Note: All current events are taken from the period of September 25, through September 29, 1998.

One Week Integrated Government/US History Seminar for HS Seniors

• Simulation finale: Writing the Constitution

1. Roll, Announcements, and other Administrative Activities
2. Current Events Extra Credit Questions

1. What is the name of the group that currently controls most of Afghanistan and has recently come under international pressure from the United Nations?
2. Locate Afghanistan on a world map.
3. Which US President is featured on the brand new $20 bill?
4. Name the cabinet member responsible for the new currency (name and/or position).

1. Students are given the seminar packet.
2. Students try to identify as many people from the packet's cover painting as possible, and are asked to identify what is happening. Teacher notes that the painting hangs in the rotunda of the Capitol.

1. The American Revolution

1. Causes

1. Taxation without Representation
2. Settlement restrictions (Proclamation of 1763)
3. Military infringement on personal property
4. Economic domination (Mercantilism)

1. Declaration of Independence

1. Philadelphia as site of Continental Congress
2. Signed on July 4, 1776
3. Caused the colonies to be an independent nation in theory

1. The War

1. Begun in Massachusetts ("Shot Heard Round the World")
2. George Washington as general
3. Helped by the French
4. Ended at Yorktown, VA (real beginning of the colonies' independence)

1. Articles of Confederation

1. What were they?

1. First document forming a united government
2. Created to form bonds that would protect the "states" from a British takeover
3. Weak central government

1. Problems

1. Could not deal with interstate rivalries (ex. VA-MA taxation rights on the Potomac River)
2. Concerns about defense
3. Currency problems (every state had its own currency)

1. Side notes

1. Story of the first "President of the United States"
2. Look at the document in the seminar handout to notice that it laid the groundwork for the Constitution

1. George Washington

1. Victorious leader of the Revolution
2. Southern slave owner
3. Was chosen to be President of the Constitutional Convention

1. James Madison

1. Well educated
2. Southern aristocrat
3. Known as the "Father of the US Constitution" for his role in writing it

1. John Jay

1. Negotiated the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolution
2. Later became the first Chief Justice

1. Alexander Hamilton

1. Born of immigrants in NY
2. Wanted a president-for-life

• Excerpts from Locke
• The Declaration of Independence

1. Roll, Announcements, and other Administrative Activities
2. Current Events Extra Credit Questions

1. What nations and states have been hit by Hurricane Georges?
2. Point them out on the world map.
3. Clinton is trying again to put his personal crisis behind him by asking Congress to focus on what important subject?

1. Power in Europe

1. Monarchy

1. Most of Europe still has monarchies
2. Divine Right (Kings are chosen by God)

1. England's unique situation

1. England has a King and Americans still feel connected with England
2. Balance of power between King and Parliament in England
3. Some Americans want the US to install GW as King and have a parliament

1. Political philosophy of the time

1. Thomas Hobbes

1. Did his work in the mid-1600's
2. Thought that government was supreme
3. Thought government had a "social contract" to protect people from their own brutish instincts

1. John Locke

1. Wrote Two Treatises of Government (1690)
2. Held that all persons are born good, independent, and equal
3. Argued that sovereignty did not reside in the state but with the people
4. "Natural Law" - theory that government is a contract with the people
5. Supported separation of Church and State, and separation of powers

1. Jean Jacques Rousseau

1. Did similar work to Locke
2. Felt that people should be free to do as they pleased
3. Felt government's job was to protect the freedom of the common man

1. Thomas Jefferson

1. Argued in the Declaration of Independence that "all men were created equal" with emphasis that slavery was a major issue to contend with at the Constitutional Convention
2. Argued that government was only valid if it was representative of the people

1. Location, Date, President

1. Held in Philadelphia in the same location the Declaration of Independence was held
2. The Convention was held in 1787
3. George Washington was chosen to be president of the Convention

1. The Virginia Plan

1. Division of power into an Executive, Legislative, and Judicial
2. Bicameral Legislature

1. In the first branch, the number of representatives from each state would be determined by its population
2. The second branch would be selected by the first
3. Similarity to the British Parliament

1. The New Jersey Plan

1. Division of powers
2. Single Legislature

1. Each state would have equal representation
2. The legislature would elect the Executive
3. Designed to help small states

1. Acting as "Convention President Washington," the instructor opens the Constitutional Convention
2. Instructor outlines the needs of the Convention

