We The People Introduction and Unit 1, pages xii and 2 ...socialstudiesncuhs.wikispaces.com/file/view/WTP+Pre-Reads.pdfWhat were the Founders’ basic ideas about government? ... Lesson

2

We The People

Introduction and Unit 1, pages xii and 2

What were the Founders’ basic ideas about government?

1. How is this book different from other history books?

2. For what purpose was the Constitution of the United States created?

3. When and where was the U.S. Constitution written?

4. Why do we study the Constitution and its history and how does that help us

today?

5. What did the Framers believe were the purposes of the government?

6. In 1787, fifty-five men met in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Why did

they know so much about government? (Find Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on a

map.)

7. What is a political philosophy?

8. What experiences did those fifty-five men have in government?

9. This textbook is designed to help you understand how government works. In what

way are you doing exactly what those fifty-five men did in 1787?

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We The People

Unit 1, Lesson 1, pages 3-11

What were the British colonies in America like in the 1770s?

1. By the 1770s, how long had European colonies been established in North

America?

2. What nations had colonies in America?

3. Which colonies became the United States of America?

4. What is a subject?

5. Who was the ruler of Great Britain in 1770?

6. What is meant by the term “government”?

7. What people inhabited North America for thousands of years before the

Europeans came?

8. What tribes lived where the British colonists settled?

9. How did these tribes live and organize themselves?

10. What was the Iroquois League?

11. Describe the area where the British colonists settled.

12. The number of people who lived in the British colonies makes up what percentage

of the number of people living in the United States today?

13. What were the largest cities in the colonies?

14. How did people in cities or towns earn a living?

15. What percentage of colonists were farmers?

16. What were the different types of farms and farmers?

17. What is the definition of self-sufficient?

18. Why did the colonists have to be self-sufficient?

19. In what ways were the colonists self-sufficient?

20. How did neighbors work together?


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21. What was an indentured servant?

22. In what ways were colonists better off than people in Europe?

23. What percentage of the population was in slavery?

24. In what ways was the population of the colonies diverse?

25. How could a poor person be successful?

26. Although more people had the right to vote in the colonies than in any other

country at that time, how was that right limited?

27. What rights did colonial governments provide beyond what the British

constitution gave them?

28. Who were the Founders and what did they do?


5

We The People


Why do we need government?

1. What sources influenced the Founders in their ideas about government?

2. Who was John Locke?

3. Name the book that he wrote in 1689?

4. According to Locke, what was/is a state of nature?

5. How did the Founders use Locke’s ideas?

6. According to Locke, what rights do people have in a state of nature and what did

he call those rights?

7. According to Locke, what three things were supposed to happen in a state of

nature?

8. What is consent and how does it relate to Locke’s ideas about government?

9. What is a social contract?

10. In Locke’s social contract, what do people promise to give up and what do they

receive in return?

11. According to Locke, what is the main purpose of government?


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We The People


What is republican government?

1. What is a “republic”?

2. What did the Founders learn that was unique about the Roman Republic?

3. What is an aristocrat?

4. What are the three characteristics of a republican government?

5. What is the common good?

6. What four advantages did the Founders recognize in a republican government?

7. What three disadvantages did the Founders recognize in a republican

government?

8. Why was James Madison called the “Father of the Constitution”?

9. What are the differences between a direct democracy and a republican

government according to Madison?

10. Whom did Madison believe should elect the representatives?

11. What is a representative democracy?

12. What is civic virtue?

13. In Madison’s view, how does Locke’s view of human nature actually further civic

virtue?

14. How did the American colonists learn the values of civic virtue and representative

government?

15. How did the Founders’ strong beliefs in the ideals of republican government help

to lead the colonies to the revolution?


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We The People


What is constitutional government?

1. What is a constitution?

2. What information is a constitution supposed to provide?

3. What is a constitutional government?

4. What is an autocratic or dictatorial government?

5. What is a higher law?

6. What are the five important characteristics of a constitutional government?

7. What is a private domain?


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We The People


How can we organize government to prevent the abuse of power?

1. In what ways can a constitutional government be organized so that one person or

group cannot get too much power?

