for michelle only

Do a debate on each

• The Indian issue: There was significant debate as to the rights and entitlements the Native Americans should be afforded. On one side, Quakers and other religious groups argued for full rights and entitlements for the Indians in the new government. On the other side, most colonists or Americans feared the Indians and viewed them as a threat to security and westward expansion. Alliances that some tribes had formed with the French had deepened this mistrust. In addition, British treaties reassuring the Indians that there would be no further westward expansion after the French defeat in the French and Indian War of 1763 increased tensions along the frontier as the new American government abrogated those treaties. What should be the position of the new government?

• African slave representation: During the creation of the Constitution, a debate raged between representatives as to how to count slave populations. Since it had been agreed that a state's representation in one of the houses of the legislature--the House of Representatives--would be based on population, the lesser-populated southern states wanted to include their Black slaves in the counting. Abolitionist Christians deplored the South's efforts, complaining that Blacks were not given the right to vote but would be counted for population statistics. Other Northerners, whose state populations were often larger, argued against counting slaves as well. In some cases, their position was less an acknowledgement that slavery was an evil institution than it was an attempt to protect their representational numbers in the House. At any rate, this debate was the beginning of America's long march to civil rights for African Americans.

• The right to bear arms: After the failed government of the Articles of Confederation, the states met in secret in 1787 to form another government. Before ratification of the Constitution was secured, the Bill of Rights was added in 1791 by representatives who were fearful of a return to an authoritarian government. Their position was that a well-armed society was a polite society, and that a government fearful of their citizen's ability to rebel would take more seriously their mandate to listen to the will of the people. The Second Amendment, the Right to Bear Arms, has recently fallen into controversy, as modern Americans attempt to come to grips with well-armed and violent criminal elements. Think back to the signing of the Bill of Rights to debate the wisdom and efficacy of this amendment.

How were the states' rights seen in the era of the Constitution?  How are states' rights issues seen in the U.S. today?