After the Articles
• Count off by 5s
• Each group will receive an
envelop; do not open it until
I tell you!
• When I tell you…BEGIN!
• Describe the game you
devised.
• How you feel as you played.?
The Significance?
• In May of 1787, outstanding citizens from 12
states gathered in Philadelphia. They
planned to be there only a little while. They
had come to improve the Articles of
Confederation and try to create more unity
and cooperation among the states. Rhode
Island sent no representatives. How did
those men feel that May?
– Today, you used 12 paper clips. They represent
the patriots who came from the 12 states. The
die represents luck and each day that rolled
around from May 25 to September 17.
The Constitutional
Convention
• Reason for the Convention: The
U.S. had become convinced that
the government under the
Articles of the Confederation
had several flaws. Can you
name them?
– The convention was to begin on
May 14, 1787, but only eight
delegates were present.
– On May 25, 1787 after the
majority of states were in
attendance, the convention
began.
The President & the Secretary
• George Washington –
President of the
Convention
• Only spoke once during
those long, hot months.
– I will not interfere unless
it gets unprofessional, offtopic, or we need to call a
vote/ move onto the next
issue.
• William Jackson (S.C.) –
Secretary
– Since William Jackson is
not represented here, we
need to elect our own
Secretary who will record
all the notes for the
Convention.
The Rule of Secrecy
• "That nothing spoken in
the house be printed, or
otherwise published or
communicated without
leave."
Rules, Rules, Rules
• How many rules did the actual delegates
devise?
– 16 and then 6 more
• Form three committees and come up with
the rules you feel we should have as a
convention.
– What is expected from each of you?
– How will we conduct ourselves?
– Etc...
Ladies..ahem, Gentlemen…
• Should we keep the Articles of
Confederation?
– What were we sent here to do?
– Why should we keep them?
– What’s our other option?
Tonight’s Assignment
• Read: Questions on Legislative Branch…
– After reading it, decide how your delegate would
feel about the issues and then brainstorm a
prepare your speeches/arguments for tomorrow.
(Record this in your packet.)
– Be ready to debate tomorrow.
• EXTRA HOMEWORK:
– Virginia Delegation: Read Virginia Plan
– New Jersey Delegation: Read NJ Plan
– Alexander Hamilton: Read Hamilton’s Plan
– Roger Sherman: Read The Great Compromise
Opening Question:
• For what reason did
most delegates believe
they were meeting?
• What did we decide
yesterday?
The Legislature
• Please make sure you are sitting next
to/near the delegate from your state
– Caucus with other state members or likeminded delegates what you read last night.
•
•
•
•
Virginia Delegation meet alone
Small States Caucus (DE, NH, NJ, GA)
Medium States Caucus (CT, MD, SC, NC)
Large States Caucus (MA, NY, PA)
The Legislature
• How many houses should there be in the national
legislature?
• What powers should the federal legislature have?
• What powers should be kept by the states?
• How should representation be decided?
(population, by state, other)
• Who should choose representatives to the
house(s)?
• How long should a representative serve?
• Can they be re-elected? If so, how many times?
The Legislature
• May 29, 1787 Edmund Randolph from
Virginia submitted and defended a set of
Fifteen Resolutions known as the Virginia
Plan the to the Convention
• Will a delegate from Virginia please
propose the “Virginia Plan”
– Please give us the key points
• How was representation to be determined?
• How many houses in the legislature?
• How many branches proposed?
• The floor is now open for debate on the
topic of the Virginia Plan
Hold Up…2 New Plans Emerge
• June 11, Roger Sherman
proposed a new plan
– Becomes known as the
Connecticut Compromise, which
will be discussed tomorrow.
• June 14, New Jersey (William
Paterson) requested
postponement of Amended
Virginia Plan to present an
alternative plan.
The New Jersey Plan
• New Jersey delegates please present the key
points of the New Jersey Plan
• The floor is now open for debate on the
Virginia Plan
• Do we have any further proposals to debate?