2. How does separation of powers work?

3. How is power distributed in the U.S. government?

4. How does a system of checks and balances work?

5. What are some ways in which power is checked in the U.S. government?

6. How could it be an advantage for the complicated system of checks and balances

to cause the government to move at a slower pace?


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We The People


How did constitutional government develop in Great Britain?

1. What rights of Englishmen did the American colonists have as subjects of the

King?

2. Name and define the two parts of the constitution of Great Britain.

3. What was feudalism under William the Conqueror?

4. What were the three social groups under feudalism in England?

5. How was land divided and controlled in the feudal system?

6. How did feudalism introduce the idea of government based on a contract and how

was this important to the development of constitutional government?

7. Why was the Magna Carta created and how was it significant?

8. What two important ideas contained in the Magna Carta influenced the Founders?

9. What is Parliament and its role and how was it created?

10. What was the Petition of Right of 1628 and why was it created?

11. What was the English Bill of Rights?


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We The People


What experiences led to the American Revolution?

1. What was a charter in colonial times?

2. What were the goals of the colonists in creating their own governments?

3. What five ideas were all colonial governments based upon?

4. Why were the colonists accustomed to ruling themselves prior to the mid-1700s?

5. Why did Britain refocus on the colonies in the mid-1700s?

6. What was the Proclamation of 1763?

7. What was the Sugar Act of 1764?

8. What is a writ of assistance?

9. What was the Stamp Act of 1765?

10. What was the Quartering Act of 1765?

11. What was the Declaratory Act of 1766?

12. What was the Tea Act of 1773?

13. How did the colonists’ and Britain’s views of the new laws differ?

14. How did the colonists resist British control?

15. Who were the Sons and Daughters of Liberty and what did they do?

16. What was the Boston Massacre of 1770?

17. What was the Boston Tea Party of 1773?

18. How was the First Continental Congress created, what was its purpose and what

did it do?

19.What happened on April 19, 1775?

20. What did the Second Continental Congress do?


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We The People


What basic ideas about government are in the Declaration of Independence?

1. What were the two purposes of the Declaration of Independence?

2. Who were the members of the committee to draft the Declaration of

Independence?

3. Who was Thomas Jefferson and what was his special role?

4. On what date did Congress pass the Declaration of Independence?

5. What are the four parts of the Declaration of Independence?

6. What principles are stated in the Declaration of Independence?

7. Define self-evident.

8. What are unalienable rights?

9. What are the reasons for independence stated in the Declaration of Independence?

10. What are the complaints against the king listed in the Declaration of

Independence?

11. Who were the loyalists, why did they oppose the Revolution and what happened

to them?

12. Who were the patriots?


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We The People


What happened during the American Revolution? How did the government

function?

1. Who were the minutemen and how did they contribute to the creation of the

Second Amendment to the Constitution? What is the name of the present day

citizen militia?

2. How did the first gunfire of the Revolutionary War change the world?

3. What difficulties did the Continental Congress have in governing the colonies

during the Revolution?

4. What were the Articles of Confederation and how long after Congress passed

them did the states agree to them?

5. What problems did the colonial army have in the first two years of the

Revolution?

6. How did the war begin to turn in favor of the new states?

7. What were the conditions at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-78?

8. How did Martha Washington, Sarah Franklin Bache, Baron von Steuben and

Marquis de Lafayette contribute to the survival of the colonial army?

9. What is diplomacy and how did Benjamin Franklin use it to turn the war to the

American’s favor?

10. How did France help the Americans win the war?

11. What problems did the American soldiers encounter in 1778-1781?

12. How, when and where did the Revolutionary War end?

13. What was the Treaty of Paris?


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We The People


How did the states govern themselves after the Revolution?

1. From where did the ideas for the new state governments come?

2. What basic ideas were included in the new state constitutions?

3. How was the right to vote different from that in Great Britain?

4. Why did most states give the most power to the legislature?

5. How did factions cause problems in state legislatures?

6. How were problems in the state legislatures ironic when compared to life under

British rule?

