1. Declaration of Independence
1.1. 1. What is the general purpose of this document?
1.1.1. The purpose of this document was to explain to all of the other countries why the colonists left England to become their own country.
1.2. 2. Who was responsible for writing it?
1.2.1. This document was written by John Adams from Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert Livingston of New York, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia.
1.3. 3. What time frame was/is the document significant?
1.3.1. This document was in the time frame of 1776-present day.
1.4. 4. How is the document structured?
1.4.1. How is it broken down? Chapters, articles
1.4.1.1. This document is structured or broken down in 5 parts. These parts include the preamble, which explains the context for the Declaration. Part 2 explains our rights/equality. Part 3 lists the reasons what was wrong with King George, and part 4 defines they were able to speak, but never heard. Finally, part 5 declares how the United States shall be free from Great Britain's rule, and be free independent states.
1.5. 5. What are the top 5 most important things we need to know about this document?
1.5.1. The 5 top important things we need to know about this document include the fact that it declared our separation from England and was signed on July 4, 1776. Next, it listed the unalienable rights of giving of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Other important ideas we need to know are that is was written by Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock was the first to sign the document and signed it big so that the King of England was sure to see it.
2. Northwest Ordinance
2.1. 1. What is the general purpose of this document?
2.1.1. The general purpose of this document is that it was the first organized territory of the United States, involving the parts of the Great Lakes and south of, north and west of the Ohio River, and east of Mississippi.
2.2. 2. Who was responsible for writing it?
2.2.1. The author of the Northwest Ordinance was Nathan Dane.
2.3. 3. What time frame was/is the document significant?
2.3.1. The time frame that this document was significant was on July 13, 1787.
2.4. 4. How is the document structured?
2.4.1. This document is structured into articles.
2.5. 5. What are the top 5 most important things we need to know about this document?
2.5.1. The five most important things we need to know about this document is it helped us gain more land for states, helped the U.S. control the government, giving us our natural rights, kept the Native Americans trying to take our land away and killing settlers, and slavery was not allowed.
3. Articles of Confederation
3.1. 1. What is the general purpose of this document?
3.1.1. The purpose of this document was it served as our first constitution for the 13 states to have a government.
3.2. 2. Who was responsible for writing it?
3.2.1. This document was written by a committee chosen by Continental Congress, headed by John Dickinson, of Delaware.
3.3. 3. What time frame was/is the document significant?
3.3.1. The time frame that this document was significant was from 1781-1789.
3.4. 4. How is the document structured?
3.4.1. This document was structured into articles.
3.5. 5. What are the top 5 most important things we need to know about this document?
3.5.1. It had been our country's first form of government as it had lacked strong government. The new Articles of Confederation had been the U.S. Constitution, but it was a weak government and it had difficulty passing laws. It made the states and legislature supreme, and there was no executive branch. The judicial branch was limited.
4. Constitution
4.1. 1. What is the general purpose of this document?
4.1.1. The general purpose of this document is that it is the supreme law of the nation, describing our three branches of government Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. It also provides information that they will have to follow, and confers their individual powers.
4.2. 2. Who was responsible for writing it?
4.2.1. The author of the Constitution was Governor Morris of Pennsylvania. Others who had help write it included, John Dickinson, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Paine, Edmund Randoplh, James Madison, Roger Sherman, James Wilson, and George Wythe.
4.3. 3. What time frame was/is the document significant?
4.3.1. The time frame that the U.S. Constitution was significant was September 17, 1787-present because we still follow the Constitution now.
4.4. 4. How is the document structured?
4.4.1. How is it broken down? Chapters, articles
4.4.1.1. The Constitution is structured in a Preamble, and has seven different articles.
4.5. 5. What are the top 5 most important things we need to know about this document?
4.5.1. Five important things we need to know about the Constitution is it protects our freedom, speech, religion, liberty, establishes justice, insures domestic tranquility, provides for the common defenses, promotes the general welfare.
5. Bill of Rights
5.1. 1. What is the general purpose of this document?
5.1.1. The general purpose of this document was to assure the rights of the people who were under the U.S. Constitution.
5.2. 2. Who was responsible for writing it?
5.2.1. The author of the bill of rights was James Madison.
5.3. 3. What time frame was/is the document significant?
5.3.1. The time frame this document had been significant was 1791-present because we still follow these rights as of today.
5.4. 4. How is the document structured?
5.4.1. This document is structured into amendments.
5.5. 5. What are the top 5 most important things we need to know about this document?
5.5.1. This document protects our freedoms, protects the state's right from the National government, the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution on December 5, 1791. The first amendments were 1-10 then 26 was added on later. The first 10 amendments remain very important to this day.
6. Federalist Papers
6.1. 1. What is the general purpose of this document?
6.1.1. The purpose of this document was the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
6.2. 2. Who was responsible for writing it?
6.2.1. There had been three people responsible for writing these papers and they were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.
6.3. 3. What time frame was/is the document significant?
6.3.1. The time frame was October 1787 and August 1788.
6.4. 4. How is the document structured?
6.4.1. This was structured into 85 papers and essays.
6.5. 5. What are the top 5 most important things we need to know about this document?
6.5.1. Five important things we need to know about this document is that these were the opinions of people who were for the U.S. Constitution. Alexander Hamilton was responsible for recruiting James Madison and John Jay. Document 84 is notable for their opposition what soon had become the Bill of Rights. They had convinced New York and many other states as well to ratify the Constitution, explaining to them what great things it would do for the Union. The Federalists papers had been in our country's history the greatest argument for our U.S. Constitution.
7. Anti-Federalist Papers
7.1. 1. What is the general purpose of this document?
7.1.1. The writings of Americans who had doubts against the U.S. Constitution.
7.2. 2. Who was responsible for writing it?
7.2.1. There was not just one document, and the people who wrote it had gone under code names, some people who authored it were George Clinton, Robert Yates, Samuel Byran, etc.
7.3. 3. What time frame was/is the document significant?
7.3.1. The time frame this document was significant was late 1780's to early 1790's.
7.4. 4. How is the document structured?
7.4.1. This document had been structured into 85 papers and essays.
7.5. 5. What are the top 5 most important things we need to know about this document?
7.5.1. Five important things we need to know about these papers were that these people were against the U.S. Constitution, these essays had not been read as others speeches would have been, what these speeches explain were warnings from tyranny in the Constitution did not cover enough, warnings that the Supreme Court could have too much power and interpret clauses the way they saw fit, and the anti-federalists were responsible for the formation of the Bill of Rights.