Civics_Ch2_convention-simulation

=**Constitutional Convention Simulation**=

**You be the delegate!**
__Directions__: Answer the following case scenarios. Then, after you've completed your document, compare to what the Founding Fathers' decisions were.

__Problem #1 - printing money__: One of the major problems facing the young nation under the Articles of Confederation was an economic depression in the mid-1780s. The major reason was that the Continental Congress was printing money without backing it with something of value (like gold or silver). They did this because wars are expensive and war supplies need to be paid for. Therefore, they printed money (the Continental dollar) claiming that it was redeemable in something of value in order to finance the war. The problem was the Continental dollar didn't have value. The more they printed the less value it had. As a result, prices increase and the Continental dollar can't buy as much as it did before more was printed. The chart below shows the number of Continental dollars printed throughout the 1770s. The average person gets hurt when money is printed without demand for it since prices increase - that makes it tougher for people to afford things. This led to economic problems in the states after the Revolutionary War. The Continental dollar was losing value. This problem needed fixed. What would you do?
 * Each state be responsible for their own currency whether they want to print it or have it base on something of value.
 * Allow the central government to print money for all of the states so that all of the states are using the same money, but put a limit on how much the government can print each year.
 * Have the central government be in charge of the money for the whole nation, but have it based on something of value like gold or silver that way the money doesn't lose value - money must be based on gold or silver since gold and silver don't lose value.
 * Perhaps you have your own idea to solve this problem

__Problem #2 - strengthening the central government__: Under the Articles of Confederation, the states were 13 independent nations who formed a "league of friendship." The states were more committed to running their own affairs in their individual states and less concerned about the new whole "United States." This wouldn't have been such a big problem if the Revolutionary War debt mostly owed to France wasn't something that the all 13 needed to be concerned about. The Confederation Congress didn't have authority over all of the states unless all 13 states agreed on a measure. This was virtually impossible to accomplish especially since some states never showed up for votes at the Confederation Congress. So what do you think should be done?
 * Figure out a way to have all 13 states contribute to pay off the war debt but other than that do not create a stronger central government that has power over the states. Keep the states independent since the young nation just fought a war against a powerful oppressive government (Britain under the king). Giving power to a central government over the states could lead to this central government growing in power and becoming oppressive.
 * The states are quarreling too much and the central government under the Articles is too weak. The new nation is in danger of falling apart and if they can't pay the war debt to the French the French may try to establish America as their colony. Therefore, the central government needs to have a lot more power with the states have virtually no power. The central government should have the power to tell the states what to do. This strong of a central government wouldn't become too powerful over the people or oppressive since the voters decide who the leaders are and if they become too powerful then the voters could elect new leaders.
 * Create a stronger central government by giving the central government ONLY the powers in areas that the states aren't competent on their own. This would maintain state power. The states wouldn't be independent anymore but the central government wouldn't have total power over the states - just in the areas where the states were incompetent.

__Problem #3 - representation in the legislature__: One of the weaknesses under the Articles of Confederation was that the Confederation Congress lacked the ability to make laws for all of the states because the states were sovereign (independent or absolute authority). Since this convention is meant to fix the problems under the Articles of Confederation, it's recognized that the central government - the Congress - needed to have the ability to make laws for the entire nation - all of the states. This makes the new Congress very powerful...more powerful than the Confederation Congress. Why? Because the new Congress will be able to make laws that all 13 states had to follow, the Confederation Congress could only ASK the states to abide by laws they passed. So, how will each state be represented in the new Congress? How many delegates will each state get to send to the Congress? States with a larger population think that the number of delegates that each state sends to the new Congress should be based on population. The larger states feel this way because they believed that there should be one delegate to represent a certain number of people. They felt that if smaller states got to send the same number of delegates as the bigger states then the people in the bigger states wouldn't have equal representation as the people in the smaller states. The smaller states feared that if the bigger states got more delegates because they had larger populations then the bigger states would control the lawmaking process in the new Congress and could therefore pass laws that the smaller states didn't necessarily want. Therefore, the smaller states felt that each state should send the same number of delegates regardless of their populations. There are 8 larger states and only 5 smaller states. This leads the smaller states to fear being controlled by the larger states if the larger states get their way. The smaller states are threatening to leave. They'd rather keep their sovereignty (independence) that the states had under the confederation. What is YOUR solution to this problem? The future of the nation is depending on you to come up with a good idea.

__Problem #4 - trade disputes among the states__: Under the Articles of Confederation, the states were arguing over control of harbors, rivers, and bays that bordered several states. One of the biggest arguments was between Virginia and Maryland over control of the Chesapeake Bay. The problem was that the Confederation Congress lacked any authority to solve this dispute or other similar disputes dealing with trade. On the other hand, the states had the right to govern their own borders and establish their own trade. What is your solution?
 * Give the new central government control over all trade - trade between states, trade within states, and trade with foreign nations.
 * Give the new central government control over trade only from state to state or with foreign nations.
 * Give the new central government authority over bodies of water that states share - no other power.
 * Allow the states to continue controlling their own trade and work out their disputes in from of the new central government.

__Problem #5 - creating an executive__: One of the weaknesses under the Articles of Confederation was that there was not a central executive to enforce laws passed by the Congress. The delegates each agree that an executive needs to be created. The question is what type of executive. Another question is how to choose the executive. You have two choices to make in this issue:

Choice 1 - type of executive
 * One chief executive in charge of enforcing the laws. This chief executive would be able to appoint advisors to assist.
 * Multiple executives - three executives that work together to make decisions.

Choice 2 - choose the executive(s)
 * Congress will choose the executive(s).
 * The states will choose the executive(s).
 * The people will choose the executive(s) through voting.

__Problem #6 - creating a judiciary__: Another weakness under the Articles of Confederation was that there was no central court system to solve disputes between states. The delegates agree to form such a court system. To what extent should this central court have power?
 * The central court system should only have the power to solve disputes between states when the states can't work out the dispute on their own.
 * The central court system should have the ability to say whether or not a law passed by the Congress is fair or unfair.

__Problem #7__: The Congress has the power to make laws. Should the executive have any kind of power over the lawmaking process even though the executive is part of a different branch?

__Problem #8__: What do you think should happen to an elected official that abuses his/her power?

Scroll down to see how similar your ideas were with our Founding Fathers:









**Solutions of our Founding Fathers**
__Problem #1__: The Constitution gives the new federal government the power to coin money. The states were forbidden the ability to print money on their own. The new dollar would be based on the gold standard. Therefore, the new dollar would have value and would be backed by something of value - gold. This ensured that the federal government wouldn't grow out of control and just print money to cover their debts and reckless spending. This system was in place until 1913 when the progressives (those who favor big government and more government power of individuals) passed the Federal Reserve Act that set up the Federal Reserve System that we have today, which is the central banking system on the nation. Today, the Federal Reserve prints money without it having value based on gold or silver....just like with the Continental dollar. Here's what happens today: politicians promise to spend money in areas that are attractive to voters - voters vote for the politician that promises the spending - the government can't possibly bring in enough money for all of the spending - therefore the government spends more money than it brings in - the result is the Federal Reserve printing money to cover this yearly debt. What happens next? INFLATION - prices go up on everything because the dollar loses value. Why do you think prices have been going up on things yet income doesn't seem to be keeping up? Because the dollar can't buy as much as it could just five years ago. Why? The Fed keeps printing money and it's losing value as a result. Why? Because the government spends more money than it brings in. Why? Because voters elect the politicians that promise the most spending.

__Problem #2__: The first suggestion was basically keeping the Confederation as it was. Some states felt that the states who were more eager to fight for independence should pay more. Others felt that all the states should pay the same amount towards the war debt since the victory in the war freed all 13 states. The second option would have created what is called a unitary system...one in which the central government establishes uniform laws for the entire nation. If we had this system then there wouldn't be levels of government - all states and cities would operate the exact same way regardless of any differences. This strong central government was the type that they fought against. Even if the leaders were elected, this type of system would enable the central government to have a lot more power than the founders were willing to give it. The third option was the option that the founders chose. It's called a federal system - one in which there is a strong central government but the subdivisions (states) also have power. This was a compromise between those who wanted a stronger central government and those who wanted to maintain the Confederation. Under the federal system, the new central government was strengthened to fix the weaknesses under the Articles, but the states still maintained the bulk of their authority. The federal government that was created was ONLY to have the powers where the states weren't competent on their own...areas like trade with foreign nations and defense of the whole nation - military. The central government was ONLY to have the powers given to it by the Constitution....any other power was to be a state power. This changed in 1936 when the Supreme Court gave the federal government the authority to spend money on anything they wanted whether the states were competent in the area of spending or not. As a result, today we have a federal government with a lot of power over the people and the states. The states were suppose to have some power over the federal government originally. That has changed today as now the federal government has increased in power and more and more American people are reliant on the government rather than themselves.

__Problem #3__: This truly was the biggest argument at the convention. It almost broke up the convention in its earliest stages. The solution was suggested by Roger Sherman and would become known as the Great Compromise. It suggested a bicameral (two chamber) Congress instead of just one whole body being the Congress. One chamber would be the House of Representatives, which is based on population. Therefore, bigger states would get more representatives. The other chamber would be the Senate with equal number of senators per state. Each state gets two senators regardless of population. This new Congress would be the lawmaking body or legislature.

__Problem #4__: The issue over trade also saw compromise. Some states wanted the states to maintain sole authority over trade while others wanted the new central government to have complete control over trade. Southern states feared that if they gave up all trade rights then the new federal government might use its power to free slaves. The compromise was that the new central government would have the power to regulate (control) interstate commerce, or trade between states as well as controlling all trade with foreign nations. The states would have the power over intrastate commerce (trade within the state).

__Problem #5__: Choice 1 - the founders created a single chief executive - the President. The President would be in charge of the executive branch, the branch that enforces or carries out the laws passed by Congress. The President can appoint advisors to head the various executive departments. Choice 2 - the founders created the Electoral College system to elect the President. The founders didn't want Congress to choose the President because that would give Congress power over the President and the founders didn't want that - they liked the idea of separation of powers. The founders didn't want the voters to elect the leader of the nation because they believed that the average voter wasn't informed completely on all of the issues to vote for the leader of the nation. Therefore, they created a system in which the voters would choose electors. The job of the electors is to be informed and vote for the best candidate for president. The number of electors would be based on the number of representatives and senators in a state.

__Problem #6__: The central court system - the Supreme Court - would have the power of judicial review - the power of the Supreme Court to declare a law unconstitutional.

__Problem #7__: The founders gave the President the power to veto, or reject a bill keeping a bill passed by Congress from becoming a law. The President has to sign a bill for it to become law. Congress is able to override a veto with a 2/3 vote.

__Problem #8__: Congress has the power to impeach an elected official that abuses his/her power. The Constitution says that an official can be impeached for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. It's a two step process. The House of Representatives can formally accuse an official of a crime - this is the impeachment part. If this happens, then the second step takes place - a trial in the Senate. It takes 2/3 vote in the Senate to remove the official from office. It's possible to be impeached, but not removed.


 * VIDEO CLIP:** Watch the two clips. Write a paragraph about what the video discussed.

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