https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h en-us 2017-01-15 19:22:47 UTC 2017-05-17 05:11:46 UTC hello@padlet.com becca9866 https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147257010    The Articles of Confederation were the first written constitution of the United States. It was kind of like the rough draft of our Constitution now. It had many weaknesses, for example the lack of power given to the government. The Articles gave Congress the power to pass laws but no power to enforce those laws. If a state did not support a federal law, they could just ignore it. Congress had no power to levy taxes or regulate trade. There was also no executive branch of government. All of these weaknesses lead to Shay"s rebellion, a series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections.
  Although there were more weaknesses, there still were some strengths of the Articles of Confederation. Something that could be considered a strength was Congress had the highest power in the nation. Another strength was the Northwest Ordinance, which defined the process of admitting new states.
    ]]> 2017-01-15 19:24:31 UTC https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147257010 becca9866 https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147258179 One important compromise was the Great Compromise. A delegate from Connecticut, Roger Sherman, had an idea of a two-house legislature, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate would have an equal number of representatives from each state. This would be good for the states with smaller populations. The House of Representatives would include one representative for each 30,000 individuals in a state. This made the states with larger populations happy. This two-house legislature plan worked for all states and became known as the Great Compromise.
    Another important compromise was the 3/5 Compromise. This meant that 3/5 of the slave population would be counted as actual people in the state's population. When choosing Representatives or the number of seats in the House of Representatives, only three out of five slaves would count. This was good for the Southern states, because they had the most slaves.
    The last important compromise was how to choose a president. Some people wanted Congress to appoint a person that would become President. Others wanted the people to pick a president. The decision they made was that the Electoral College, a special body of people, would pick the president. Below is a picture representing the Electoral College.]]> 2017-01-15 19:44:28 UTC https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147258179 becca9866 https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259286 There are three branches of government, legislative, executive, and judicial. The President of the United States is in charge of the Executive Branch of our government. He enforces the laws that the Legislative Branch makes. The President is elected by United States citizens, who vote in the presidential elections in their states. These votes are tallied by states and form the Electoral College system. States have the number of electoral votes which make the number of senators and representatives they have. It is possible to have the most popular votes throughout the nation and not win the electoral vote of the Electoral College. 
The Legislative part of our government is called Congress. Congress makes our laws and is divided into two parts. One part is called the Senate. There are 100 Senators, two from each of our states. Another part is called the House of Representatives. Representatives meet together to discuss ideas and decide if these bills should become laws. There are 435 Representatives. The number of representatives each state gets is determined by its population. Some states have just 2 representatives. Others have as many as 40. Both senators and representatives are elected by the voters in their states. 
The Judicial part of our federal government includes the Supreme Court and 9 Justices. They are special judges who interpret laws according to the Constitution. These justices only hear cases that are related to issues related to the Constitution. They are the highest court in our country. The federal judicial system also has lower courts l in each state to hear cases involving federal issues]]> 2017-01-15 20:02:55 UTC https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259286 becca9866 https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259322 Checks and Balances are used to keep one branch of government from getting too powerful. The president, in the executive branch, could veto a law passed by Congress, the Legislative branch. The Judicial branch could also say the law is unconstitutional and not make it a law. Below is a picture representing checks and balances.]]> 2017-01-15 20:03:44 UTC https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259322 becca9866 https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259338 Federalism is a system of government where the state government shares power with the national government. An example of a power of the National government is the power to declare war. An example of a power the state government is the power to set up schools. A concurrent power is the power to collect taxes]]> 2017-01-15 20:03:54 UTC https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259338 becca9866 https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259364 The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Here is a list of the rights protected by each amendment:
1. Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.

2.Right to keep and bear arms in order to maintain a well regulated militia.

3. No quartering of soldiers.

4.Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

5. Right to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy.

6.Rights of accused persons or right to a speedy and public trial.

7. Right of trial by jury in civil cases. 

8. Freedom from excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishments.

9. Other rights of the people. 

10. Powers reserved to the states.
Below is a picture of the Bill of Rights]]> 2017-01-15 20:04:22 UTC https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259364 becca9866 https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259379 The first two political parties were the Federalists and Democratic Republicans. Federalists believed in loose construction, or a broader interpretation of the Constitution. Democratic republicans believed in a strict construction of the constitution.]]> 2017-01-15 20:04:41 UTC https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259379 becca9866 https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259414 The Whiskey Rebellion was a protest lead by farmers against the tax on whiskey. Farmers distilled their bulky wheat into whiskey so it could be shipped cheaper, but with this new tax it  would be more expensive. It was similar to Shay's Rebellion because it was also a protest. It is different because it was lead by farmers. Below is a picture of Shay's Rebellion.]]> 2017-01-15 20:05:15 UTC https://padlet.com/becca9866/rwriq5mtry2h/wish/147259414