– Alexander Hamilton…do you have anything to
say?
Closing Vote…
• How many branches of government will we
have?
• Will the legislature be bicameral or
unicameral (one house or two houses)?
For Tomorrow…
• Read the next article, “The
Great/Connecticut Compromise” and pages
214-215 in your textbook.
• Complete the question in the packet:
– What was the solution the convention
reached?
Key Points of Both Plans (VA & NJ)
Virginia
• 3 Branches—legislative,
executive, and judicial
• Wanted representation based
upon population
• Highly centralized gov’t would
have veto power over state laws
• Key issue (as stated by Morris of
PA) was the difference between:
– Federation—a mere compact
resting on the good faith of the
parties, shadow government
fragmented and hopelessly
ineffective
– National Government—
complete and mandatory
operation; supreme power
capable of exercising the
necessary authority
New Jersey
• Called only for revisions to
the A of C
– Make Congress better able
to raise revenue
– Regulate commerce
– Let it ratify treaties as the
“Supreme Law of the States”
– They wanted 1 vote one
state as they were
guaranteed under the A of C
Hamilton’s Plan
• He called for a
government just like
Britain’s which he
claimed was the
“best in the world”
– This scared the
other states!
– Why would he want
this system?
Duh!
The Connecticut Compromise
• Would Roger Sherman please rise and
present his plan.
• Please discuss with your caucus the
following:
– How representatives and senators
should be elected?
– How long their terms should be?
– Power of states vs. Congress…who
should have ultimate power?
– What about an Executive? What role
will he (they) play and how long
should he be in office?
– Let’s Debate!
The Great (CT) Compromise
• It’s OFFICIAL: We’re creating a new government,
not just revising the old A of C
• Bicameral Legislature (2 Houses)
– Senate—Upper House (2 votes/state)
– House of Representatives—Lower House (votes based
upon population)
– Senators—6 year terms
– Representatives—2 year terms
• Why was it important?
– It allowed small states to accept the idea of a strong
central government
For Tomorrow
• Please read the
article on Slavery.
• Make sure you
complete the
questions that follow
the article!
To Recap
• What major obstacle plagued the
convention during the first days of debate?
• What was the name of the compromise the
delegates came to?
– What did it say?
The Connecticut or Great Compromise
• Were creating a new government, not just
revising the old A of C
• Bicameral Legislature
– Senate—Upper House (2 votes/state)
– House of Representatives—Lower House (votes
based upon population)
– Senators—6 year terms
– Representatives—2 year terms
Representation
Slavery & Representation
• “On August 21 Martin of
Maryland proposed a tax
on slave importation, the
convention was thrust
into a strident
discussion of the
institution of slavery and
its moral and economic
relationship to the new
government.”
Zoinks!
Against Slavery
• Samuel Hopkins of CT—“How
does it appear…that these states,
who have been fighting for
liberty and consider themselves
as the highest and most noble
example of zeal for it, cannot
agree in any political
Constitution, unless it indulge
and authorize them to enslave
their fellow men…AH! These
unclean spirits, like frogs, they
like the Furies of the poets are
spreading discord, and exciting
men to contention and war.”
For Slavery
• C. Pinckney stated, "if
slavery be wrong, it is
justified by the example of
all the world."
• Rutledge warns that North
Carolina, South Carolina
and Georgia will not sign
the Constitution without
certain slavery protection
clauses.
Representation
• The delegates still had not voted on the how
the representation was going to be determined.
This is what we are going to do today.
• Take a few minutes and determine how your
delegate would feel about representation.
– How do you feel representation should be
determined?!?
• Men (landowners, etc), children, women, people of
color?
• Fill out the questions if you haven’t and CAUCUS
– Debate!
• Should we have an executive? Why or
why not?
• How many executives should we have (if
we have any)?
• What powers will the executive(s) have?
• How long should s/he/they serve?
• Can they be re-elected? If so, how many
times?
