Handout B: Student Reading Guide

Student Reading Guide

Directions: Read Handout A: Background Essay—The Balance Between Branches before answering the following questions.

The Framers had a “rich intellectual foundation” to draw from as they framed the new Constitution. List the three main influences with examples as discussed in the essay.

(Graphic Organizer in PDF)

What was the author’s major justification for the failure of the Articles of Confederation?

Define four of the main Founding principles the Constitutional Convention debated throughout the summer of 1787.

(Graphic Organizer in PDF)