7. How did Massachusetts’ constitution differ from the other states?

8. How were rights protected in the state constitutions?

9. What was important about the Virginia Declaration of Rights?

10. What political guarantees were included in the state declarations of rights?

11. What other types of rights did states include?

12. What was Vermont the first to do?


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We The People


How did the Articles of Confederation organize the first national government?

1. After the Revolutionary War, why can it be said that there were 13 separate

nations?

2. Why was a national government needed?

3. When was a resolution for creating a national government adopted?

4. What were the Articles of Confederation and when did they take effect?

5. What fears of the people caused problems for the Founders in creating a national

government?

6. How did the Articles of Confederation create a central government while

satisfying the fears of the people?

7. What major accomplishments did the national government achieve under the

Articles of Confederation?

8. What was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?

9. What problems arose under the Articles of Confederation?

10. What caused Shay’s Rebellion?

11. What was Shay’s Rebellion?

12. Why was Shay’s Rebellion important?

13. Why was very little accomplished at the Annapolis Convention is 1786?

14. What was significant about the report to Congress from the Annapolis

Convention?


15

We The People


Who attended the Philadelphia Convention? How was it organized?

1. Who were the Framers?

2. Who was James Madison?

3. Who was George Washington?

4. Who was Benjamin Franklin?

5. Who was Gouverneur Morris?

6. Why did Patrick Henry refuse to attend the Convention?

7. What groups of people were not represented at the Convention?

8. Why did Rhode Island not send delegates?

9. Why do we call the delegates Framers?

10. What was George Washington’s role at the Convention?

11. What were the 3 decisions the Framers agreed upon at the Convention?

12. What ideas did the Framers agree to include in the Constitution?


16

We The People


How did the Framers resolve the conflict about representation in Congress?

1. Explain the dispute between large and small states over representation.

2. What plan did James Madison prepare before coming to the Convention and what

did it propose?

3. What was proposed in the New Jersey Plan?

4. How did the special committee solve the representation issue?

5. How closely divided was the vote on the Great Compromise?


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We The People


How did the Framers resolve the conflict between the Northern and Southern

states?

1. What were the differences between the economy of the northern states and the

southern states?

2. What conflict did the different economies create?

3. What was the dispute over slavery?

4. What sections of the Constitution solve the issues of tariffs and slavery?

5. Who has the power to control trade and impose tariffs?

6. What does the Constitution say about the slave trade?

7. What was the 3/5 clause?

8. What was the fugitive slave clause?

9. Which three states threatened not to support the Constitution without the slave

compromise?

10. How did the majority of the Framers feel about slavery?


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We The People


How did the Framers resolve the conflict about the powers of the legislative branch?

1. What was the conflict over how much power to give to the national government?

2. What powers did James Madison want Congress to have?

3. What was the dispute over the use of general language?

4. What are enumerated powers and what are their pros and cons?

5. How did the Framers solve the general versus specific language issue?

6. What article deals with the legislative branch?

7. What section lists Congress’ enumerated powers?

8. What are Congress’ enumerated powers?

9. What is the general welfare clause?

10. What is the necessary and proper clause?

11. What are the limits on Congress’ powers?

12. What was the purpose of listing specific limits on Congress’ powers?

13. How do the legislative and executive branches check each other in the process of

creating laws?

14. What power does the U.S. Supreme Court have over Congress?


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We The People


How much power should be given to the executive and judicial branches?

1. What article lists the powers of the executive branch?

2. What are the powers of the executive branch that are listed in the Constitution?

3. How does the executive branch share its powers with Congress?

4. Who has the power to impeach and what does it mean?

5. For how many years does a president serve?

6. How many times could a president be reelected under the Constitution and how

did the 22nd

Amendment change that?

7. What was the dispute over how the president would be elected?

8. How was the dispute over electing the president resolved?

9. What article describes the judicial branch?

10. Why are judges appointed rather than elected?

11. How can judges be removed from office?

12. What is jurisdiction?

13. Name and explain the two types of jurisdiction that the Supreme Court has.

14. Where does the U.S. Supreme Court get its power to overrule state laws or laws

of Congress that violate the Constitution?


