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American Revolution

Articles of Confederation

Articles of Confederation
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   3.79

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    port, spain, ports, freedom, country, working, goods, government, become, charge, free, itself, pass, state, trade, settle
     content words:    Continental Congress, Ohio Valley

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Articles of Confederation
By Cathy Pearl 		  
1     The Declaration of Independence made a new country. This new country had to make laws. The colonies did not know how to work together. Britain used to make all the decisions. Now the Americans had to make them. There would have to be a government in each state. There would also have to be one for the whole country.
 
2     It was 1776. The Continental Congress worked on making a new government. This would be in charge of the whole country. They thought one government was very important. The country would need one to win the war.
 
3     They couldn't write a constitution that everyone would like. A constitution tells the laws of a nation. Most people did not think of themselves as Americans. They were loyal to their state. People also were afraid. They had just gotten their freedom from Britain. They didn't want another strong government.
 
4     In 1777 the constitution was finished. It was called the Articles of Confederation. It was the first constitution in America.
 
5     The Articles started many new things. Each state sent one person to a congress. The person had one vote. The congress could declare war and make money. The congress worked with other countries. This seemed like a lot of power. States had more.

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