The 3/5 Compromise
• Representatives and direct Taxes shall be
apportioned among the several States which
may be included within this Union, according
to their respective Numbers, which shall be
determined by adding to the whole Number
of free Persons, including those bound to
Service for a Term of Years, and excluding
Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other
Persons .
• What was the 3/5
Compromise?
– 1 free person/one vote
– 3/5 of all other people
for the purposes of
taxation and
representation
– Preserved the practice
of slavery
• Slave trade would
continue until 1808 (20
yrs.)
How it plays out…
• 1793 slave states would have been
apportioned 33 seats in the House of
Representatives had the seats been assigned
based on the free population; instead they
were apportioned 47
• In 1812, slaveholding states had 76 instead
of the 59 they would have had
• In 1833, 98 instead of 73.
Madison’s Words
“Twenty years will produce
all the mischief that can be
apprehended from the
liberty to import slaves." He
also "thought it wrong to
admit into the Constitution
the idea that there could be
property in men."
• Should we have an executive? Why or
why not?
• How many executives should we have (if
we have any)?
• What powers will the executive(s) have?
• How long should s/he/they serve?
• Can they be re-elected? If so, how many
times?
No, vote for
me! Vote
My dad was
President…doesn’t
that me!
make you want to
for
vote for me?!?
I’m gonna
buy
Seriously?
Father Don’t be a
Florida fromof the
fool, vote for
Spain…Disney
here
Constitution
me!
we come! here…vote
Vote for for
me!
me!
I’m not voting for any of
you suckers…I’m voting
for ELECTORS! Take
that former Presidents
of the USA!
• The Electoral College is a group of electors who
gather to cast their votes for the presidential
candidates
• When we as Americans are casting our votes for the
presidential candidates, we are actually casting our
votes for electors, who will cast their votes for the
candidates
• The presidential candidate who receives the most
votes in each states gets ALL the electoral votes for
that state.
– Each state gets 2 (for the 2 Senators) and the number of
representatives (in PA, 21 Reps)…So we have 23
electors representing PA in the Electoral College
• If the state of Vermont has
three electoral votes, it casts
all of its electoral votes for the
winning candidate.
• So if Diana Johnson has
4,100,102 votes and Fred
Smith has 4,100,100 votes,
Diana Johnson still gets all
three of Vermont's electoral
votes and Fred Smith gets 0.
• 538 – one for each Representative (435),
each Senator (100), and three votes for the
District of Columbia (Wash, D.C.)
• To win the Presidency a candidate must
secure a majority…how many votes is that?
– 270 Electoral College Votes = “magic number”
– What if there’s no majority?!?
• The House of Representatives selects the President
Let’s Recap
• What were the three ways that the
Constitutional Convention debated electing
a president?
– Direct election, legislative appointment,
electoral college
• Explain the Electoral College…
– How many electors are there? How did the
delegates at the convention decide this?!?
• 538 - one for each state rep in congress and three for
DC
– How many votes does a candidate need to win?
• Magic number is 270
• The Founding Fathers included the Electoral
College as one of the famous "checks and
balances" for two reasons:
1) to give states with small populations more of
an equal weight in the presidential election
and
2) they didn't trust the common man (Remember,
women couldn't vote then.) to be able to make
an informed decision on which candidate
would make the best president.
• Get in your caucuses and discuss the
following:
1. How should the president be elected?
•
Legislature? Direct election? Electoral College?
2. What qualifications must the president meet in
order to become president?
3. How long should the president serve?
4. What should the overall job of the president be?
• Debate and then we’ll vote!
• Agreed (8 - 3) on Electoral College with
majority of electoral votes needed for the
election of the Executive.
• Agreed (nem con) that the President should be:
1. Natural-born citizen, or born abroad, but only to
parents who were both citizens of the U.S.
2. A permanent resident for 14 years in the USA
3. Be 35 years of age.
• Term of the President is 4 years
• Job of the President:
– Sign or veto legislation
– Commander-in-chief of the military
– Directs US foreign policy
– Chief executive – "take(s) care that the laws be
faithfully executed.”
