Constitution Presentation.ppt

Editor's Notes

• #2: Understanding the U.S. Constitution: An Instructional Guide for High School International Students. As its title states, this presentation is designed for foreign students studying in U.S. high schools through exchange programs. The projected grade levels of students participating in this presentation are 11th or 12th grades, ages 16-18. Prior to entering a U.S. high school or even the United States, international students should be knowledgeable and aware of the Constitutional laws and protections within the country. This presentation will be given prior to entering the classroom and will require each student to have a computer or tablet in front of them for interaction. Each student is also to receive a pocket Constitution of the United States to keep and reference.
• #3: Welcome, this presentation will enlighten and detail the importance of the United States Constitution. Following a brief history on the events leading up to the formation of the Constitution, you, as participants, will learn about the six core principles that have allowed the Constitution and the American people to endure for more than two centuries. The six principles are separation of powers, checks and balances, judicial review, federalism, limited government, and popular sovereignty. These six tenets are the foundations of freedom in the United States and guarantee various rights for citizens and noncitizens. As a visitor to this great nation, you will experience many of the rights allowed by these six principles. While you study, participate, and live within American society, the U.S. Constitution protects your life, your freedom, and your quest for education and happiness.
• #4: Quiz Question I: What date did the United States declare its independence and what date or dates did the colonies win its independence from Great Britain? Answers: July 4th, 1776 and the Yorktown victory in October 1781 or in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris. Each slide that contains quiz questions will have a blue question mark. It took the American Colonists five years of bitter battling to win their independence from the British. However, following the victory, deciding on a form of government forced a long debate with trial and error. The Constitution of the United States was actually the third form of government voted upon following independence. The Continental Congress was formed in 1774, prior to the Declaration of Independence and lasted as an interim government following victory over the British (Jensen, 1940). The Continental Congress also voted on the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified in 1781 and organized the United States as a collection of sovereign states. But without central leadership, the Confederation failed and was replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1789 (Jensen, 1940). 55 delegates from the twelve states composed the Constitution, including James Madison, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton, and 39 of these patriots signed the document. The significance was not that a government was created and ratified by the thirteen states, but that the Constitutional document was a continually evolving piece of history. The Framers designed government to change as was needed, as long as the six core tenets remained intact. To help each of you understand and relate to the Founding Fathers, click on the rainbow colored link and complete a survey. The survey asks what are important priorities and decisions in your life and will release information on which Founding Fathers you most relate. Take this time to discover and share with the class what your survey results state.
• #5: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America” (U.S. Const.). This quote represents the preamble of the Constitution, and the reasons the Founding Fathers designed a government with six foundational principles. The first principle, the separation of power emphasizes shared power within government. No one person or group of people has complete control or autonomy over the people of the United States. As a result, the government is divided into three separate branches, the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial arms of leadership. All three have various responsibilities, but all equally share responsibility of law and order throughout the United States. The Framers designed government to ensure minimal tyrannical action and government abuse against the people. Tyranny and abuse were experienced first-hand by the colonists under the authority of the British and King George III. The separation of powers forces checks and balances on government and its leadership and allows the people to rule. Discussion: what kind of government does your home nation possess? This part of the presentation is an opened discussion regarding each student’s home nation. There are many forms of governments and democracies around the world, including parliamentary republics, constitutional monarchies, presidential republics, and dictatorships. This discussion will foster engagement between the students and allow each of them to compare the U.S. separation of powers to their own country’s government.
• #6: Quiz Question 2: What branch of government did the Framers believe should exercise higher power, within checks and balances? Answer: The Legislative Branch The Legislative Branch, which is described in Article I of the Constitution, was designed by the Framers to be the most influential branch of government, but at the same time, equal to the other branches. There are two specific reasons for this ideological influence: fear of a tyrannical head of state (i.e. King George III) and legislative members were chosen by the people to govern the people. There are two divisions of the Legislative branch: the House of Representatives, which has 435 members determined by population, and the Senate, which has 100 members or two per state. Today, if a 51st state is added to the Union, the current membership would increase to 102. Quiz Question 3: Who is the current leader of the House of Representatives? Answer: The Speaker of the House or Rep. Paul Ryan. The Legislative Branch has many responsibilities, most of which are located on your screen; however, most recognizable is their power to create laws, control the budget and money, and declaring war. This may surprise some of you, but the President of the United States cannot declare war on another country. Only Congress has that power. We are now going to watch a short video of President Franklin D. Roosevelt asking Congress to declare war on the Japanese Empire in 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Click on the U.S. Capital building to start the video. This video represents an example of the separation of power in the United States. Congress is elected to represent the people and only through those representatives, can the United States declare war on another sovereign nation.
