HISTORY and the HIGHWAY with Stan Ellsworth The Do-Over: The U.S. CONSTITUTION Monday Mission # 5
HISTORY and the HIGHWAYwith Stan Ellsworth
The Do-Over: The U.S. CONSTITUTION
Q: Why did we avoid creating a strong central government the Articles of Confederation?
A: We didn’t want to take the chance of ever having to experience tyranny again! (…like the tyranny we experienced before the Revolutionary War when we were governed by King George III of England)
Q: In the Articles of Confederation, which entity was given all the power? The federal government? Or the states? A: The states
Q: What were the negative consequences of having more power given to the states and hardly any power given to the federal government?
A: Each state became its own little country and could print its own money, enact its own tax system, and govern its own interstate commerce… We were not “united” states. Additionally, the federal government didn’t have any power to require the states to give them money, for example, to help pay for even the basics of arming, feeding, clothing, and sheltering the Continental Army.
Q: What was George Washington’s initial (first) idea of how to bring the states together?
A: George Washington wanted to link all the states’ economies together by linking all the states’ natural rivers and waterways with a system of canals. (This would also make communication and transportation of goods easier and faster among the states.)
Q: Could Maryland and Virginia – or any of the other states in subsequent meetings – come to any agreement on digging a system of canals together?
A:No
Q: What DID all the states agree on? A: Having a constitutional convention of the states in Pennsylvania to discuss and solve the serious issues confronting ALL the states.
Q: When and where was the Constitutional Convention held?
A: The summer of 1787 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Q: Who was elected president of the convention?
A: George Washington
Q: Did everyone agree on everything at the convention?
A:No. There were a lot of different ideas which were discussed and sometimes hotly argued between state delegates.
Q: How long did it take for the state delegates to finally finish creating our new form of government? A: 4 months.
Q: Which delegate masterminded and put together all the best ideas of our new form of government in the U.S. Constitution?
A: James Madison (aka: “Father of the U.S. Constitution”)
Q: Which delegate suggested the newly created U.S. Constitution was their best work and that it was ready to present to the people?
A: Benjamin Franklin
Q: What is the date when the state delegates at the Constitutional Convention officially approved the U.S. Constitution for the American people to review and ratify?
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