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We The People


How did the Constitution create a federal system of government?

1. What is a unitary government?

2. What is a confederation?

3. What is sovereignty and how does it relate to our government?

4. What is a federal system of government?

5. What specific powers does the national government have?

6. What specific powers do the states have?

7. What powers do the states and national government share?

8. What rights or powers do the people retain?

9. What are the limits on the powers of the federal government?

10. What are the limits on the powers of the state governments?

11. What are the limits on the powers of both state and federal governments?

12. What is the supremacy clause and where is it found in the Constitution?

13. How has the division of power between state and federal governments changed

since the Constitution was written?


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We The People


How did the people approve the new Constitution?

1. What does ratify mean?

2. What was James Madison’s plan for ratification and how did he justify it?

3. What does Article VII of the Constitution state?

4. Who were the Federalists?

5. What was The Federalist?

6. Who were the Anti-Federalists?

7. What were the most intense arguments about?

8. Summarize the arguments for both sides on each of the three issues.

9. Why did the Federalists finally agree to add a Bill of Rights?


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We The People


How did Congress organize the new government?

1. Who were the first president and vice president?

2. Where was the first capital located?

3. What departments did the first Congress create for the executive branch and what

were their responsibilities?

4. What fourth position was created?

5. What is the president’s cabinet and how many members are there today?

6. How did the Judiciary Act of 1789 set up the federal courts?

7. How many Supreme Court justices are there now?

8. What were the two sides of the Bill of Rights debate?

9. Who created the Bill of Rights?

10. How did the 9th

and 10th

Amendments solve the concerns over the Bill of Rights?

11. When was the Bill of Rights ratified and by how many states?


23

We The People


How did political parties develop?

1. By what vote did George Washington win the first presidency and why?

2. What are political parties?

3. Why were the Framers against political parties?

4. Why did political parties develop?

5. Explain Hamilton’s broad view of the Constitution.

6. Explain Jefferson’s narrow view of the Constitution.

7. What political parties did Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s views create?

8. What is currency?

9. What problems did Hamilton want to solve?

10. What was Hamilton’s plan to solve these problems?

11. What was the problem with paper money?

12. How did both Hamilton and Jefferson use the “necessary and proper” clause to

support their arguments either for or against the bank?

13. What was the result of the bank dispute?

14. How did the 1793 war between France and Great Britain cause disagreements

between the Republicans and Federalists?

15. What treaty did Chief Justice John Jay negotiate with Great Britain?

16. What was President Washington’s opinion about the war between France and

Great Britain?

17. Who was elected president and vice president in 1796 after Washington’s two

terms?

18. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts and how did they relate to the Federalist

and Republican dispute?


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19. How were political parties involved in the election of 1800?

20. What was the result of the election of 1800 and why did Jefferson call it the

“Revolution of 1800”?

21. Where do the modern Democratic and Republican parties come from?

22. In what ways are political parties useful today?


25

We The People


How does the U.S. Supreme Court use the power of judicial review?

1. What is judicial review?

2. Why does the U.S. Supreme Court have the power of judicial review over state

laws?

3. How did the U.S. Supreme Court use this power in Virginia in 1796?

4. Explain how the Supreme Court decision in the case of Marbury v. Madison in

1803, created the power of judicial review.

5. How did Marshall justify the power of judicial review?


26

We The People


How does the U.S. Supreme Court determine the meaning of the words in the

Constitution?

1. Why is it difficult to understand the meaning of some parts of the Constitution?

2. What does interpret mean?

3. What is the plain meaning method of interpretation?

4. What is the intention of the Framers’ method of interpretation?

5. What is the fundamental principles method of interpretation?

6. What is the social values and needs method of interpretation?


27

We The People


How does the Constitution protect freedom of expression?

1. What five rights does the First Amendment protect?

2. What four rights in the First Amendment together create the freedom of

expression?

3. What is the right of assembly?

4. How does the First Amendment limit the powers of Congress?

5. What are four benefits to freedom of expression?

6. What rule did the Supreme Court express in the Tinker v. Des Moines School

District decision?

