The document discusses the creation of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. It explains that the Committee of Detail wrote the first draft using the Virginia Plan as inspiration. There was debate around having a strong national government, which was addressed through federalism and separating powers among three branches of government. The Bill of Rights was later added to protect individual freedoms and limit the power of the national government.

1. Lesson 3 Constitution and Bill of
Rights
Bellringer: What was the purpose of the
Philadelphia Convention?

2. Guiding Questions
 What outside sources did the Framers
use to inspire our constitution?
 What was a concern about having a
strong national government and how
did they remedy this?

3. “These things happened. They were glorious and
they changed the world... and then we screwed
up the endgame.”
3/5 Compromise
 What was it and what do you think about it?
 How does it look when the delegates who
decided our individual rights made that
compromise?

4. Constitution and Bill of Rights
Committee of
Detail wrote first
draft of the
Constitution
Used Virginia
Plan
Had to eliminate
ambiguities

5. Committee Gets to Work
 Committee
postponed some
decisions about
the constitution,
but completed
some major
decisions
 4 year presidency
 More powers to
the President
 Committee of
Style and
Arrangement
made final copy
 Stewart Morris
wrote the
preamble

6. Constitutional Government
 Limits on the powers of the person or group
running the government
 Autocratic of dictatorial government have no limits

7. Ratification
 Washington signed it first
 The Constitution was then sent to the states
to be ratified
 It was to be the “supreme law of the land”
 No state could make laws or take actions that went
against the Constitution
 Final authority
 Settled disputes between states and national government

8. Inspiration
 Many ideas embedded in the Constitution
came from the study of past European
political establishments
 Parliament of Britain
 Enlightenment

9. Strong Federal Government
 John Locke and Montesquieu both called for
separation of power
 Federalism; created a system in which power was
divided between national and state government
 National government was on top though
 National government could tax, regulate trade,
control currency, raise an army, and declare war

10. 3 Branches
 Constitution divided the government into 3
branches
 Executive, legislative, and judicial
 Stated in the first 3 Articles
 Article I; Legislative
 Congress
 Law-making body
 Article II; Executive
 Headed by President
 Article III; Judicial
 “One supreme court” and other lower federal courts
 Series of checks, balances, and vetoes

11. Bill of Rights
 Delegates worried, however,
without a list of individual rights
the new, stronger national
government allotted by this
constitution might abuse its
power
 Created Bill of Rights
 1st 10 Amendments of the
Constitution
 Focused on personal freedoms

12. Bill of Rights
 Natural rights serving as limitations on national
government
 Used English Bill of Rights as inspiration (1689)
 As well as Virginia Declaration of Rights and Locke’s
Two Treatise on Government

13. Constitution Debates
 http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-
news/46861641#46861641
 “Obama Healthcare Law Faces Key Supreme
Court Test”

14. Exit Card
 In your packet
 What steps were taken to write our constitution?

15. Building a Country
 Create your own country with your group
 Decide what type of country you would have
 Constitution
 Type of Government
 Taxes
 Laws
 Write a basic outline like the Virginia Plan