Where American government's ideas came from

Grade 12 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A to F. Card A, Athens, a summary in our words, written today: From about 508 BCE, adult male citizens of Athens met in an Assembly and voted on laws themselves. Women, enslaved people and foreigners could not vote. Card B, the Roman Republic, a summary in our words, written today: From 509 BCE (the traditional date), Roman citizens elected officials, two consuls each year, instead of being ruled by a king. A Senate advised them. Card C, Virginia's House of Burgesses, a summary in our words, written today: It first met on July 30, 1619, at Jamestown. It was the first elected assembly in the English colonies in America, and it made some local laws. Card D, the Mayflower Compact, a summary in our words, written today: It was signed in November 1620 by 41 men aboard the Mayflower. They agreed to form a "civil body politic" and to make and obey laws for the general good. Card E, the Constitution of 1787, a summary in our words, written today: Voters in each state chose the members of the House of Representatives, and state legislatures chose the senators. Congress made laws for the nation. Card F, a note from the sheet: the founders knew examples like these and wrote about some of them. No card says that any founder copied one.

2. 1.

   Ari says Athens and the 1787 plan both had citizens vote on laws themselves. Compare cards A and E. What do the cards support?

   • The claim holds, since voters took part in government in both places and that makes them the same kind of system
   • The claim holds, since the Assembly and the House both met to pass laws, so their members did the same job
   • Only Athens did; under card E, chosen members of Congress made the laws, so the claim fits Athens alone
   • The claim holds, since the founders knew Athens and copied its Assembly when they built the House
3. 2.

   Esme asks which card better fits 'a body of elected representatives': card C, the House of Burgesses, or card D, the Mayflower Compact?

   • Card C: it was an elected assembly that made some local laws; card D describes an agreement among signers
   • Card D: its signers agreed to make laws for the general good, so they acted as representatives of the group
   • Neither: 1619 and 1620 are too early to count as representative government of any kind, whatever the cards say
   • Both equally, since each came from colonists who wanted a say in making their own laws
4. 3.

   Jun writes: 'In Athens, the people ruled.' Which revision does card A support?

   • Most people who lived in Athens ruled themselves by voting in the Assembly on the laws
   • The people ruled through elected officials, as in Rome, and did not vote on laws themselves
   • Adult male citizens ruled themselves; women, enslaved people and foreigners had no vote
   • The claim cannot be tested, since card A gives no number of citizens who voted
5. 4.

   Card C says the Burgesses made 'some local laws.' Kira concludes the colonists governed themselves completely. Does card C support that?

   • No: 'some local laws' leaves open who held the rest of the power, which the card does not say
   • No: a body that met at Jamestown could not have made real laws for anyone
   • Yes: it met in 1619, before the Mayflower Compact, so the colonists were already self-governing
   • Yes: an elected assembly means the colonists held each power over their own affairs
6. 5.

   Milo writes: 'Athens gave America its government.' Which reply sticks to the cards?

   • Too strong: the cards show the founders knew examples like Athens, not that Athens gave America its government
   • Empty: what the founders knew about older governments says nothing about the choices they made
   • Fair: Athens is the oldest example on the cards, so it must have mattered most to the founders
   • Too weak: the cards say the four examples flowed straight into the Constitution, so Athens was one real source
7. 6.

   Card A dates Athens' Assembly to about 508 BCE; card B dates Rome's Republic to 509 BCE, the traditional date. Noah says Rome copied Athens. What do the dates show?

   • Rome copied Athens, since 508 comes before 509 and so Athens had the earlier start and could be the model
   • Athens copied Rome, since Rome's date is earlier and the earlier one is usually the model for the later one
   • Not enough: one date is 'about', one is 'traditional', and Rome's is a year earlier, so no copying is shown
   • Neither copied: both rose after a king fell, which explains why the dates are so close
8. 7.

   Pia matches the Roman Senate (card B) to the Senate of 1787 (card E) as influence, not coincidence. What evidence would test that best?

   • A count of senators in each body, to see whether the two sizes match
   • What the founders themselves wrote about Rome's Senate, showing it was on their minds
   • The fact that both bodies are called a Senate, since two groups with one name must be related
   • A third example, such as Athens, that had no Senate of any kind
9. 8.

   Ren says the Mayflower Compact led to the House of Burgesses. Use the dates on cards C and D. What follows?

   • It stands: the two came in 1619 and 1620, close enough in time to be linked as cause and effect
   • The Burgesses first met in 1619, a year before the Compact of 1620, so the Compact cannot have led to them
   • It fails: a mere 41 men signed the Compact, too few to start an assembly anywhere
   • It stands: the Compact was a written promise to make laws, and an assembly would need that promise first
10. 9.

    Tala sorts the examples as 'citizens vote on laws' or 'chosen people make laws.' Which sorting do cards A, B, C and E support?

    • Athens and the Burgesses are in the first group, since both had an assembly that met to make laws
    • Athens, Rome, the Burgesses and the 1787 plan are in the first group, since in each one citizens took part in governing
    • Athens and Rome are the first group and the two later examples the second, as their ages suggest
    • Athens is in the first group; Rome, the Burgesses and the 1787 plan are in the second
11. 10.

    Zee claims: 'Electing officials is a modern idea that began in the English colonies.' Which single card most directly weakens it?

    • Card B: Rome elected two consuls a year from 509 BCE (the traditional date), long before any colony
    • Card C: the Burgesses were elected, which shows that elections were already used in the colonies
    • Card A: Athens' citizens voted on laws before the colonies existed, so voting was not a new idea
    • Card D: the Compact shows colonists made agreements without any elections