Was able to coin (so were states) and borrow money

27. Articles of Confederation Weaknesses Outcomes There was no way to settle disputes between states New laws were difficult to pass A small state had the same power as a large state in all affairs The laws were inconsistently enforced by the individual states The government was always short of money and couldn’t repay its war debt In all practical terms, there were no new changes to the government structure Each state managed its own commerce (buying/selling), so it was difficult to trade with other nations ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ • Each state only had one vote in Congress, regardless of size • There was no executive branch to enforce any acts passed by Congress • There was no national court system • Congress had no power to tax • Congress did not have the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce (buying/selling) • Amendments to the Articles of Confederation required a unanimous vote • Laws required 9/13 majority to pass in Congress

28. With thirteen states “being in charge”… problems quickly surface Govt. could not pay for things Govt. could not settle arguments btwn states

29. By 1786… Reality set in that the confederation of states (known as the United States of America) would likely fall apart

30. By 1786… So twelve delegates from five states met in Annapolis, Maryland (former US Capitol). Due to limited representation the only conclusion was to hold another meeting in Philadelphia to discuss the changes or replacement of the A of C.

31. So, advocates emerge (both for and against the A of C)

32. Believers of the A of C are called anti-federalists Non-believers of the A of C were called federalists Alexander Hamilton James Madison George Washington John Adams Benjamin Franklin • Thomas Paine • Patrick Henry • Samuel Adams • Thomas Jefferson

33. Federalist Papers Federalist Papers • First published on October 27, 1787 • Series of 85 essays (published in a book form) • Written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison • The papers were meant to be influential in the campaign for the adoption of the U.S. Constitution

34. And so a meeting was called. We are simply going to need to compromise

35. The Constitutional Convention

36. What Constitutional Convention? Why was it needed?

37. We need to fix this problem… Let’s take the good stuff from the British style government… Hmm…what should we call this new document… And the good stuff from the A of C…

38. Ta da! The United States Constitution

39. Constitutional Convention Federalist Papers • May 1787 • Philadelphia, PA • Independence Hall • Goal: improve the Articles of Confederation • Result – an entirely new constitution (the United States Constitution) • Ratification: • December 7, 1787 (DE); May 1790 (RI)

40. The 13 states that ratified the U.S. Constitution (in order) • Delaware (December 7, 1787) • Pennsylvania • New Jersey • Georgia • Connecticut • Massachusetts • Maryland • South Carolina • New Hampshire • Virginia • New York • North Carolina • Rhode Island (May 29, 1790)

41. Notable Names! Present and accounted for: JamesMadison President of convention: GeorgeWashington M.I.A. JohnAdams Present and accounted for: BenjaminFranklin M.I.A. ThomasJefferson M.I.A. Patrick Henry

42. Signers Hall of Fame • 42 of the 55 delegates were present when Benjamin Franklin called for a vote • Every state had one or more delegates at the time of the vote • All but THREE of the 42 delegates signed the Constitution • Elbridge Gerry, George Mason, Edmund Randolph • FIVE delegates signed both the D of I and Constitution • George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, Roger Sherman

45. DUE BY THE END OF CLASS • Read through the states and their populations • List the 13 original colonies & their MODERN day populations & their current ranking • Notice the changes from past to present (ex. How some states that were once the smallest are now if the top ten in terms of population) • Why are there 51 rankings if we only have fifty states? • What state (of all fifty) grew the most? • What state (of all fifty) shrank the most? • What are three reasons states grow and shrink in population? • Look at the Congressional map. • What does this map show you? • What 5 states have the most representation? (you will actually have more than five states) • What states have only 1 representative?

47. Congressional Representation(House of Representatives) • Total number of US Representatives: 435 • 435 has been used since 1913 • 1 representative = ~711,000 people • US population is approx. 300,000,000 • # of representatives each state gets is based on STATE pop. • The larger the state pop. the more reps. • The smaller the state pop. the fewer reps. • Every state is guaranteed ONE rep. • The number of representatives that each state gets in the H of R can change with each census carried out (every ten years = 2020) • PA once has 21 representatives. What must have happened to our state population relative to other states?

48. Coming to an agreement… • Took months to come to an agreement • Why? • Different opinions • Different states wanted different things • Dictated by lifestyle (education, occupation, religion) and size (population)

49. Coming to an agreement… • Even though change was needed there was still concern about the creation of something that would put too much power in one person’s hands • So this time when giving the federal govt. more power than under the A of C – they split up the power (separation of powers) in order to prevent a tyrannical king.

50. 3 branches