• #7: Article II of the constitution describes the Executive Branch of the United States, which consists of the President, Vice President and the 15 Cabinet departments. The current departments include State, Defense, Treasury, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veteran Affairs, Justice, and Homeland Security. The goal of these departments is to advise the President and Vice President on matters pertaining to each office (U.S. Const. art. II). Quiz Question 4: Who is the current President and Vice President of the United States? Answer: Donald Trump and Mike Pence. The Executive Branch holds different responsibilities than the Legislative Branch. Where Congress makes laws, the Executive Branch enforces and recommends laws. Congress may fund and declare war, but the President is responsible for committing troops to warfare. The Executive Branch can also veto Congressional bills, pardon federal criminals, and make pacts with other sovereign nations. Since the time of Franklin Roosevelt, the Executive Branch has increased in its role and power. Quiz Question 5: In order, what are the first five successions to the Presidency if the current President is no longer able to remain in office? Answer: Vice President, Speaker of the House, Senate Pro-tempore, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury.
• #8: The Judicial Branch is the final arm of the U.S. Government and is spelled out in Article III of the Constitution. The Judiciary includes the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land. Members are chosen by the Executive branch and approved by the Legislative Senate. There are typically nine members on the Supreme Court, and they are allowed to serve until they resign, die, or are impeached for wrongdoing, which is quite rare. Only one justice has ever been impeached in U.S. history: Samuel Chase, in 1804. There are also federal courts and judges in various districts around the United States. Like the Supreme Court, federal judges are responsible for interpreting the Constitution through Judicial Review, as well as, settling legal disputes between the states and against the states. The Judicial Branch is often seen as the weakest of the branches; however, through simple interpretation and opinion, judges have the authority to topple political agendas, administrations, and laws.
• #9: Test your knowledge. This is an interactive activity. Each student can complete this in groups of two or by themselves to test their retention of knowledge regarding the separation of powers in the United States. Students may return to the previous slides to complete this task. Discussion will follow to answer any pertinent questions about the task.
• #10: Judicial review is the ability of the courts to determine the legality of Congressional and Executive action. Article III of the Constitution provides little instruction on how or to what extent a federal judge can interpret the Constitution (Perry, 2004). However, during a court case in 1803, the Supreme Court established judicial review as a way to ensure checks and balances between the three branches of government. Marbury v Madison was the first time in U.S. history where the Supreme Court declared an act of Congress unconstitutional, setting precedent that has since been used by the high court for over two centuries. The decision by the court to favor Marbury created the final set of checks and balances in the country. Each branch of government was now able to affect and impinge on the other two branches. Interestingly enough, it was the opinion of the Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, that convinced the 1803 Supreme Court to favor judicial review (Marbury v Madison, n.d.). The graph on the right shows the overall cycle of judicial review and its influence on the entirety of the U.S. Government. The President may appoint judges and the Senate may approve their position, but Federal courts use Constitutional interpretation and court precedence by way of Marbury v. Madison to determine whether Congressional, executive, or state action is constitutionally legal. Judicial review protects every individual in the United States by preventing overreaching from the Legislative and Executive Branches. Discussion: Can you think of any other laws in United States’ history where judicial review was instrumental? Brown v. Board of Education overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and gave all individuals in the United States equal protection. More recently, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Windsor that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. Discuss other court cases with students, including Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona, and Dred Scott v. Sandford.
• #11: Checks and balances are vital to every individual’s right to live free and prosper in the United States. As mentioned in the previous slides, each branch has some control over the other branches. The diagram on this slide describes exactly how each branch affects the other two. For example, the President can veto a Congressional bill, and the Judiciary can state that a Congressional bill is unconstitutional. At the same time, the President appoints judges to federal courts, but the Legislative Branch can reject any and all appointments. Congress can also impeach federal judges and the President. There is a continual cycle of authority between the branches of government, and this creates balances to ensure one branch does not acquire complete autonomy over the other two. Quiz Question 6: Name a U.S. President who was impeached by Congress? Answer: Clinton or Johnson. Discussion: Which branch of government do you think has the most power? Imagine you were a government official. What branch would you prefer to be a member? Have the students discuss these two questions to encourage creativity and opinion within the room. The goal is to ensure an understanding of checks and balances in the United States.
