Power of the People in the U.S. Constitution (Activity Choice 1)

Power of the People in the U.S. Constitution (Activity Choice 1)

Consider the 1787 Constitution of the United States.

How has the Constitution been used to deny "the people" power?

What part of the Constitution assures "the people" have some power?

How do the people "make it work"?

Just exactly who are "the people" the Constitution applies to?

Compare the Constitution of the United States with the Constitution of your state or Commonwealth.

Which conveys more power to you?

Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 (Activity Choice 2)

1. Which one was a better "deal" for the individuals held as slaves?

2. Which one had a better outcome for the slave holders?

3. How was slavery finally abolished for the entire country?

What act established equality for all the citizens in the United States?

Even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, most of the people in the USA were still not given equality.
Name 2 groups of people who did not benefit from the proclamation.

Do some research:

How was slavery abolished England?

What is the optimal path for freeing people from slavery or establishing equality?

"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.
With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while
with others, the same word many mean for some men to do as they
please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are
two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name
- liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties,
called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny." Abraham Lincoln
Source: April 18, 1864 - Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland

Bill of Rights (Activity Choice 3)

/ Bill of Rights
Founding fathersGeorge Mason,Thomas Paine, andPatrick Henryargued that a set of rights for citizens should be clearly written in the U.S. Constitution of 1789. They were disappointed when that did not happen.
On December 15, 1791, ten amendments were added to the Constitution. They set forth a set of freedoms and rights of all U.S. Citizens.

"A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth."Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison.

1. What are your rights under the First Amendment?

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

2. Which amendments apply to people who are charged with a crime or who are under suspicion of committing a crime?

3.The Fifth Amendment, like the First, contains a list of important rights. Write them in your own words.

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

4. Why are theBill of Rightsimportant?

Declaration of Independence (Activity Choice 4)

Part I – Preamble:

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's Godentitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare thecauses which impel them to the separation.

Questions:

1. According to this paragraph, what is the goal of the writers?
2. Why are they writing this document?
3. Make a prediction of what will come next in the document based on what you have read in the “Preamble.”

Part II – Beliefs:

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 thepursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. …The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

Questions:

1. What rights are the writers claiming that they have?
2. According to this paragraph, what is the purpose of the government?