Unit 1A: Forms of Government

FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

Directions:  Read the information below and complete the activities that follow.
There are three basic forms of government that characterize the way power is distributed or divided within a country:  unitary, federal and confederate.  A country's size often influences how it divides political power. In large countries, like the United States, Canada, Australia, and Russia, power is shared between the central government and the governments of its regions:  states, provinces or republics. This sharing of power is called a Federal System.
Many small countries, such as England, France and other European countries have Unitary Systems of government in which the central government exercises most political power. 
Often small countries or political areas (states, regions, provinces) will ally (become friends) with one another for the purpose of group defense and trade.  This alliance form of government is known as a confederate system.  In this system each political area or country remains independent or sovereign, but agrees to give up some power to a national government to protect them and promote trade.
The United States has experienced all three systems of government in our history.  As a colony under King George III, the United States (or at that time American Colonies) had a unitary system of government.  In this system the King and Parliament in Britain made decisions for the colonies.  Although the colonists had representative assemblies, their power was limited by the King and Parliament.  Royal Governors were appointed by the king, not elected by the colonists. 
When the United States first broke from Great Britain a representative democracy was created based on the confederate system.  Under this system of government there was a weak national government for the purpose of national defense, dealing with foreign countries and promoting trade, and strong state governments that were responsible for making most of the government decisions.  The national government did not have the power to tax, enforce laws or settle disagreements between the states.  This caused many problems because the states acted in their own best interest and often had conflicts with one another.  Trade became difficult because of a difference in tariffs (taxes on imported goods), different currencies (money), and state laws; this caused the economy to break down.  A meeting of state delegates was held in Annapolis, Maryland to try and fix the problem; however, the group decided that a new Constitution needed to be written. 
In 1783 delegates met in Philadelphia to create this new Constitution; a federal system was created to distribute power between the states and national government.  The federal system provided for power to be shared between the national and state governments, with the national government having supremacy (power) over the states.  The national government was given more power than it had under the confederate system, including the power to tax.  Many states were unhappy with the federal system; afraid that the federal (national) government would become too powerful.

Applying Forms of Government

Directions:  Using the information from the previous page complete the chart below.

Form of Government/Description	Advantages	Disadvantages

Directions:  Identify the form of Government for each of the following characteristics; write the correct term in the space provided. 

1.         ____________________________ Strong central government makes all decisions

2.         ____________________________ Loose alliance of states

3.         ____________________________ Power is shared between national and state governments

4.         ____________________________ Often authoritarian

5.         ____________________________ Weak or no central government

6.         ____________________________ Created mostly for trade and defense purposes

7.         ____________________________ Absolute monarchies

8.         ____________________________ Representative Democracies

9.         ____________________________ Head of state has complete control over the military

10.        ____________________________ Most power is retained (kept) by the states

11.        ____________________________ The colonies under the rule of King George III

12.        ____________________________ The newly free United States under the Articles of Confederation

13.        ____________________________ The United States as it exists under the Constitution

14.        ____________________________ Decision making process is very quick

15.        ____________________________ Can be very unstable