• #12: The third core tenet of the Constitution is federalism. Federalism establishes a relationship between the state governments and federal branches. This principle also requires both to work together. The 10th Amendment of the Constitution states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” (U.S. Const. amend. X). In reality, this means if the Constitution does not designate powers to the federal government, the states have the right to govern such programs. As the graph on the left shows, there are responsibilities solely for the states, simply because the Constitution does not designate power to the federal government. Education and public safety are prime examples. The Constitution depicts no descriptions of how to educate youth in each state and neglects to state education is even a right. As a result, control of education is at the sole discretion of the states. However, this does not prevent the federal government from influencing education reform. Discussion: What are ways the federal government can influence education? Since all of these students are entering a high school, this discussion will help them understand the reasons mandated assessments and standards exist and why they are constitutionally legal. There are also many responsibilities shared by the states and the federal government, such as taxes, law and order, and the establishment of courts. Every year, depending on the state, a person is required to pay taxes on their home, their purchases, and their income. Much of this regulation goes to the state of residency, but a lot also goes to the federal government. Communities, counties, and states are also required to ensure law and order by hiring police officers, attorneys, judges, and other public service positions. Like the federal government, the states and the communities require their own sovereign ability to govern their citizens. On top of everything, these responsibilities are continually changing, particularly with varying state and federal influences and changes in administrations.
• #13: Limited government is essential to the success of the U.S. Constitutional government; however, limited government ideology changes with each administration. Did you know that President Lincoln actually suspended Habeas Corpus during the Civil War, preventing the unlawful imprisonment of individuals in the United States? The idea of limited government allows the people of the United States to maximize their ability to prosper without interference from government leaders. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (U.S. Declaration of Independence, para. 2, 1776). Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the key words limited government allows. Under British colonial rule, limited government did not exist. The Framers knew to ensure limited government, this would decrease intrusion. Furthermore, limited government forces every person from the President to an employee at McDonalds to be equally bound by constitutional law. No person is above the law. Quiz Question 7: Name a U.S. President who believed he was above Constitutional law, and why? Answers will be very interpretive. Use this question to link limited government to the importance of federalism and the separation of powers.
• #14: Quiz Question 8: Who can vote in the United States? Answer: Any U.S. citizen over the age of 18, 17 if a primary election. Discuss the restrictions on voting and how a citizen loses their right to vote. The final core principle is the people’s right to popular sovereignty. Through the 9th and 10th Amendments, U.S. citizens grant permission for government to rule and hold authority over each of them. Through voting, the people choose their leaders and how their leaders govern. Basically, the majority rules. Though you, as international students, do not have the right to vote in U.S. elections, you can still participate politically through volunteering and attending town halls. Your voice can still be heard, similar to U.S. citizens, who are not allowed to vote. Voting and civic participation is a foundational right of all Americans. Government leaders can be voted out of power and laws can also be changed at all levels of government. Equal to the ideology of federalism and similar in nature, the federal government has limits in its power and that limit is controlled by the people. The eagle on the right states, “E. Pluribus Unum,” which translates to “out of many, one.” Though there are many people and many states that make up the United States, we are one nation and each citizen has a voice within government. The government only has authority because its citizens allow it.
• #15: Students will divide into the three groups, representing the three branches of government, and create fictional laws. Each group will use the information and responsibilities found on slides five, six, and seven, as well as, the descriptions of the six core tenets to demonstrate how the U.S government operates, while embracing checks and balances. The Legislative group will divide into a Senate and the House to vote on laws. The Executive students will have a President, Vice President, and advisors to counsel the legislators and veto laws. Finally, the judicial group will have the power to strike down laws through judicial review and interpretation.
• #16: So what does this all mean to you as you study during the next year? The six core tenets of the U.S. Constitution exist to protect you and me, while we engage in life and work towards our goals. The separation of powers, judicial review, and federalism all create checks and balances to ensure government is limited but effective. While you complete this year of high school, understand that the Constitutional laws and regulations are meant to serve you and your interests. Remember, the Founding Fathers were also once strangers to a new, forever changing and growing nation.