Direct Democracy –

The people make the laws

Representative Democracy –

The people choose leaders to make their laws

Each person is worth something, but at times

each person might beasked to sacrifice.

All people are created equal,hopefully in both

opportunity and in law

The majority may rule, butthe minority always is going to have rights.

Compromise is absolutelynecessary to make a

democracy work.

Individual freedoms do exist,but there is no such thing

as absolute freedom.

The first government after winningindependence from Britain was the Articles ofConfederation…created a very weak nationalgovernment, but strong state governments

Popular Sovereignty

Power in the handsof the people

Limited Government

Careful about givinggovernment power

Civil Rights & Liberties

People had certainrights

Separation of Powers& Checks and Balances

No branch of gov’tcould get too much

say-so

Each state only had

one vote in changing things –

regardless of the size of the state

The national

Congress has very

little power to collect taxes or control foreign affairs.

There was no

executive branch to carry out the laws that were passed.

There was no national

court system to interpret the laws that were passed.

It was too hard to

pass laws – had to have 9 of

the 13 states

agree to pass laws.

It was only really an

agreement between

the states

State governments had too much power!National government did not have enough power!

The Virginia Plan

--Benefited the larger states

--A bicameral legislature that would be based on

population

--Three branches to the government: an executive,

legislative, & judicial branch

--Would create a new national government with more power to make and

enforce laws

The New Jersey Plan

--Benefited smaller states

--A unicameral legislature based on equal representation

--Three branches to the government: an executive,

legislative, & judicial branch

--Would keep much of the old system, just give

Congress much more power than before

The Connecticut Compromise

--A bicameral legislature…one part (the Senate) would be based on equality; one part (the House of Representatives) would be based on a state’s

population

---Three branches: an executive w/ one President, a legislative with a stronger Congress,

& a judicial branch

--In the end it was a compromise between the two plans to satisfy both the large states and the

small states

LARGE STATES

SMALLSTATES

--Wanted slaves to be counted as part of a state’s

population

--Would give southern states (slave states) more

influence

--Did not want to have to pay taxes on slaves

--Did not want slaves to be counted as part of a state’s

population

--Would give northern states (free states) more

influence

--Did want southerners to have to pay taxes on slaves

SOUTHERNSTATES

NORTHERNSTATES

Three-Fifths Compromise

All slaves would be counted as 3/5 towards population…and

for taxation purposes too