FOCUS QUESTIONS FOR TOPIC I :
Read Chapter Nine in the US History E-Book in preparation for this topic then answer these questions.
1. The Articles of Confederation are often described as as "weak" national governent, why do you think the delegates to the 2nd Continental Congress drew up such a weak document?
2. List the main problems encountered in drafting the Constitution of 1787. How were these problems solved?
3. Some historians say that the Constitution was a conservative reaction against the liberalism of the Articles of Confederation. How was the Constitution less demoncratic than the Articles?
4. Why was the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution? How did these amendments change the character of the Constitution?
FOCUS QUESTIONS FOR TOPIC II:
Use the following questions to guide your thinking and to prepare for the class discussion.
- Why did the Republicans believe in strict Constitutional interpretation?
- What danger did the Republicans see in giving seemingly unlimited powers to the national government?
- How did the Federalists think the Constitution should be interpreted?
- Think of the national government as a horse and the Constitution as either a set of spurs or a set of reins. Which of the two parties would use it as a set of spurs to make the government horse go faster and which would use it as a set of reins to slow down the government horse?
- What reasons did the Federalists give in their writings to support the idea of a strong national government?
- How do the Federalists and the Republicans of the 1790s compare to the Republicans and Democrats of the twenty-first century?
- Pleas try to find a quote by Thomas Jefferson which illustrates his political opinions.