AP United States Government and Politics

1 AP United States Government and PoliticsANALYTICAL READING ACTIVITIES Topic Teacher Version 2019 The College Board. College Board, Advanced Placement Program, AP, SAT, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board. AP Capstone is a trademark owned by the College Board. All other products and services may be trademarks of their respective owners. Visit the College Board on the Web: the College BoardThe College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success including the SAT and the Advanced Placement Program.

2 The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and further information, visit Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment TeamErin Spaulding, Senior Director, AP Curriculum, Instruction, and AssessmentAmy Smallwood-Ringenberg, Director, AP Instructional DesignAP Government and Politics Instructional Design TeamAlicia Ross, Blue Ridge High School, New Milford, PAMichael Dies, YES Prep Southeast, Houston, TXMatt Furfaro, Concord Community High School, Elkhart, INOther ContributorsJohn R. WilliamsonChristopher BudanoAnalytical Reading ActivitiesAP Government and Politics3 PlanAnalytical ReadingStudents will read and analyze the following: Required Reading: Excerpts from the Articles of Confederation Paired With: Excerpts from Letters from the Federal FarmerIn this lesson, students will study:Enduring Understanding CON-1: The Constitution emerged from the debate about the Articles of Confederation as a blueprint for limited be able to: Learning Objective : Explain the relationship between key provisions of the Articles of Confederation and the debate over granting the federal Government greater power formerly reserved to the States .

3 Building UnderstandingThis set of documents continues student exploration of how the balance of power between the national Government and the States was viewed as directly affecting the security of individual rights. Students should surface this theme as central to our understanding of federalism should understand that Federal Farmer wrote in response to the Constitution s development in 1787, after the Articles have been enacted for several years. The Federal Farmer articulates a more nuanced argument than students may anticipate as he concedes some of the weaknesses of the first constitution while primarily giving voice to his concerns about the proposed it may be too early in the course for your students to practice refuting, rebutting, or conceding in their own arguments, use this opportunity to show students how it s done by the Federal Practice: Concept Application Describe political principles, institutions, processes, policies, and Process: Definition Describe structures and functions.

4 Developing the Disciplinary PracticesThe required foundational documents and other texts in AP US Government and Politics contain some difficult vocabulary. Often, students may read past words they do not know or may not know how to figure out the meaning of some words. That can prove to be a significant obstacle to comprehension. Encourage students to use context clues whenever possible to identify unknown words or phrases. Remind them that they can also look up the definitions as they read. Some non-academic vocabulary words and phrases have been defined for students in these activities to speed up the reading the Articles of Confederation is, like the Constitution, an outline of a structure of Government and not an argumentative writing, the questions ask students to describe and explain political concepts outlined in the Articles. This helps students practice the entry-level concept application skills such as describing the political structure of the United States under the Articles.

5 As they move on to Letters from the Federal Farmer, they can use similar strategies to identify political concepts outlined in this argument. Analytical Reading ActivitiesAP Government and Politics4 Topic : Challenges of the Articles of ConfederationConcept ApplicationBefore You Read The first Government of the United States was established in the Articles of Confederation. Challenges with this form of Government caused many to support the new Constitution. As you prepare to analyze the Articles, think about what you remember about the issues that many had with this governmental structure. Some categories have been provided to guide your recall. IssuesWhat you recallRaising and collecting taxesMaking changes to the governmentState versus federal powerRequired Document: Excerpts from The Articles of ConfederationPaired with: Excerpts from Letter #1 of the Federal Farmer to the Republican Related Concepts: Constitution Confederation Challenges under the Articles of Confederation Shays RebellionProcessDescribe structures and ApplicationDescribe political principles, institutions, processes, policies, and Reading ActivitiesAP Government and Politics5 The Articles of ConfederationYou may already know that our Constitution sets up a federal system, in which States are joined together but with a national Government that is supreme when there is a conflict and with certain powers that are exclusive to the national Government ( , regulating inter-state and international trade, declaring war, concluding treaties, etc.)

6 The Articles of Confederation, however, set up a different type of Government . As you read the text, consider how the Government under the Articles was structured. Identify how power was divided between the national Government and the States . As you read, consider the challenges that some of the provisions of the Articles may have presented to the young country. The directions and questions in the margin will guide your note-taking and help you see how the Government under the Articles of Confederation was structured and designed to function as our first plan of Government . The Articles of ConfederationAuthored by the Second Continental Congress, 1777 Ratified by Maryland (last state to do so) on March 1, 1781Of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode island and providence plantations , Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and [Style] of this confederacy shall be The United States of America.

7 Academic VocabularyWhat is meant by a confederation?Students may already know this definition if the reading has been prefaced by textbook or other reading assignment or prior knowledge. Look for students to define a confederation as a structure of Government in which largely independent and sovereign States join together for some limited Your UnderstandingWhat do you think is the purpose of this document? The document was most likely written to provide a plan of Government to the newly independent United States of Reading ActivitiesAP Government and Politics6 ART. state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States , in Congress assembledsovereignty right of self-rulejurisdiction having power or authority to administer justiceART. said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever.

8 ART. V. For the more convenient management of the general interests of the United States , delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature of each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead for the remainder of the year. No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States , for which he, or any other for his benefit, receives any salary, fees or emolument of any kind. Each State shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the States , and while they act as members of the committee of the States .

9 In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, each state shall have one vote..Academic VocabularyUse your prior knowledge and context clues to define sovereignty and jurisdiction in the space below the Your UnderstandingHighlight or underline what the document says here about the powers of the Your UnderstandingCircle the clues in this article that help explain the founders idea of a ApplicationSummarize the structure of the Congress as outlined in the state will determine how many representatives each will send to Congress (minimum of 2 and a maximum of 7 delegates) with each state having one Your UnderstandingHighlight or underline how many votes each state had under the Articles. Analytical Reading ActivitiesAP Government and Politics7 ART. VIII. All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States in proportion to the value of all land within each state, granted to or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such mode as the United States in congress assembled, shall from time to time direct and appoint.

10 The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several States within the time agreed upon by the United States in congress Your UnderstandingCircle the text that explains how taxes will be assessed and collected under the ApplicationHow is power divided between the States and the national Government in Article VIII?In Article VIII, the power to collect taxes for the use of national Government is the States responsibility. The national Government is dependent on the States for revenue with no express ability to force the States to pay. This is another piece of evidence that much of the power under the Articles rested with the Reading ActivitiesAP Government and IX. The United States in congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, except in the cases mentioned in the sixth article of sending and receiving ambassadors entering into treaties and alliances, provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the respective States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners, as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever.