Bill of Rights Part 1 - ReadWorks

Why did North Carolina and Rhode Island not ratify the Constitution at first?

• They wanted a Bill of Rights to be added.

• They wanted to take away power from state governments.

• They thought it made the federal government too weak.

• They wanted to send it to the King of England.

Why does the author describe the fears that critics in North Carolina and Rhode Island had about the Constitution?

• to show that many people were opposed to the Bill of Rights

• to describe the arguments that they had against the Bill of Rights

• to explain why they wanted the Bill of Rights added

• to show that some states did not want to be part of the union

The author says that critics wanted people’s rights “spelled out” to mean

• they wanted the founding fathers to explain them.

• they demanded some rights to be taken out of the Constitution.

• they asked Madison to use simple words in his writing.

• they wanted those rights to be made official.

“The ‘founding fathers,’ who created the Constitution, knew the document would have to be flexible in order to survive over time. They knew they would have to allow amendments.”The word flexible means

• able to be understood easily

• rigid and resistant to change from outside

• able to bend or change without breaking

This passage is mostly about...

• rights that people in different countries have all over the world.

• the founding fathers, and why they wrote the Constitution.

• early additions to the Constitution and why they were added.

• How bills become laws, and how laws become amendments.

North Carolina and Rhode Island wanted a Bill of Rights added to the Constitution because they worried that without it the government might eventually become too _____________.

• weak

• strong