CLASS #16 Rewind  10/4/2012
The Articles of Confederation

This class was driven by the following essential question for Topic #2

 #1 What were the achievements & failures of the Articles of Confederation? 

#2 How did the framers of the Constitution address the weaknesses of the Articles while trying to avoid a tyrannical government? 

#3  How was the conflict over ratification shaped by political, economic and social differences?

1. Comments on the Presidential Debate 
As a class we viewed the candidates answers to the "Role of the Federal Government" 
The 2012 Presidential Debate (video) Role of Government 

OBAMA: The first role of the federal government is to keep the American people safe. That's its most basic function. And as commander-in-chief, that is something that I've worked on and thought about every single day that I've been in the Oval Office.   But I also believe that government has the capacity, the federal government has the capacity to help open up opportunity and create ladders of opportunity and to create frameworks where the American people can succeed.

Look, the genius of America is the free enterprise system and freedom and the fact that people can go out there and start a business, work on an idea, make their own decisions.   But as Abraham Lincoln understood, there are also some things we do better together. So, in the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said, let's help to finance the Transcontinental Railroad, let's start the National Academy of Sciences, let's start land grant colleges, because we want to give these gateways of opportunity for all Americans, because if all Americans are getting opportunity, we're all going to be better off. That doesn't restrict people's freedom. That enhances it.

And so what I've tried to do as president is to apply those same principles. And when it comes to education what I've said is we've got to reform schools that are not working. We use something called Race to the Top. Wasn't a top-down approach, Governor. What we've said is to states, we'll give you more money if you initiate reforms. And as a consequence, you had 46 states around the country who have made a real difference.   But what I've also said is let's hire another 100,000 math and science teachers to make sure we maintain our technological lead and our people are skilled and able to succeed. And hard-pressed states right now can't all do that. In fact we've seen layoffs of hundreds of thousands of teachers over the last several years, and Governor Romney doesn't think we need more teachers. I do, because I think that that is the kind of investment where the federal government can help. It can't do it all, but it can make a difference. And as a consequence we'll have a better trained workforce and that will create jobs because companies want to locate in places where we've got a skilled workforce.

ROMNEY: The role of government: Look behind us. The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The role of government is to promote and protect the principles of those documents. First, life and liberty. We have a responsibility to protect the lives and liberties of our people, and that means a military second to none. I do not believe in cutting our military. I believe in maintaining the strength of America's military.  Second, in that line that says we are endowed by our creator with our rights, I believe we must maintain our commitment to religious tolerance and freedom in this country. That statement also says that we are endowed by our creator with the right to pursue happiness as we choose. I interpret that as, one, making sure that those people who are less fortunate and can't care for themselves are cared by -- by one another. We're a nation that believes that we're all children of the same god and we care for those that have difficulties, those that are elderly and have problems and challenges, those that are disabled. We care for them. And we -- we look for discovery and innovation, all these things desired out of the American heart to provide the pursuit of happiness for our citizens.    But we also believe in maintaining for individuals the right to pursue their dreams and not to have the government substitute itself for the rights of free individuals. And what we're seeing right now is, in my view, a -- a trickle-down government approach, which has government thinking it can do a better job than free people pursuing their dreams. And it's not working.   And the proof of that is 23 million people out of work. The proof of that is 1 out of 6 people in poverty. The proof of that is we've gone from 32 million on food stamps to 47 million on food stamps. The proof of that is that 50 percent of college graduates this year can't find work.

After the viewing we made connections to our current topic and President Obama's reference to Land Grant Colleges (this cam up in our conversation about the Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance of 1787)

#2 Re-Set Weaknesses of the Articles - CASE STUDIES

Last class we ended with notes on the Weaknesses of the Articles using the powerpoint linked here - Weaknesses of the Articles we completed the graphic organizer 

#3 Notes- Structural Weaknesses of the Articles - We covered the key structural weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and the consequence of each weakness - You can view the completed note sheet HERE

#4  VIDEO 10 Days that Changed American - Shays's Rebellion America's  First Civil War (20 minutes)

Guided Viewing - America's First Civil War  - Shays's Rebellion (VIDEO 6 min segment "Seeds of Rebellion"
 

Read more about Shay's Rebellion to help complete the guided viewing worksheet for homework

HW: Reminder request access to our class wiki atwww.ballstonrush.pbworks.com  and/or update profile; Finish guided viewing handout