Alabama Social Studies SS24.6.10a
The Standard
- SS24.6.10
- Explain how events and issues of the Critical Period (1783-1789) exposed limitations of the Articles of Confederation and contributed to calls for a stronger national government.
Compare and contrast the division of power among levels of government in unitary, federal, and confederate styles of governance.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify where governing power sits in three systems. They compare what a central government can decide with what states or local governments can decide.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain that a unitary government can grant or take back local powers. They can show that federal governments divide power with states, while confederate governments get limited power from member states.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think unitary governments have no local officials. They may also think federal power is split equally, or confuse a confederate system with the U.S. Confederacy.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Label each setup unitary, federal, or confederate: a central government grants local powers; national and state governments have their own protected powers; states give a joint council limited powers.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs three labeled mats and 30 paper tokens; have them divide ten power tokens between central and member governments on each mat.
Ask students to write who could make school calendar rules in each system and who could change that decision.
Read three cards: central grants local power; a constitution splits power; states grant central power. Students hold up U, F, or C.
Compare a UK national tax, a U.S. federal tax, and Articles-era state taxes; have students mark who could collect each.
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Printable SS24.6.10a Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.USG.13
Outline how the federal system of the United States divides powers between national and state governments.
- SS24.2.2a
Compare the state and national governments in respect to their powers, roles, and leaders.
- SS24.6.15
Explain how the system of federalism in the United States divides power between national and state governments as well as between state and local governments.
- SS24.USG.13a
Compare specific functions, organizations, and purposes of local and state governments.
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