Dr. Marc Turetzky
Pols 1: U.S. Institutions
Spring 2016
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Video Worksheet: “The Constitution-Creating a Constitution”
1) What was the first US Constitution called? What were its weaknesses?
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2) In your mind, who were the founding fathers: demigods, geniuses, evil slave-holders, just normal men brought together in
difficult circumstances, etc? What does Dye/video say about them?
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3) What did professor Dye argue were some of the things the founders agreed on at the Constitutional Convention in
Philadelphia in 1787 (see esp. p63)?
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4) What did professor Dye and the video say were some of the conflicts at the Constitutional Convention? What is the Bill of
Rights and how does it guarantee your personal freedom? Why didn’t the Founders include a Bill of Rights in the original
draft of the Constitution?
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5) What was the 3/5 compromise? Why didn’t the founding fathers use the word “slavery” in the Constitution? What word(s)
did they use as a proxy for slave?
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6) What is the separation of powers? Why did the FFs create this system?
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7) What are checks and balances? Come up with a concrete example of checks and balances within our political system.
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8) Did the founding fathers create a democracy in 1787 or something else? In other words, how democratic was the
Constitution of 1787 (see esp. Dye, P85)?
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9) How can the constitution change? What is the process? Why does it seem so hard to change?
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10) What is your overall assessment of the document the founders created in 1787? Good, bad, or ugly?
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