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In 2018 the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation executed a study of the American public that found that only 19% of Americans under 45 could pass a basic multiple-choice U.S. citizenship test like those taken by immigrants to become citizens. The test, made up of basic questions about how our government works and U.S. history, requires only 60% of the questions be answered correctly to pass. 

Class Experience 

Articles of Confederation is a four class course that is part of my three courses that cover our founding documents (The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of the United States). The classes are designed to be taken in ANY order.

In this course, students will learn about The Articles of Confederation, written on the heels of the Declaration of Independence, our nation's first attempt at establishing a new system of government. This document that was hotly debated by the Second Continental Congress as the members fought to establish a federal government while preserving the cherished rights of the state governments, only to be faced with a difficult ratification process due to the states concerns about returning to an oppressive federal government. This class explores the conflicts and debates surrounding its passing while war waged with the British.

Some of what students will learn:

1. What highly respected Founding Father wrote the first draft of the first version of the Articles that was rejected by Congress without serious consideration?

2. What were the hotly contested issues that delayed the passage of the Articles while war with Britain waged on?

3. Which powers were ultimately given to the Congress, and which were kept by the states?

4. What were the fatal flaws of the Articles that set it up for failure from the start?

5. What were the unusual rules imposed upon the new Congress that made making decisions nearly impossible?

My classes are interactive where students are always encouraged to ask questions, make observations, and state their opinions!

Class Lessons will include:

Lesson I: Introduction and context of the Articles. What led to the need for the Articles, and the drafting of the Articles.     
             
Lesson II: What is included in the Articles (Part I): The army, foreign policy, commerce, and taxation.

Lesson III: What is included in the Articles (Part II): Commerce and ratification. Conflicts that held up its passage in Congress and ratification by the states.

Lesson IV: Strengths and weaknesses of the Articles. The major successes by the young government under the Articles: The Treaty of Paris-1783, The Land Ordinance of 1785 and The Northwest Ordinance-1787.
                                 
Despite a few successes under the Articles, the Founders recognized a need for a new and more powerful document: the Constitution.

Founding Document Series...

This course is the second in a series of three courses (see below) that will take deep dive into the founding documents of the United States. Taken in combination, they will give the student a full understanding of each of the founding documents and how they are interconnected. Note, while the series is designed for the courses to work together, each can be taken separately, and each is created as a stand-alone course. Your student can start the series with any one of the courses.

Courses in the Founding Documents series:

Course I: The Declaration of Independence, 1776;
	
Course II: Articles of Confederation, 1777;

Course III: Constitution of the United States and Bill of Rights, 1787, Section One, and;
           
From an Outschool parent whose child recently took this course...
"We've found a new teacher who truly is a GEM at Outschool.  We usually don't jump on a new teacher bandwagon, but this teacher is a seasoned professional from the real world and is translating all those wonderful qualities from the real world onto the Outschool platform.  He's reliable, prepared, ultra-smart, intuitive, and quite honestly a great scholar and teacher."