Crash Course US History 8 Constitution, Articles, Federalism

The first government set up by the Continental Congress was called the Articles of Confederation; it failed because it gave too much power to the federal government.

• True (T)

• False (F)

Under the Articles, Congress was very limited in what it could do, it was hard to pass laws, and the government was deliberately weak due to Americans’ fear of tyrannical governments.

• T

• F

The biggest accomplishment of the Articles government was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which set up a process to create new states between the Ohio and Colorado rivers.

• T

• F

In Massachusetts, farmers rose up and closed the courts to prevent them from foreclosing upon their debt-encumbered farms. Shays’ Rebellion showed that the Articles government was too strong.

• T

• F

King George III said “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

• T

• F

The delegates, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, planned to revise the Articles, but ended up with a new Constitution, which we still use today.

• T

• F

The delegates agreed on many things – the government should have executive, legislative, and judicial branches and should be a direct democracy, rather than a representative government.

• T

• F

Alexander Hamilton wanted the President and Senate to serve life terms, but that was rejected due to concern about potential tyranny by the government or the people.

• T

• F

One big conflict at the Constitutional Convention was between states with big populations and those with small populations. The Great Compromise created two houses, both with representation proportional to each state’s population.

• T

• F

Another conflict, slavery and how to “count” slaves when it came to representation and taxes, was “solved” with the 3/5ths compromise; it said 3/5ths of “other persons” would count towards population totals.

• T

• F