US History Unit 3: The Late 1700’s

This unit included the Constitution as well as the first two presidents. We started with Crash Course US History videos #8 “The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism” and #9 “Where US Politics Came From.” For the Constitution, we used a detailed worksheet (similar to those on thiswebsite) with questions about what powers and duties were assigned in the articles, the Bill of Rights and the evolution of the amendments. We also studied the differences between the Constitution and the Articles of Confederacy, and finished with a graphic organizer showing the separation of powers. This unit also included the first two President's Day studies for Washington and Adams.

These were this unit’s test questions:

1. Explain the differences between the ideals of the Federalists and the Republicans. Give examples of three key decisions made due to the arguments of either side, i.e. outcomes of the Federalist papers.
2. What is a federal system of government? What are the arguments in favor and against the national government having more power?
3. Explain how the change in a state’s population can help or hurt that state’s influence in the national government.
4. Describe precedents set by Washington that were not originally required by law. Did any of those later become law?
5. How was John Adam’s presidency affected by having two different political parties?

This unit also marked the start of examining how political parties and power influence the policies of the federal government – something we still see today.