The Epic Fail that Led to the Creation of our Constitution
Learning Goal: Students will be able to describe why the Articles of Confederation failed and recognize the ways our Constitution provided a more efficient government.
Hook: Our Epic Fails
On your own, or with the other people at your table, I would like you to think of a time when you tried to do something but you failed in a really funny way. I, personally, have had many experiences like this - my favorite of which being last year in student teaching when I asked a group of kids to get into pairs so I told them to count off by two... Even they knew that wasn't going to work but they still did what I asked out of respect. Only after they had all counted off did I realize why this wouldn't work! It is still fun to look back and laugh at that moment now that the embarrassment has warn off! What are some of your epic fails?
The Problems with the Articles of Confederation
In groups I would like you to list out all of the things that a successful person needs to be able to do in order to live a happy, healthy, successful life. Think about managing money, working with other people, taking care of yourself, fixing problems in your life, etc.
After you have created this list, please think about the same question but in terms of government. What does a government need to be able to do to run a successful country. Think about a successful country in terms of one that can work well with other countries, keep its own citizens happy, protect itself, be a good ally to other nations, etc.
Now that we have thought about what a successful country needs to be able to do, lets look at why the articles of confederation were not able to do that. Together we will read the following article from U.S. History Scene. America's First Failure at Government - U.S. History Scene
So How Did the Constitution Fix These Issues?
The Founding Fathers realized that there was a huge issue with the Articles of Confederation. To address the issue they called the Constitutional Convention that was meant to fix the articles but instead created an entirely new document.
For homework I would like you to answer the following questions so that I know you understand this and so you have these facts where they are easily accessible for the debate we will work on next time.
What were the Articles of Confederation?
What was wrong with these Articles?
How did the Constitution fix the issues of the Articles?