Ch.02+-+Origins+of+US+Gov't

 Chapter 02 - Origins of American Government

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How did the United States get its start? Why is our government organized the way it is? Why do we have a president instead of a king? Why are there two houses in Congress? Before we examine the Constitution and the three branches of government in depth, we need to understand the history of our country before our Constitution was even written, which means we need to back before the year of 1787. As we'll learn throughout the chapter, the British served as an inspiration for the creation of our government--both due to the precedent of their democratic system (Magna Carta, parliament, etc.) and the tyrannical rule they imposed on the colonies that necessitated a republican form of government. In order to further understand the structure of our federal system, we will also need to look at the Articles of Confederation, our first government after independence from Britain. As we'll see, the Articles had many limitations--many of which that were ameliorated, or fixed, by the Constitution of 1787. ======



(notes 9/26) (Acad Civics - p. 5,6,8)











(lecture for 10/2/12)