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Questions For Class Discussion

Questions For Class Discussion
Chapter 9: The Confederation and the Constitution, 1776 - 1790

  1. Which of the social changes brought about by the Revolution was the most significant? Could the Revolution have gone further toward the principle that all men are created equal by ending slavery or granting womens rights?

  2. Was the United States in a crisis under the Articles of Confederation, or was the crisis exaggerated by the Federalists to justify their movement? Could the United States have survived if the Articles had stayed in effect? What successes did the Articles of Confederation achieve? Was the Constitutional Convention a second American Revolution?

  3. Why was the United States so uniformly held in contempt by European governments after the Revolution? Was it due more to the Articles of Confederation or to being a recently created nation?

  4. What would have happened to the Constitutional Convention if Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Paine, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Patrick Henry all attended?

  5. Should the Founding Fathers general elitism and indifference to the rights of people, women, African Americans, and Indians be held against them? Or should they be viewed with more understanding in their historical context?

  6. What was really at stake in the debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists? Did the Federalists win primarily because of their superior political skills or because they had a clearer view of the meaning of the Revolution and the future of the United States? What role did the ratification process play in the fight between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists (and did it favor one side or the other)?

  7. Why did Americans accept the Constitution with its strong national government and powerful executive after only a decade earlier violently revolting against similar British institutions? Why did the Anti-Federalists not violently oppose the new Constitution?
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