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Presentation Plus! United States Government: Democracy in Action
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Chapter Focus
Section 1 The Colonial Period
Section 2 Uniting for Independence
Section 3 The Articles of
Confederation
Section 4 The Constitutional
Convention
Chapter Assessment
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The Colonial Period
Key Terms
limited government, representative
government, separation of powers 
Find Out
• What events of the early American
colonial experience led colonists to
believe they would have representative
government? 
• In what ways were the American colonies
democratic? In what ways were they not
democratic?
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information. Additional lecture notes appear on the following slides.
Representative Government
• The colonists had a firm belief in
representative government, a
government in which people elect
delegates to make laws and conduct
government. 
• The English Parliament was a
representative assembly with the power
to enact laws.
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Government in the Colonies
• The present system of American
government evolved from the thirteen
English colonies. 
• Democracy existed in the colonies, but not
in its present form. Women and enslaved
persons could not vote, and every colony
had some type of property qualification for
voting. 
• Many colonists remained intolerant of
religious dissent.
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Government in the Colonies (cont.)
• Despite such shortcomings, the colonists
established the following practices: 
– a written constitution that guaranteed basic
liberties and limited the power of government 
– a legislature of elected representatives 
– the separation of powers between the
governor (the chief executive) and the
legislature 
• Today the United States government
embodies each of these practices.
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Written Constitutions
• The colonial period featured government
according to a written plan. 
• The first such plan was the Mayflower
Compact, written by the Pilgrims on the
Mayflower anchored off the New England
coast. It was signed in 1620. 
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Separation of Powers
• Colonial charters divided the power of
government into three branches: executive,
legislative, and judicial. This principle of
separation of powers was later
incorporated into the Constitution. 
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Taxing the Colonies (cont.)
• In retaliation Parliament passed the
Coercive Acts, which the colonists called
the Intolerable Acts. 
• One of these acts closed Boston Harbor.
Another withdrew the right of the
Massachusetts colony to govern itself. 
• By the early 1770s, events clearly showed
that revolution was imminent.
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Colonial Unity (cont.)
• By the 1760s harsh new British policies
spurred American unity. 
• Colonists began thinking of themselves as
Americans, and colonial leaders began to
take political action against what they felt
was British oppression.
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The First Continental Congress
• The Intolerable Acts prompted the First
Continental Congress, a general meeting
of the colonies (except Georgia), on
September 5, 1774. 
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The First Continental Congress (cont.)
• On April 19, 1775, the British Redcoats
clashed with the colonial minutemen at
Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. 
• This clash, later called the “shot heard
’round the world,” was the first battle of the
Revolutionary War.
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The Declaration of Independence
• Congress promptly named a committee
to prepare a written declaration of
independence. The committee asked
Thomas Jefferson to write the draft. 
• On July 4, 1776, the Congress approved
the final draft of the Declaration of
Independence. 
• A statement of the reasons for
independence, the document actually was
entitled The unanimous Declaration of the
thirteen united States of America.
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The Articles of Confederation
Key Terms
ratify, unicameral, cede, ordinance 
Find Out
• What weakness of the Articles of
Confederation made enforcing the laws
of Congress impossible? 
• What evidence shows that financial
problems were the main cause of the call
to amend the Articles of Confederation?
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Additional lecture notes appear on the following slides.
The Articles of Confederation
Understanding Concepts
Federalism What deficiencies in the
Articles of Confederation made them too
weak to ensure the peace and tranquility
of the United States? 
Section Objective
Explain the weaknesses and achievements
of the Articles of Confederation.
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Additional lecture notes appear on the following slides.
Government Under the Articles
• Under the Articles, the plan for government
was simple. It included: 
– a unicameral, or single-chamber, Congress
in which each state had one vote 
– no executive branch or federal court system 
– a Committee of the States made up of one
delegate from each state to manage the
government when Congress was not
assembled 
• Every state legislature selected its own
representatives to Congress.
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Government Under the Articles
(cont.)
• Congressional powers
included the powers to… 
– make war and peace. 
– send and receive ambassadors. 
– enter into treaties. 
– raise and equip a navy. 
– maintain an army by requesting troops from the states. 
– appoint senior military officers. 
– fix standards of weights and measures. 
– regulate Indian affairs. 
– establish post offices. 
– decide certain disputes among the states.
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Need for Stronger Government
• Despite its achievements, the structure of
the central government could not
coordinate the actions of the states
effectively.
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Growing Problems
• Soon after the war, the states began to
quarrel, mainly over boundary lines and
tariffs. 
• The new nation faced serious debt to
foreign nations and to American soldiers
still unpaid after the Revolutionary War. 
• By 1786 an economic depression in the
states left many farmers and small
merchants angry and in debt.
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The Constitutional Convention
Understanding Concepts
Civil Liberties Why do you think
many people insisted on a Bill of Rights in
the Constitution? 
Section Objective
Describe the creation and ratification of the
Constitution.
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Additional lecture notes appear on the following slides.
The Convention Begins
• The delegates to the Convention were
very experienced in politics, and the
presence of men like George Washington
and Benjamin Franklin gave the
Convention legitimacy. 
• James Madison, a brilliant advocate of a
strong national government, is called the
Father of the Constitution because he
was the author of the basic plan of
government that the Convention
eventually adopted.
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Key Agreements
• While the delegates originally came
together to revise the Articles, they
eventually decided to abandon the former
government and begin again. 
• They agreed on many basic issues,
including… 
– the idea of a limited and representative
government. 
– a division of powers among three branches
of government. 
– the national government must be
strengthened.
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The Three-Fifths Compromise
• A second compromise settled a
disagreement over how to determine how
many representatives each state would
have in the House. 
• A debate between the Northern and
Southern states was settled by counting
three-fifths of the enslaved population for
both tax purposes and for representation in
Congress.
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Ratifying the Constitution
• For the new Constitution to become law,
9 of the 13 states had to ratify it. 
• It went into effect on June 21, 1788, when
New Hampshire became the ninth state to
ratify it.
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The Federalists and
Anti-Federalists
• The great debate over ratification quickly
divided people in the states into
Federalists, who favored the Constitution,
and anti-Federalists, who opposed the
Constitution. 
• The Anti-Federalists feared a strong
national government and claimed the
document was extralegal, not sanctioned
by law, since the Convention had been
authorized only to revise the old Articles.
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The Federalists and
Anti-Federalists (cont.)
• The Federalists, led by many of the
Founders, argued that without a strong
national government, anarchy, or political
disorder, would triumph. 
• They claimed that only a strong national
government could protect the new nation
from enemies abroad and solve the
country’s internal problems.
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The Federalists and
Anti-Federalists (cont.)
• To gain the necessary support, the
Federalists promised to add a Bill of Rights
as the first order of business under a new
government.
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Progress Toward Ratification
• With the promise of a Bill of Rights,
the tide turned in favor of the
Constitution. 
• Many small states ratified it quickly
because they were pleased with
equal representation in the new
Senate. 
• Ratification, however, was difficult to
win in New York and Virginia.
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• End of Part 1