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8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 1 of 12

Founding Ideas

Rome, Athens, the Enlightenment and 1787

What your child practices

Ideas the Founders drew from Greece and Rome, the Enlightenment and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, why the Articles of Confederation failed, and the compromises and debates of the Constitution.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 8.C1.1 · the ideas in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The founders borrowed ideas from Athens (democracy), Rome (a republic) and the Enlightenment (John Locke’s natural rights, which shaped the Declaration).
  2. Federalism means power is divided between national and state governments.
  3. The 1787 Constitution included compromises, like the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person.

Example: What does federalism mean? The US has a national government. Each state also has its own government. Power is divided between them. Answer: Power is divided between national and state governments.

Founding Ideas in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 1 of 12 in 8th grade Social Studies, before Rights & Amendments.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banned slavery in…

    • Virginia
    • every state
    • the Northwest Territory

  2. Question 2

    Ancient Athens gave the world the idea of…

    • absolute monarchy
    • democracy, rule by citizens
    • feudalism

  3. Question 3

    The Great Compromise settled a dispute between…

    • Britain and France
    • large and small states over representation
    • North and South over tariffs

  4. Question 4

    The Constitutional Convention met in 1787 in…

    • New York City
    • Philadelphia
    • Boston

  5. Question 5

    Who wrote the Federalist Papers?

    • Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
    • George Washington and Benjamin Franklin
    • Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay

  6. Question 6

    In Federalist No. 10, which founder argued that a large republic can control factions?

    • Thomas Paine
    • Patrick Henry
    • James Madison

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