1.  Describe the ways in which the framers limited the national government’s

power under the Constitution. Why might the framers have placed such limits

on the government they had just created?

2.  Explain this statement: “The Declaration of Independence is an extremely liberal document and the American Constitution is an extremely conservative document.”

3.  The framers of the Constitution were very concerned with creating an effective system of government. Yet, whenever crises loom, critics charge that America’s government is too cumbersome and too filled with checks on power to promote effective action. Does the war on terrorism reveal our constitutional government’s effectiveness or lack of effectiveness? Are there ways in which we benefit from the government’s occasional lack of efficiency?

4.  Americans often say they dislike the conflict of American politics. In what

ways did the framers build points of conflict or tension into the constitutional

system? Why did they do this?