Constitution “Essential Questions”
3 The Constitution
1. Why is a written constitution a good idea?
2. How long do you think it took to write the Constitution?
3. Why was the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia?
4. What was the primary (overall) purpose of the men who drafted the original Constitution
5. Name another country have used the U.S. Constitution as a blueprint for their government?
6. Is there a holiday honoring the Constitution?
7. Why is Constitution called “a living document”?
8. What might be one of the Constitution's weaknesses?
9. How many constitutions do you think the United States has had?
5 Changing the Constitution
1. What is the purpose of “amending” the Constitution?
2. John Adams once said: “America is a great, unwieldy body. It’s progress must be slow.” Do you agree or disagree with him? Is it okay when you have to make big changes to make them slowly, or should you try and get them done as quickly as possible?
3. What are some things which motivate people to want to have revolutions (total or about individual issues)?
4. In 1960, a few black college students protested against segregated restaurants by staging a sit-ion at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. The non-violent tactic proved effective. What might be 2 other non-violent protest tactics can you think of (either at school or somewhere in the community)?
5. How could you be a person who might make a big change in our country?
6. What would you consider “going to far” as a government protest?
7. Tell why two different parts of the country may have different ideas (politically or otherwise).
8. Give two possible new constitutional amendments (changes you think we need to look at possible making).
6 Major Amendments
1. What do you think is the most important change in Constitutional U.S. History? Why?
2. What should be legal to do today that isn’t right now? For who?
3. What would it take to repeal an Amendment?
4. How would everyday life change if you were not guaranteed the freedom of speech?
5. What do you think about different states having different laws (like when Wisconsin’s legal drinking age was 18 and Illinois was 21)?
6. The 26th Amendment was passed in 1971 (changing the voting age from 21 to 18). Was that a good idea? Is that a good place for it to stay? Why?
7. When is it constitutional to limit speech? Are laws regulating "hate speech" (e.g., making racial slurs or ethnic jokes, displaying burning crosses or swastikas) unconstitutional? If so, on what grounds? How far can government go in forcing people to be "nice"?
8. Some school districts around the country have tried to control gang violence and other problems by imposing student dress codes. Are dress codes unconstitutional restrictions on free expression? Is restricting dress in one school and not in another an abridgement of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause?
7 The Bill of Rights
1. What do we call it when the government tries to stop what is written, seen, or heard by the people?
2. Why is the third amendment no longer as important as it used to be?
3. What do we call the rights a police officer has to give to someone they’re arresting?
4. Who helps defend a person if they can’t afford a lawyer?
5. