Articles of Confederation Versus the Constitution

Use the sheets in order so the timeline comes after the two readings. Have students reread the word help before restating each phrase and use the event cards to explain cause and effect.

Chart the Articles of Confederation against the Constitution and explain Shays' Rebellion. The directions on the page read: Read the text. Then complete page 2. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade Declaration and Founding Documents, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with founding documents. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Unalienable means cannot be taken away. The word help on the page also defines self-evident, consent, alter and abolish.

The Constitution created a president and national courts and gave Congress the power to collect taxes. Under the Articles there was no executive and no national court, and Congress could only ask the states for money.

In 1786, farmers in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays were deep in debt and losing their land over unpaid taxes. They shut down courts, and Congress had no money to raise an army. Many leaders worried that the national government was too weak to keep order.