Title: Gr00 Writing the Constitution
Course: Civics Citizenship Class of 20##

Q: What is an amendment?
- a change (to the Constitution)
- the Preamble to the Constitution
- the beginning of the Declaration of Independence
- an introduction
A: a change (to the Constitution)
Feedback: An amendment is a change to the Constitution. The country grows and changes. Amendments to the Constitution allow the government to grow and change, too. For example, the Nineteeth Amendment gave women the right to vote. Many people, like Susan B. Anthony, fought for this right for many years. Today, women can vote because of this amendment.

Q: How many amendments does the Constitution have?
- twenty-three (23)
- ten (10)
- twenty-seven (27)
- twenty-one (21)
A: twenty-seven (27)
Feedback: The Constitution has 27 amendments. Amendments are changes to the Constitution. Congress added the first ten amendments in 1791. They are called the Bill of Rights. Since then, the government added more amendments. The Twenty-seventh Amendment was added in 1992.

Q: What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
- the Articles of Confederation
- the inalieanble rights
- the Declaration of Independence
- the Bill of Rights
A: the Bill of Rights
Feedback: The first ten amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights. Members of the Constitutional Convention wrote the Constitution in 1787. The original Constitution did not protect individual rights. Soon after, in 1791, Congress added the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The first amendment protects the freedoms of speech, religion, and assembly. It also protects the freedom of the press, and freedom to petition the government. Other amendments in the Bill of Rights protect the rights to a fast and public court trial, the right to bear arms, and the right to fair police searches.

Q: What happened at the Constitutional Convention?
- the Constitution was written
- Benjamin Franklin became President
- the British taxed the colonists
- Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence
A: the Constitution was written
Feedback: The Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May to September 1787. Fifty-five delegates from 12 of the original 13 states (except for Rhode Island) met to write amendments to the Articles of Confederation. The delegates met because many American leaders did not like the Articles. The national government under the Articles of Confederation was not strong enough. Instead of changing the Articles of Confederation, the delegates decided to create a new governing document with a stronger national government—the Constitution. Each state sent delegates, who worked for four months in secret to allow for free and open discussion as they wrote the new document. The delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention are called “the Framers.” On September 17, 1787, 39 of the delegates signed the new Constitution. [Image: image]

Q: The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.
- Thomas Jefferson
- James Madison
- George Washington
- John Adams
A: James Madison
Feedback: The Federalist Papers were 85 essays that were printed in New York newspapers while New York State was deciding whether or not to support the U.S. Constitution. The essays were written in 1787 and 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the pen name “Publius.” The essays explained why the state should ratify the Constitution. Other newspapers outside New York also published the essays as other states were deciding to ratify the Constitution. In 1788, the papers were published together in a book called The Federalist. Today, people still read the Federalist Papers to help them understand the Constitution.

Q: When was the Constitution written?
- 1790
- 1789
- 1776
- 1787
A: 1787
Feedback: The Constitution was written in 1787. [Image: image] The American army won the War of Independence in 1783. For several years, the United States was governed by a congress of representatives from the states. But in 1787, delegates for the states met in Philadelphia to create a stronger federal government. They wrote the Constitution that gave the framework for the government we have today. The Constitution was written in 1787.