1. Must decide what type of government to have (monarchy, constitutional monarchy, the risky-untried democracy, etc.)
2. Must decide on a division of powers, if any
3. Must take into consideration the need for protection from England
4. Must take into consideration the work of recent philosophers

1. Instructor divides the class into small groups. About two thirds of the class are to make up and equal number of groups as the remaining third. The large groups are labeled after large states (Virginia, NY, Pennsylvania) and the small respectively (Conn., Maryland, etc.).
2. A facilitator and recorder are assigned within each group and their jobs are briefly described
3. The instructor outlines the rules of the simulation

1. Each group will act as a state
2. The "states" may negotiate with each other
3. The "states" may also choose to vote and act as blocks

1. Roll, Announcements, and other Administrative Activities
2. Current Events Extra Credit Questions

1. What major event took place yesterday in downtown Washington? (Cancer Walk)
2. An election for chancellor is coming up tomorrow in what major European nation?
3. Who is the long-standing leader of that nation currently trying for his fifth term?

1. The class divides into its groups again
2. Each group presents its plan for the new government (if multiple groups have combined for a single plan, it is only presented once)
3. The groups are allowed a short period of time to discuss the various plans among themselves.

1. Introduction to the basic three branch system

1. Legislative

1. House of Representatives (equal representation per population)
2. Senate (equal representation per state)

1. Executive (single president)
2. Judicial

1. Outline of the checks and balances between the branches

1. Quick review of the VA and NJ plans
2. The importance of slavery in this issue

1. A preponderance of northern states could legislate slavery away in the NJ plan
2. If the VA plan passed, slaves would be counted as part of the population and the southern states would have control of the legislature

1. Madison's Great Compromise (the system we have today)

1. Roll, Announcements, and other Administrative Activities
2. Current Events Extra Credit Questions

1. Once again Kosovo is in the news? Where is Kosovo
2. What nation is Kosovo currently a part of?
3. Who is the controversial leader of that nation?

1. Civil Rights, the largest problem with ratification

1. The Convention chose not to include anything about civil rights in the Constitution
2. Many members campaigned against ratification because there was no mention of civil rights
3. Most of these rights were grips the colonists had against England

1. Quartering of solders in private residences
2. Search and Seizure laws
3. Freedoms of speech, press, assembly, etc.

1. Some were things the colonists had originally come to the new world for

1. Freedom of religion
2. Freedom to settle across the Appalachian Mountains

1. Many delegates felt the answer was a "Bill of Rights"

1. Most states agreed not to ratify the constitution without also ratifying a set of amendments that outlines basic rights
2. These amendments were called the "Bill of Rights" and are the first ten amendments to the Constitution

1. A National Debate

1. There was a great national debate about the whether or not to ratify the Constitution

1. Some felt that it gave too much power to the federal government
2. Some felt it was still too weak to deal with the nation's problems

1. In spite of G. Washington's wish that American politics never develop parties, two parties naturally formed

1. The Federalists supported ratification
2. The Anti-Federalists did not

1. The Federalist Papers

1. What are they?

1. A collection of 85 editorial articles published in New York newspapers and also collected into a book
2. They are a clear argument for ratification

1. The Authors

1. John Jay

1. A lawyer
2. Helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolution
3. Later negotiated Jay's Treaty expelling British forces from four western forts
4. Was to become the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

1. James Madison

1. Known as the "Father of the U.S. Constitution"
2. Good at clear explanations and arguments that made the Constitution seem acceptable to many people
3. Later became the Fourth President

1. Alexander Hamilton

1. First generation American
2. Felt the Constitution was too weak to handle the nation's problems but agreed to support it anyway
3. Was a New Yorker
4. Was a strong supporter of a National Bank
5. Was the first Secretary of the Treasury for George Washington
6. Was killed by once Vice President Arron Burr in a dual

1. Anonymity

1. Each of these three authors agreed not to put their names to their work
2. They used PUBLIUS as a common name
3. Today we know who wrote most of them by the writing styles

1. Roll, Announcements, and other Administrative Activities
2. Current Events Extra Credit Questions

1. Tensions arose between the United States and which of its neighbors?
2. With what did these problems concern?
3. What is the United States' problem with the Mexican drug enforcement program?
4. Why don't the Mexican's like this point of view?

The following is a list of what is to be included in the Seminar Packet

• On the cover of the Seminar Packet will be a copy of the painting The Signing of the Constitution by Howard Chandler Christy which hangs in the rotunda of the US Capitol.