Our Wonderful Constitution - Reading Comprehension
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Our Wonderful Constitution Reading Comprehension
     Our Wonderful Constitution reading comprehension (sample is shown below)


Our Wonderful Constitution
By Phyllis Naegeli 		  
1     America was born on July 4, 1776. We declared we were a new, free country. But we had to fight for our freedom. The American Revolution lasted seven years. Now we needed a new government. Men from each state met and wrote the rules the states would follow. These rules were called "The Articles of Confederation." This created a central government, but it didn't work. Each state was like a separate country. The central government could make laws. But nobody had to obey them. In 1787, fifty-five men met to make some changes to the articles. Instead, they started from scratch.
 
2     The men talked and argued for weeks. The states worried the government would be too strong. They wanted to be sure they would have rights. But, they all knew they needed to be united. A man named James Madison took notes during the meetings. When it was time, he wrote the draft of our constitution. It had seven articles.
 
3     Article 1 set up the Legislative Branch. We call this the Congress. It has two parts - the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate made the states happy. Each state has two senators. The House made the people happy. Each state has a different number of representatives. It is based on population. The Congress makes laws. It creates an army and a navy to protect us. Only Congress can declare war. Congress also decides how to tax. Taxes are the money we give the government to help it do its job.

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