A founding document's themes, purposes and style

Grade 11 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Power Set Against Power (founding document)

   Background: [1] In 1787 and 1788, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay wrote eighty-five essays, now called The Federalist, urging New York to ratify the new Constitution. [2] The essays appeared in New York newspapers under one shared pen name, Publius. [3] No. 51, printed in February 1788, is credited to Madison. [4] The excerpt below is copied exactly, and a mark shows each cut.

   From The Federalist No. 51 (1788): [5] But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others.… [6] Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. [7] The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. [8] It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. [9] But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?… [10] In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. [11] A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

   Word notes: [12] A department here means a branch of government. [13] Encroachments are steps into another's ground or power. [14] To counteract is to work against. [15] The place means the office a person holds. [16] A reflection on human nature is a remark about what people are like, often an unflattering one. [17] Auxiliary precautions are extra safeguards that back up the main one. [18] The cut after sentence 5 leaves out one sentence on matching a defense to the danger, and the cut after sentence 9 leaves out two short sentences that imagine rulers and ruled so good that no controls on government would be needed.

2. 1.

   Ari marks sentence 6, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” How does its shape serve Madison's purpose?

   • It is a rhetorical question, which leaves readers to decide for themselves whether ambition is a good thing.
   • The repeated word warns readers that ambition will ruin the new government in time.
   • The same word at both ends pictures one ambition pushing back against another, in words easy to remember.
   • The short line entertains readers who might grow bored by a long essay on departments.
3. 2.

   Luz traces the theme from sentence 5 to sentence 10. How does sentence 10 develop it?

   • It says the people must control the government, so the government need not control itself.
   • It says that men should not govern other men, since people tend to abuse their power.
   • It widens the point: government must be able to control the people and must also be made to control itself.
   • It repeats the point of sentence 5 that each department needs the constitutional means to resist the others.
4. 3.

   Tala fills the purpose row: Madison argues that the plan's structure keeps power from piling up in one branch. Which sentence fills that cell best?

   • Sentence 5: the great security is giving each department the means and motives to resist the others.
   • Sentence 1: three writers produced eighty-five essays urging New York to ratify.
   • Sentence 11: a dependence on the people is the primary control on government, with safeguards behind it.
   • Sentence 13: encroachments are steps into another's ground or power.
5. 4.

   Jun marks sentence 9, a question Madison leaves unanswered. How does this feature serve the essay's purpose?

   • The question leads readers to grant that needing any government says something unflattering about people, so checks seem fair.
   • The rhetorical question leaves readers unsure, so they begin to doubt that a government is needed in the first place.
   • The rhetorical question shows that Madison deeply distrusted the people of New York who were reading his essays in the newspaper.
   • The comparison likens government to a mirror, so readers picture the branches watching over one another.
6. 5.

   Pia looks at the turn in sentence 11. What does it add to the theme of controls on government?

   • It names the people as the first control on government, then says experience calls for extra safeguards.
   • It restates sentence 6: the ambition of each office holder checks the others.
   • It explains that auxiliary precautions are extra safeguards that back up the main control on a government.
   • It says the people's control works so well that any extra safeguards are unnecessary.
7. 6.

   Bo fills the rhetorical-feature row with a sentence that uses a colon to set up two steps. Which sentence fills that cell?

   • Sentence 10, where the colon leads to two steps: control the governed, then control itself.
   • Sentence 5, where consists in leads to two steps: means first, then motives.
   • Sentence 18, which explains what the cuts after sentences 5 and 9 leave out.
   • Sentence 11, where a semicolon joins the people's control on government to the extra safeguards.

8. A Policy for Two Hemispheres (founding document)

   Background: [1] In December 1823, President James Monroe sent Congress his yearly message, a long written report on the nation's affairs. [2] A few of its paragraphs, later called the Monroe Doctrine, set out a policy toward Europe and the Americas. [3] By then several former Spanish colonies in Latin America had declared independence, and the United States had recognized some of them. [4] The excerpt below is copied exactly from the message, and a mark shows each cut.

   From President Monroe's message to Congress (1823): [5] …the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.… [6] In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so.… [7] The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America.… [8] We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. [9] With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere.

   Word notes: [10] Henceforth means from now on. [11] Colonization is settling and ruling land as a colony. [12] To comport with is to agree with. [13] The allied powers were European kingdoms and empires that had agreed to act together after 1815. [14] Their system here means their kind of government, rule by monarchs. [15] Candor means honesty, and amicable means friendly. [16] Dependencies are lands ruled by another country. [17] To interfere is to step into another's affairs. [18] The marks after sentences 5, 6 and 7 show where other sentences of the long message are left out.

9. 7.

   Milo marks the end of sentence 9, “we have not interfered and shall not interfere.” How does this pairing serve Monroe's purpose?

   • Pairing past with future makes the promise to leave existing colonies alone sound steady and sincere.
   • It is a list of three actions, which shows how many colonies the nation has left alone.
   • The pairing shows that Monroe privately hoped to buy the European colonies later on.
   • The pairing warns the European powers that the United States will soon take over their colonies here.
10. 8.

    Zee traces the theme from sentence 5 to sentence 8. How does sentence 8 develop it?

    • It invites the allied powers to extend their system to the Americas in friendship.
    • It says the United States owes money to the European powers because of their friendship.
    • It repeats the rule of sentence 5 that the American continents are closed to any new European colonies.
    • It moves from no new colonies to a warning that any spread of Europe's system here would be dangerous.
11. 9.

    Ren notes that sentence 8 opens, “We owe it, therefore, to candor.” How does that opening serve the purpose of the warning?

    • It presents the warning as a debt that the allied powers owe to the United States for its friendship.
    • It is an exaggeration, which makes the danger to peace sound larger than it is.
    • It presents the warning as an honest duty between friends, so it sounds firm but not hostile.
    • It apologizes to the allied powers for an earlier message that had offended them.
12. 10.

    Esme looks at sentence 7, between two policy lines. What does it add to the excerpt's theme?

    • It repeats the point of sentence 6 that the nation stays out of European wars.
    • It gives the reason for two spheres: the allied powers have a political system unlike America's.
    • It shows that Monroe expected the allied powers to move against the United States sometime soon.
    • It says America and the allied powers share one political system in this respect.