TOPIC/TITLE:
The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution/A Test of Democracy

QUESTION THIS LESSON WILL ANSWER:
What made the Articles of Confederation fail and the Constitution succeed?

PURPOSE/RATIONALE/GOALS OF THE DAY'S LESSON:
The purpose of this lesson is to discuss the differences between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.  The reason that this is important is because many people do not know what made the Constitution work better than the Articles of Confederation.  It is important for students to understand the founding fathers original intents and how they had to change in order to preserve the new nation. The goal for the lesson is for students to understand why the Articles of Confederation did not work and why the Constitution is still working.

OBJECTIVES:
SWBAT:

• Debate the pros and cons of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution;
• Construct a concept map of both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution;

• The Articles of Confederation;
• The Constitutional Convention, including the leadership of James Madison and George Washington.

NCSS THEMES W/ INDICATORS:
Theme Six:  Power, Authority, and Governance

• Help students to explain the purpose of government and how its powers are acquired, used, and justified through the Constitution and Articles of Confederation;
• Help learners identify and describe the basic features of the American political system, and identify representative leaders from various levels and branches of government.

• Unicameral--A one-house legislature.
• Bicameral--A two-house legislature.
• Confederation--An Alliance.
• Sovereign--A person who is supreme in power, rank, or authority; a monarch or ruler.
• Delegated powers--Powers that the national government received.
• Reserved powers--Powers that the states kept.

ANTICIPATORY SET:

• Begin the class by asking the students to hypothesis the difference between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.  Let the students work on this for approximately 10 minutes.
• Have the students spend 5 minutes discussing their answers.

• Break up the class into two groups, just split the class down the middle.
• Hand out copies of the Articles of Confederation to one group and the Constitution to the 2nd group.
• Have each group read the documents and outline the main points.
• Allow as much time as needed for the students to complete this task.
• The readings may take some time since they are long and sometime difficult to read.
• When the groups have finished, use the jigsaw approach to teach the findings.
• Have each group present their findings to the class.
• If there is not enough time to finish the presentations, they will be finished during the next class period.

• Ask the students how their ideas about the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution differ from those presented at the beginning of the class.

• For homework, the students will create two concept maps: one for the Articles of Confederation and one for the Constitution.
• When student turn in their short papers, hand out a photocopy comparing and contrasting both forms of government.