The colonial leaders organized a convention to establish new rules for governing the
order to do this, they studied the political systems of ancient Greece and ancient Rome. Both ancient
civilizations had a form of democracy where citizens had a voice as to how their nations would be run.
During the 1700s, many of the countries that the American citizens immigrated from were run by
monarchies or the wealthy elite. Citizens had no rights. The United States government had to be
organized in a way in which the government did not have too much power and citizens would have rights to
protect themselves.
Common Core Standard RII Cite Textual Evidence Common Core Standard R1.6 Author's Viewpoint & Purpose
1. What did the leaders do before they created new laws? 2. What is the author's purpose for writing this?
a. They researched the laws of other nations.
a. To inform the reader about how laws in the United States
b. They modeled the country after monarchies.
were developed
c. They organized government power.
b. To persuade readers to investigate democratic systems
c. To describe the steps that have to be taken in order to
reorganize a government system
