Download - CONSTITUTION MAKING
SOURCES Examine two primary sources: Document B and
Document C in the packet (please do NOT write on the packet. . And return by end of class)
What are your observations? What information is listed.
What kind of conclusions might your draw. . Why? How do these lists help paint a picture of early life in the colonies?
What questions do you have to fill in the gaps?
Where can you find good sources on population statistics – like income, age, immigration status? Education? Gender?
Essential QUESTIONS
Are we a religious people in the United States? To what extent do the founding documents speak to religion or faith? Is there a difference?
To what extent do the founding documents support or challenge notions of the self-made man and the importance of individuality? Or, are we a community? Can we be both?
Are we exceptional? Is the American experience an experiment in politics and society that is unique from other experiences around the world? Should we export this exceptionalism if we are? Or are we merely part of a larger global context?
John Winthrop’s speech
Listen and read over John Winthrop’s speech. Imagine that you are on a boat listening to these words.
Source/Title/Subject – What can we learn about the document by examining the source and title?
Occasion – Why does Winthrop make his speech when he does? What do you think?
Audience – Who is his audience?
Purpose – What is the author’s purpose for making the speech.
Tone – What words reveal the tone of this document.
DO NOW What does the Declaration and “City on a
Hill” speech have in common?
Does compromising mean selling out? Do you believe politicians should change their mind and negotiate? OR do you think that politicians who change their mind are fickle and not worthy?
Who were the delegates?
½ Dozen State governors
Chief Justice
Several had served on State Courts
lawyers
Sizing each other up!!
Major William Pierce – manuscript of character; sketches – for posterity
Hamilton “Tincture of vanity about him” Madison “waxes eloquent”
“Every morning we wake up and decide that we want to live in a constitutional republic”
-- Garret Epps, author
Foreign issues in 1787
We were not abiding by Treaty of ’83
Loyalists in Canada not happy
Issue over Mississippi River
Domestic Problems
Trade wars being fought
Boundary disputes
4 states have pieces that want to break off
Factions – debtor/creditor fights everywhere
“The adoption of the Constitution was. . . The most participatory, majoritarian, and populist event the Earth had ever seen.”
--- Akhil Reed Amar
SORT DELEGATES National Symbols STATE and Local
Theorists William Patterson Madison Hamilton QUIET DELEGATES James Wilson Jared Ingersoll Pinckney
Elder Statesmen: Mason Will Livingston John
Dickinson````````````````````````````````````````
Dead White GuysIn a speech to the Free Congress Foundation in 1997, Charlton Heston, who
became President of the National Rifile Association, celebrated the role of white men in the nation’s founding:
“The Constitution was handed down to guide us by a bunch of those wise old dead white guys who invented this country. Now, some flinch when I say that. Why? It’s true. . . They were white guys. So were most of the guys who died in Lincoln’s name opposing slavery in the 1860s. So why should I be ashamed of white guys? Why is Hispanic pride or black pride a good thing while “white pride” conjures up shaved heads and white hoods?
RULES Rule of Secrecy – Why essential?
Rumors – Delegates giving up . . .looking @relative of George III to b King.
Leak spreads throughout nation.
Public Opinion – Most people don’t care.
Ratification – in public
Key Compromises:
Is it ok to compromise our values? Are we selling out?
Great Compromise – Who had to give up what?
Federalism – Where do we still see this battle/compromise going on today?
Slavery
SLAVERY COMPROMISES:
3/5th Compromise – North v. South Article 1 section 3
Slave Trade in tact –Article 1 section 9 clause 1
Fugitive Slave Law – Article IV section 2 clause 3
Article V – amendment process by states we cannot make an amendment to change Article 9 – slave trade before 1808,
Census/Districts http://www.malegislature.gov/Images/Propo
sedRedistrictingMaps/18.jpg
WHO IS RUNNING IN 2012:
Ballotpedia Atom feed
SENATE REQUIREMENTS:
30 years 9 years a citizen and living in state during
time of election
Terms6 years. . Elections 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 or the Senate
(every two years a 1/3 is up for election. . .why?)
Special Powers of Senate
Ratify treaties
Advice and consent with President on nominations – must approve nominations (Court, cabinet)
Conduct Trial for Impeachment
Electoral College U. S. Electoral College, Official - What is the
Electoral College?
President’s Requirements
Natural Born citizen
14 years in residence
35 years of age
LENGTH OF TERM:
How many?
22nd Amendment– significance?
Powers of President
Head of military
Makes treaties
Makes appointments for Court and cabinet
Has the power to grant pardons
Judicial Branch No requirements. . .is that a good thing?
Length of term:
Role of Congress – creating lower courts
Jurisdiction – State v. Federal –
Trial by Jury
Westlaw State Court Organization Chart
Article V –
1. Congress – 2/3 majority of both houses
2. Ratified by how many ¾ States. . .
3. 27 total Amendments
4. 1st 10 – Bill of Rights
Article VI SUPREMACY CLAUSE
Federal law is supreme. . If there is a conflict b/t state law or state courts and federal law and fed. Courts – Federal Govt. wins!
IMAGINE THIS CLASSROOM
Ok. . Mrs. Green is the government.. . .ok and so is Mr. Franklin. Your parents/guardians represent the “State”. . . .You, the students are the individuals. . The “people”
EXPLICIT POWERS --
What are some explicitly stated (part of the job description when we got hired or what is legally required by the govt of your parents) Parents: Teachers
IMPLICIT What powers do Mr. Franklin and I have
that are not actually written in our job description but in order to carry out grading, instructing, teaching the “core”, etc we are allowed to do?
INHERENT Are there any powers that we have as the
BIG DUDES in your life that we have by virtue of being the “BOSS”?
RESERVED What powers are RESERVED for your
Parents/GUARDIANS?
DO you have any powers left over for yourself? If so what?
TYPE OF POWERS Expressed or explicit– Stated in Constitution
Example: Post office, patents
IMPLIED – Necessary and Proper Clause – Article 1 section 8 clause 18 – “to make all laws necessary and proper”. . .Can make laws to support the explicit ones. . For example – Congress is allowed to collect taxes and borrow money. Where will it place the money and how will it monitor? Need a bank? Ok. . The Congress could make a national bank. . . Or could it (Was a HUGE debate. . .and the debate was over the Necessary and Proper clause.
INHERENT – Doesn’t have to be stated. . Just the fact that the Federal Govt is a national, centralized sovereign nation –example: Making treaties
RESERVED – POWERS RESERVED TO THE STATES
LIMITS ON POWER Article 1 Section 9
No ex post facto laws – can’t make a law that will then penalize people who broke the law before it was a law. Example – Marijuana use. Let’s say Dope use was
allowed and Mrs. Green did weed regularly (G-d forbid). . And then the legislature passed a law saying it was illegal. Mrs. Green doesn’t do the weed thing now..
No bill of attainder – confiscating property or declaring someone guilty and giving punishment without due process
Cannot suspend habeas corpus
No titles of nobility
CHECKS AND BALANCES
A check President has on the whole Congress
A check the House has on the Senate
A check the Senate has on the House
A check the people have on the Congress
A check the people have on President
Checks and Balance
Your small group has a card: People President House Senate Supreme Court Congress
Your task: Brainstorm as many checks as you think you have on each of the other groups. You can consider the House and Senate separately and then you can also consider them as a whole Congress
CHECK and Balance Game
The House passes a law that will impact highway funding. We don’t like it in Swampscott. . . .What is a check on this power?
The President appoints the next Supreme Court Justice and the guy up for appointment knows nothing about the Constitution.