Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Chapter 18, Lesson 4: After the American Revolution (pp. 497-500)
I. A New Constitution
B. The Constitution identifies three branches of government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.
C. The Constitution provides for a system of checks and balances so that no single branch of government becomes too powerful.
II. Around the World in 1790
B. Only in the United States and France did the common people begin to believe in democratic republicanism.
C. The Constitution gives us the opportunity to reform and change our government so that it remains "of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Lesson at a Glance Outline
A. The United States Constitution is a social contract between the American people and their government.
A. While Americans were forming their own government, Britain was expanding its empire, China and Japan were virtually closed to outsiders, and Spanish-America and Africa supplied gold and silver to Europe.
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