0402 United States of Debt (1789)
The institution’s roots can be traced to 1775 when America’s leaders were looking for ways to fund the Revolutionary War. Their solution—issuing cash that doubled as redeemable “bills of credit”—raised enough capital to fuel the revolution but also led to the country’s first debt. Hamilton, who was assigned as the Secretary of the Treasury, soon […]
0401 Republic Unit Overview
1500-1877: Washington’s Presidency- As the first President, George Washington set many precedents, or examples to be followed by others in the future. The American Revolution had left the nation deeply in debt. It fell to Alexander Hamilton, the new Secretary of the Treasury, to come up with a plan to solve the financial crisis. Congress […]
0314 Constitution Unit Assessment Review
0313 Constitution Unit Assessment
0312 Constitution Unit Review
0311 Bill of Rights
Freedom of speech, religion, and the press. The right to assemble, bear arms, and due process. These are just some of the first 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights. But they weren’t included in the original U.S. Constitution, and James Madison, the bill’s chief drafter, had to be convinced they belonged in […]
0310 Ratification
The Federalist Papers, in particular, argued in favor of ratification and sought to convince people that the new government would not become tyrannical. Finally, in June 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve the Constitution, making it the law of the land. The large and prosperous states of Virginia and New York followed […]
0309 Federalists and Anti-federalists
One of the great debates in American history was over the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-1788. Both the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists were concerned with the preservation of liberty, however, they disagreed over whether or not a strong national government would preserve or eventually destroy the liberty of the American people. Lesson Plan Presentation […]
0308 Compromise (1787)
The Great Compromise was forged in a heated dispute during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates from larger states believed each state’s representation in the newly proposed Senate should be proportionate to its population. Smaller states with lower populations argued that such an arrangement would lead to an unfair dominance […]
0307 Governmental Disagreements (1787)
States with larger populations wanted congressional representation based on population, while smaller states demanded equal representation. To keep the convention from dissolving into chaos, the founding fathers came up with the Great Compromise. The disagreement over representation threatened to derail the ratification of the U.S. Constitution since delegates from both sides of the dispute vowed […]
