Name: _________________

Date: _________________
Constitution Guided Notes
Instructions: We will be going over the Constitution of the United States today. We will be
doing the lesson over a powerpoint so I have provided these guided notes so you can take better
notes and understand the material. However, it’s not just filling in the blanks, I have thrown in
some curveballs to see who is truly paying attention to the lesson.

What do these terms mean?

Amendment Bill of Rights Branches of Government

Delegate Constitution Federal Government

Review Questions to think about the AOC:

What document signing made the colonies think about having a central government?
Which was the first state to ratify the Articles?
What was the Treaty of Paris in 1783?
Why did the Articles of Confederation fail?

Constitutional Convention
1. In May of _______ The Articles of Confederation clearly was _______ working for the
colonies. So 55 men from 12 colonies met up to revise it. However, Virginia Governor
Edmund Randolph showed a plan created by___________________ for the design of an
entirely new central government. _______________________ decided not to attend.

2. How long did the debate last? _______________________________________________

3. When was the Constitution read? ____________________________________________
4. How many men signed the Constitution? ______________________________________
5. What happened after the men signed? _________________________________________
 6. How much say should a state get? ____________________ wanted state votes to be done
by population size while ____________________ wanted equal votes all across. So they
came up with the ______________________________ which dealt with both problems.
The House of Representatives would have representatives of each state ______________
_______________________. The Senate would be ______________________________

7. What was another thing the colonies argued about? ______________________________

8. What would happen if they didn’t compromise? ________________________________
9. What was the compromise? ________________________________________________
10. How many states were needed to ratify the Constitution? _________________________
11. Who was the first colony to ratify? Who was the last? ____________________________
12. When did the Constitution go into effect? _____________________________________

Branches of Government:

13. The Constitution addressed the problem of having a ____________________ central

government. The document instead split up the government into
_____________________:
● The Legislative Branch
● The Judicial Branch
● The Executive Branch

It was decided there should be a system of ________________________ to ensure no

one branch was ___________________ than the others.

Legislative Branch:

14. What is the legislative branch made up of? _____________________________________

15. What can the legislative branch do? __________________________________________

Judicial Branch:

16. What does the judicial branch consist of? ______________________________________

17. What power does the judicial branch have? ____________________________________
Executive Branch:

18. Who are the two main people in the executive branch? ___________________________
19. What does the executive branch deal with? _____________________________________

Bill of Rights

20. James Madison introduced 19 _____________________ for The Constitution, however

Congress only accepted 12. __________ of those amendments became known as the
______________________________. The Bill of Rights guarantees individuals certain
basic protections as citizens regarding ____________________________ and
__________________________. Madison became known as the ‘Father of the
Constitution’ due to his contributions.

21. Please write what the first 10 amendments are and what rights they protect:
1st Amendment 2nd Amendment 3rd Amendment 4th Amendment 5th Amendment

6th Amendment 7th Amendment 8th Amendment 9th Amendment 10th Amendment

22. Is the Constitution what we still follow to this day? ______________________________

23. How many more amendments have been added after the original 12? ________________
24. Is it difficult to get amendments added to the Constitution? ________________________
25. How many states have to agree to make changes to the Constitution? ________________

Finished! c :