The Words We Live By

What do the following lines mainly reveal about the Constitution (paragraph 2)? But who are "We the People"? This question troubled the nation for centuries. As Lucy Stone, one of America's first advocates for women's rights, asked in 1853: "'We the People'? Which 'We the People'? The women were not included." Neither were white males who did not own property, American Indians, or African Americans—slave or free.

• The writers of the Constitution were not aware that other people living in America wanted rights.
• For the first sixty-plus years, the Constitution only included property-owning white men.
• The Constitution eventually included everyone it originally left out by 1853.
• Americans would have been better off had the Constitution given power to the courts or a king instead of the people.

What is most likely the author’s reason for including criticisms of the Constitution, such as those by Lucy Stone, Thurgood Marshall and Benjamin Franklin?

• She intends to silence their criticisms by showing how theses critics were defeated.
• She wants the reader to create their own criticisms of the Preamble.
• She believes their criticisms will undermine the Constitution and leave us searching for a new document.
• She wants to show how criticisms helped improve the Constitution over the years.

Part A Paragraph 10 shows a continuation of what type of text structure?

• descriptive
• cause and effect
• chronological
• sequential

Part B How does this structure serve to convey meaning to readers?

• This structure reminds readers of the original style used by the drafters of the Constitution.
• This structure organizes facts in chronological order to give a clear history lesson to readers.
• This structure highlights the deep effect that these words have had on American history.
• This structure reminds readers to think more deeply about each word in the Constitution.

How does the structure of paragraph 11 convey meaning to readers?

• . Compare and contrast structure serves to show that the Constitution was not created without conflict.
• Sequential structure is used to highlight the steps that led up to ratification.
• Chronological structure explains how supporters for the Constitution evolved over a period of many years.
• Description structure adds detail to enrich the readers’ understanding of the time period.

Which of the following statements best describes an effect the Civil War had on the development of the United States?

• . It brought together the country as more of a unified body than the states had previously been.
• . It secured women’s right to vote.
• It immediately brought equal rights to African-Americans as citizens of the United States.
• It made the United States much more wealthy.

Which of the following best explains a central idea of this passage from The Words We Live By?

• The decision to leave the Constitution open to changes led to many improvements to it in the decades and centuries that followed.
• Much of the strength of the original version of the Constitution came from how unified those involved with its creation were.
• The writers of the Constitution had an amazing vision as to how many effects their words would have on the United States over many years that would follow.
• The Preamble turned out to have little bearing on the future of the United States.

Which sentence from the text most strongly supports the central idea??

• “From the beginning, Americans and others have disagreed about its relative merits.”
• “When the founding fathers used this phrase in 1787, they did not have in mind the majority of America's citizens.”
• “The first three words of the Constitution are the most important.”
• “The Constitution was not perfect, but rather perfectible—through the amendment process.”

Which of these inferences is best supported by the following passage? As the other delegates were signing the Constitution, Franklin remarked to those nearby that, throughout the convention, he had wondered whether the sun carved on the back of George Washington's chair was rising or setting. "Now," he said, "I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun."

• Franklin had full confidence throughout the Constitutional Convention that the delegates would find the best solutions.
• Franklin did not vote to ratify the Constitution.
• Franklin was never sure if he could fully trust George Washington.
• Franklin was optimistic about the Constitution’s chances for success.

Which of these inferences about the effects of the Constitution is most strongly supported by the text?

• The ratification of the Constitution immediately made groups who had limited rights feel included in this new idea of America.
• The amendment process wound up taking away many of the original freedoms given by the first draft of the Constitution.
• The founding fathers wrote the Constitution knowing that a civil war was one day likely to occur.
• Signing the Constitution into effect did not bring the United States together as much as supporters of the Constitution may have hoped it would.