Americans used to be ruled by a king. Our Constitution helps to
make sure that this will not happen again. But how did we get the Constitution?
Too Many
Taxes
Britain ruled over America until the 1770s. Britain made laws that
required Americans to pay a lot of taxes. Americans did not think this was
fair. Americans did not get to help make British laws, so why should they have
to follow them?
We Want
to Be Free!
Some Americans did not mind all the rules. They liked Britain.
Other Americans were unhappy. They wanted America to be a free country.
In 1775, the British sent soldiers to America. The two sides
fought, and America won its freedom.
A New
Government
During the war, America thought about what it would mean to win
it. It would need its own government.
In 1776,
Americans wrote the rules for a government, but this first government did not
work well. It gave the states a lot of power and did not put anyone in charge
of the whole country. There was nothing holding the states together.
The
states got together to change this in 1787. Leaders wrote our Constitution. The
Constitution said that the government would have three parts. The president
would be in charge. But there would also be lawmakers. And there would be a
group of judges.
Why does the government have three parts? Each part watches over
the other parts. That is why a president can never decide to be king. If he
did, the other parts of the government would stop him.
On
September 17, 1787, the states signed the Constitution. It has protected our
freedom ever since.
Dig
Deeper
There's an old saying. It goes, "Be careful what you wish
for, because you just might get it." Think about what you read in
"Freedom: How We Got It." In 1776, Americans did not want to create a
strong federal government. So they set up a weak federal government. It gave
most of the power to the states. But this kind of government didn't work.
The new government had problems almost right away. The rules did
not give Congress the power to tax, so the federal government had little money.
It had to wait for the states to give it money. There were other problems, too.
Congress didn't have the power to make rules about trade between states, or
between the U.S. and other countries. It was hard to pass new laws. Each new
law needed the OK from 9 of the 13 states. Once a new law was passed, there was
no way to see that it was carried out. Many times, these problems were clear.
But they were hard to fix. Any changes to the laws needed the OK of all 13
states. All 13 states did not often agree.
In 1786, farmers in Massachusetts were unhappy. They rebelled
against their state government. The state had refused to help them during hard
times. The state put down Shays' Rebellion. Still, national leaders knew that a
stronger federal government was needed. They might not be able to put down a
bigger uprising. Federal leaders worried about money, too. A meeting was called
for the summer of 1787. The leaders planned to change the rules for the
government. But it became clear that changes were not enough. It would be best
to just start over.
The Constitution was written. Its creators tried to keep as much
state power as possible. They also made the federal government strong. They
came up with the idea of three branches of government. That way, power was
shared. The national government couldn't grow too powerful. What else did the
Constitution say? National laws carried more power than state laws. And
Congress got the power to tax.
Americans were lucky to get a second chance to set up a
government. It has worked well for more than 200 years.
Question for the
day
|
Question for day 1:
What is this article mainly
about?
a)
Fighting
a war with Britain
b)
Writing
the Constitution
c)
Paying
taxes to Britain
d)
Changing
the Constitution
|
Question for day 2:
What do lawmakers
create?
a)
Kings
b)
Books
c)
Parts
d)
Rules
|
|
Question for day 3:
Why did the first government not
work well?
A)
All of
the answers are right.
B)
It gave
the states a lot of power.
C)
It had
nothing to hold the states together.
D)
It did
not put anyone in charge of the whole country.
|
Question for day 4:
What does the reader not
know from the story?
|
Quiz Day 5
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