Analyzing the Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and Creation of US Constitution

Part I: Hook
The teacher begins lesson asking students:

• Have you ever made up rules for a game and then found when playing, that the rules did not work well?
• What kinds of problems did you have and what did you do to fix the problems?
• Did players disagree about how to fix or change the rules?
• How were disagreements settled? Did you include others in remaking the rules?

 
Who should be involved in making the rules? Let’s think about this when we think about the US government?

• If everyone does not have an equal say or is not involved in making the rules does this weaken who will follow the rules?

 
Part II: Intro

1. Explain to students that you will be exploring the rules of the United States and how they were created and eventually re-written.

Have students watch the video from History in a Nutshell, Birth of a Constitution
                Students should write down 5 facts learned after viewing the video about:
Life after the American Revolution and the first rules created for America.
 
Part III - Review Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation – Why did these rules not work/last?

1. Review the PowerPoint presentation on the creation of the Articles of Confederation OR have students access the following link to discover why the Article of Confederation failed:

https://www.thoughtco.com/why-articles-of-confederation-failed-104674
Under the Articles of Confederation, which government had more power: the national government or the state government?
Why do you think the colonists had concerns about a strong central government?
What were the responsibilities of Congress under the Articles of Confederation?
What powers were denied Congress under the Articles of Confederation?

1. Have students watch this video and then explain how Shay’s Rebellion brought out some of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation:

https://youtu.be/OaKgLHy2eBA - video
http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/shays.html - article

1. Have students analyze other reasons why the Articles of Confederation may have failed by looking at the image of the signers of the Articles of Confederation:

https://www.knowitall.org/photo-gallery/birth-constitution-photos
https://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/jan03/images/photo01-revolution.jpg
This image can either be shown to students on the Smartboard/overhead or via a learning sharing system like Edmodo. If sharing via learning system like Edmodo students can answer these questions via a Word or Google doc and submit to teacher.
Ask them to think about/brainstorm who is there? Who do they think is missing? Why?

• Some answers could include women, people of color

 
 
Part III: Create Articles of Confederation Meme

1. Have students review the meme’s for the Constitution here https://www.knowitall.org/photo-gallery/birth-constitution-memes
2. Assign students or pick an identity from the following list and have students create a meme based on their assigned or chosen perspective about the Articles of Confederation.

O       State’s rights supporter
O       Big government supporter
O       Southern farmer
O       Northern upper-class intellectual
O       Woman
O       Minority
 
Part III: The US Constitution
End lesson with explaining to students the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation led to the creation of new rules eventually known as the US Constitution.
A teacher facilitated inquiry on the creation of the US Constitution can be found here https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/creating-the-us-constitution/teaching-guide
 

Students can be graded on their meme using the link to a historical meme rubric found in the resources section.