– Power to nominate federal judges
– May grant pardons
• Read the article on Judicial Review &
Judicial Power
• Make sure to prepare for the following
topics:
– What is the judicial branch’s role in the
government?
– Should there be a Council of Review?
– Terms of judges?
The Judiciary
• Should we have a national court system? Why
or why not?
• If so, how should it be set up?
• How long should the term of office be for a
justice?
• Should they be able to serve more than one
term? If so, how many?
The Judiciary
• Proposal: A “Council of Revision” to review
all bills passed by the legislature BEFORE
they went into effect?
– So basically, for a bill to become law, the
President AND the Judiciary (Supreme Court)
would have to approve said bill…
– This is called PRIOR REVIEW
Gerry & King
• Both objected to allowing the
Judiciary the power of prior
review…why?!?
– Bias…If the judges helped to make
the laws, how could they possibly
then say that the laws were
UNCONSTITUTIONAL?
What is Judicial Review?
• The actions of the Executive (President) and
Legislative (Congress) branches are able to
be reviewed by the Judicial branch (the
Supreme Court).
– One of the key “checks and balances” in our
government
Today’s Court
• John Roberts – Chief Justice
– Conservative wing: John Roberts, Antonin
Scalia, Clarence Thomas & Samuel Alito
– Liberal wing: Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader
Ginsberg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagen
– Anthony Kennedy: conservative who
sometimes goes liberal
Roberts
Scalia
Thomas
Alito
Sotomayor
Kagen
Kennedy
Ginsberg
Breyer
Confirmation of Justices
• Senate Judiciary Committee conducts hearings
• Sends to full Senate vote with a positive, negative
or neutral report…
–
–
–
–
Only 12 rejected
Robert Bork…”Borked”
Regan’s withdraw of nomination – Douglas Ginsburg
Bush’s withdraw of nomination - Harriet Miers
US Supreme Court
U.S.Circut Court of Appeals
Appeals
US District Court
(Federal Trials)
Federal Cases
State Supreme Court
(Highest State Court)
Appeals
Intermediate Court of Appeals
Appeals
Municipal or County Court
(Local Trials)
State Cases
The Court System
• State courts
– Superior, county, district or municipal courts
– Deal with traffic, family, criminal, probate and
small claims
• Federal Courts
– Parties are from different states
– Dispute is over $75,000
– Federal offenses: mail fraud, art theft, identity
theft, kidnapping, tax evasion, counterfeiting,
immigration offenses, assassinating the
President
How are cases heard…
• Petition for certiorari - request of a lower court
to send up records
• Each side gets 30 minutes to make their case and
answer questions
The Federal Court System
• 94 Federal Districts Courts
– Trial courts, original jurisdiction (hear a case
for the 1st time)
• 13 Court of Appeals
– Hear cases that have been tried already, but are
on appeal
• 12 = geographically designated
• 1 = US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Supreme court - highest court in the
land
The Supreme Court
• Article II establishes the President’s right to
nominate justices subject to Senate approval
• Article III further provides that "[t]he Judges,
both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall
hold their Offices during good Behavior, and
shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services,
a Compensation, which shall not be diminished
during their Continuance in Office.“
– For life…or until they retire!
Powers of the Supreme Court
• "The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and
Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United
States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their
Authority;
• To all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and
Consuls;
• To all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;
• To Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;
• To Controversies between two or more States;—between a
State and Citizens of another State;-between Citizens of
different States;—between Citizens of the same State claiming
Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or
the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.”
Reflection & Analysis
• What was the most challenging part of the
convention? Explain.
• What did you learn from the experience?
• Did it change how you thought about our
Founding Fathers? If so, how?
• What did this taste of “democracy in action”
do to the groups in the class (Ex: North,
South, Large State, Small State, etc…)
Next Week: Exam
• Study guide: Please use the Simulation
folder (I will return them tomorrow) and
the PowerPoint (and the book Chapter 7.1)
to prepare.
• Exam will consist of multiple choice,
matching and essays.
– Total Points: 36