TITLE:  The Founding Fathers

AUTHOR:  Mike Torgerson, Blackfoot High School, ID

GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT:  10-12, government

OVERVIEW:  To understand todays system of American
government, one must understand its origins.

PURPOSE:  To lay the groundwork for understanding the people
who were the first colonists and the government they left
behind.

OBJECTIVES:  The students will be able to discuss:
1.  What basic ideas about the government the English
    colonists brought with them.
2.  What three kinds of colonial government developed in
    the thirteen colonies.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1.   Ask students why they think the concept of
     representative government took root in what was to
     become the U.S.  Discuss such factors as the types
     of people who settled here, the vast expanse of open
     space and the distance between the colonies and
     England.
2.   Have students make a table comparing the three types of
     government in the colonies.  They should include the
     name of each colony, its form of government and the
     purposes and characteristics of each form.  Have
     students place an asterisk next to any characteristics
     that parallel our current government.  Ask what these
     similarities tell us about the seeds of our current
     form of government.