The Uses & Abuses of the Constitution

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Annotation

Common-place: The Interactive Journal of Early American Life has released a special issue on the United States Constitution. It provides a roundtable discussion of several questions concerning the uses and abuses of the Constitution in contemporary American political affairs. The eight essays are divided into four sections: Electoral College, The Clinton Impeachment, The Second Amendment, and Women and the Constitution.

The Bush vs. Gore controversy is tackled by distinguished professor Rogers Smith, while other leading scholars such as Jack Rakove and Linda Kerber address the role of the Constitution in landmark cases, the Clinton impeachment, the gun control debate, and the rights of women. The essays are a readable length, between 2,500 and 3,500 words, and offer a "common-place" for academic and non-academic readers alike.

the Constitution
U.S. Constitution
Text
Constitution Day
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Learn Constitution Day
Revolution & New Nation, 1754-1820s
Contemporary US, 1968-Present
Politics
Radicalism
Women

Federal Judiciary

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The U.S. judicial system exists to uphold the laws initiated by the nation's legislature.

The Federal Judiciary's site, U.S. Courts, is, in large part, intended to provide individuals with forms and information relevant to legal proceedings with which they may be involved. However, noteworthy resources do exist, including an educational resources page.

This resource page offers brief overviews of major court cases and several court simulations. The simulations are designed in a number of formats including dramatic scripts and debates; and they are intended to present Constitutional amendments as relevant to teenage lives.

A number of other features may also prove handy to you. These included a comparison of federal and state courts (cases, judges, and structure) in the form of two comparable lists of bullet points; commonly used judicial vocabulary; and faqs addressing federal courts, jurors, and the Judicial Conference, among other topics.

Last, but not least, you may be searching for a way to tie current events into your history classroom, particularly in a civics class. If that is the case, you might consider looking into the courts' bankruptcy statistics, which could be used in conjunction with a lesson on the Great Depression. Note that the statistics all correspond to the past 20 years maximum.

Landmark Supreme Court Cases

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This teaching site was developed "to support the teaching of landmark Supreme Court cases, helping students explore the key issues of each case." The site features 17 pivotal Supreme Court cases, including Marbury v. Madison (1803), McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Korematsu v. United States (1944), Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Miranda v. Arizona (1966), and Roe v. Wade (1973). Each case offers a "resources" section featuring such material as teaching recommendations, background summaries, a link to the full-text majority opinion, and excerpts from the majority and dissenting opinions. An "activities" section contains short activities and in-depth lessons. The site also includes instructions for general teaching strategies, including moot court, political cartoon analysis, and website evaluation. The site also offers material on key concepts of constitutional law including federalism, separation of powers and checks and balances, equal protection of the laws, judicial review, due process, the commerce clause, and the necessary and proper clause. An excellent resource for teaching the legal history of these important Supreme Court cases and the issues surrounding them.

Official Documents
Supreme Court
U.S. Supreme Court
Text
Constitution Day
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Expansion & Reform, 1801-1861
Civil War & Reconstruction, 1850-1877
Devel. of the Industrial US, 1870-1900
Emergence of Modern US, 1890-1930
Great Depression & WWII, 1929-1945
Postwar US, 1945-Early 1970s
Contemporary US, 1968-Present
Legal History

Marbury v. Madison

Teaser

Constitutional or not? Read about this 1803 landmark court case deciding issues of judicial review.

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Website
Street Law, Inc. and the Supreme Court Historical Society
Description

Students examine documents establishing the principal of judicial review in 1803.

Article Body

During the early years of the American republic, the system of checks and balances between the three branches of the federal government was tested and solidified. This lesson examines the history behind the expansion of the Supreme Court's role and the principal of judicial review that came from the case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803. For teachers, one of the helpful things this website provides is secondary background reading and questions at three different ability levels. The easiest level provides help with vocabulary and may be suitable for English language learners. An engaging political cartoon analysis exercise is also included. The cartoon illustrates the balance of powers between the three branches of government, equating the Supreme Court to referees in a football game. In addition, excerpts of the most significant passages and other related texts are provided for students to read and interpret. We think teachers will appreciate the flexibility in the recommended sequence of activities. Activities can be tailored to how much time you have to teach about this important topic.

Topic
Early Republic; Marbury v. Madison; judicial review; Supreme Court
Time Estimate
1-4 class sessions
flexibility_scale
3
Rubric_Content_Accurate_Scholarship

Yes Materials used in the lesson have been well researched. Content and materials on the site are very thorough.

Rubric_Content_Historical_Background

Yes Background information and questions are available for students at three different reading levels.

Rubric_Content_Read_Write

Yes Lesson focuses on reading and answering questions. No large, essay-style question for student writing is included, but students construct brief responses to questions about documents they have read.

Rubric_Analytical_Construct_Interpretations

Yes Students analyze documents to answer questions about who has the power to declare laws unconstitutional. The political cartoon analysis exercise centers on analytic thinking.

Rubric_Analytical_Close_Reading_Sourcing

Yes Emphasis on reading primary sources. Source and perspective understanding are required when considering (for example) Thomas Jefferson's adverse reaction to the decision.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Appropriate

Yes This lesson is appropriate for a secondary audience, though this is not specifically stated on the site. Teachers may decide the activities and resources are appropriate for an eighth-grade class.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Supports_Historical_Thinking

Yes In addition to the leveled background reading, an opening scenario, a diagram of the case, and excerpts from primary documents also work to support student understanding. Questions included with the sources require varied levels of understanding ranging from basic to quite sophisticated.

Rubric_Structure_Assessment

No Activities do not include assessment strategies other than questions that a teacher could assign to check for student understanding.

Rubric_Structure_Realistic

Yes The lesson provides adequate instructions for implementation.

Rubric_Structure_Learning_Goals

No No learning objectives are explicitly stated; however, the lesson activities progress logically.

Reading and Thinking Aloud to Understand

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Article Body

This 11th-grade honors U.S. history class, using Reading Apprenticeship techniques developed by WestEd, shows students engaged in the process of reading primary source documents as a means of better understanding the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The students in this video are in an honors classroom. The class is in an ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse school in a high immigrant, rural community. This video provides examples of two promising practices:

  • Putting students in pairs to conduct "read aloud/think aloud" work
  • Providing students with strategic vocabulary for reading primary sources
Content

Students in this lesson are in the middle of a week-long unit on Japanese American internment. Focusing on the question of the constitutionality of relocating and interning these citizens, students read several primary source documents, including the Constitution and opinions from Korematsu vs. the United States, a 1944 Supreme Court case challenging the internment.

Read Aloud/Think Aloud

Students work together in pairs to summarize excerpts from the Constitution relevant to the internment. They take turns reading aloud to each other and talk through the process of reading. As they do, they verbalize their reading and thinking processes, defining terms, connecting the text to prior knowledge, analyzing the meaning of the text, and asking questions about difficult passages as they go.

Strategic Vocabulary

Before, during, and after her students read, the instructor signals key terms that need definition (e.g., ex post fact, bill of attainder, vested). While the read aloud/think aloud strategy helps students make sense of difficult texts, they still need assistance with advanced language and sophisticated concepts. By identifying and defining key terms for students, the instructor helps them decode the documents.

What's Notable?

Many teachers ask students to read primary source documents. But students often struggle with complex language and difficult concepts, often missing the connection with the material they are studying. What makes this class unique is the way the instructor structures the class in order to support student reading.

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