7. Under what circumstances might your freedom of expression be limited?


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We The People


How does the Constitution protect freedom of religion?

1. What is the establishment clause?

2. What is the free exercise clause?

3. Why was freedom of religion important to the colonists and Framers?

4. In what situations can government limit the way you practice your religious

beliefs?

5. What three factors does the Supreme Court use in determining whether the

government is following the establishment clause requirement to be neutral

toward religion?

6. Why can students choose not to participate in prayer at school?


29

We The People

Unit 5, Lesson 25, pages 215- 224

How has the right to vote expanded since the Constitution was adopted?

1. What is suffrage?

2. Who had the right to vote originally in the colonies?

3. How did the right to vote change in the early 1800s?

4. Before the Civil War did any states allow free black men to vote?

5. What did the 13th

Amendment do?


Amendment do?


Amendment do?

8. What were these Amendments collectively called?

9. In what ways did Southern states make it difficult for blacks to vote even after the

15th

Amendment was passed?

10. Until when did these voting rules exist?

11. What was the civil rights movement?

12. What does the 24th

Amendment do?

13. What was the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

14. When and where did the women’s suffrage movement begin?

15. What did Susan B. Anthony do?


Amendment do and in what year was it passed?

17. Why did American Indians initially not have the right to vote?

18. What was the Dawes Act?

19. What was the Indian Citizenship Act and when was it passed?

20. Why did Congress lower the voting age to 18 in 1970?

21. Why did Congress decide to also pass the 26th

Amendment and what did it do?

22. What requirements do states have to be able to vote?


30

We The People


How does the Constitution safeguard the right to equal protection of the law?

1. What is the purpose of the 14th

Amendment equal protection clause?

2. What were Jim Crow laws?

3. What was the separate but equal argument claimed by the southern states?

4. What rule did the Supreme Court express in the Plessy v. Ferguson decision?

5. What is segregation?

6. How did the Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education change the decision

in the Plessy case?

7. Why did the decision in Brown v. Board of Education not end segregation?

8. What happened in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957?

9. How did people protest discrimination through boycotts?

10. What did Rosa Parks do and what was the result?

11. What was the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

12. How did the civil rights movement for African Americans lead to other civil

rights movements?


31

We The People


How does the Constitution protect the right to due process of law?

1. What is due process?

2. What are the two ways due process is used?

3. Where is due process found in the Constitution?

4. What is the difference between the 5th

and 14th

Amendments’ due process rights?

5. What responsibilities of government sometimes conflict?

6. Why is due process among the most important protections of our Constitution?


32

We The People


What is the relationship of the United States to other nations in the world?

1. What is a nation-state?

2. How many nation-states are there today in the world?

3. What is the system of international law?

4. How is international law enforced?

5. In what six ways do nation-states interact with each other?

6. What is the United Nations?

7. What are regional treaty organizations and give some examples.

8. What are NGOs?

9. What powers does Congress have to deal with other countries?

10. What powers does the President have to deal with other countries?

11. What powers does the Supreme Court have to deal with other countries?

12. How have the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and Bill of

Rights influenced other countries?


33

We The People


What are the rights and responsibilities of citizenship?

1. What is a citizen?

2. In what two ways are you born a citizen of the U.S.?

3. What is a legal permanent resident?

4. What rights do citizens have that legal permanent residents do not have?

5. What is a naturalized citizen and how do you become one?

6. How do minor children of naturalized citizens become citizens?

7. What are personal rights?

8. What are political rights?

9. What are economic rights?

10. What are personal responsibilities?

11. What are civic responsibilities?


34

We The People


How might citizens participate in civic affairs?

1. What is a monitor and why is it important to monitor government?

2. What does it mean to influence the decisions and actions of government?

3. What is civic participation?

4. What is civic life?

5. How might citizens participate in their government?

6. What is political action?

7. What is social action?

8. Why does citizenship in a democracy require us to participate in our government?


Documents

We The People Introduction and Unit 1, pages xii and 2 ...socialstudiesncuhs.wikispaces.com/file/view/WTP+Pre-Reads.pdfWhat were the Founders’ basic ideas about government? ... Lesson