Unit 4

Unit 4 

During Unit 4, Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution, we will identify both the pros and cons of the Articles of Confederation and how the U.S. Constitution was created.  

We will identify political and economic factors that led to the failure of the Articles of Confederation, America's first form of government following the American Revolution. 

We will examine how the Articles gave too much power to the States and created a federal Government that was powerless to tax and too weak for enforcement. 

We will analyze why having only one Branch of government, The Legislature, without the Executive branch (no President) and Judicial Branch (no National court system) proved to be a major problem. 

We will study the economic problems in the United States that led to Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts, which demonstrated the weakness of the Articles of Confederation. 

We will also identify solutions with the creation of the Northwest Ordinance, which outlawed slavery in the Northwest Territory, an achievement. 

Lastly, we will examine the physical geography of how America was expanding thanks to the Northwest Ordinance which allowed for orderly expansion from territories to states based on population growth.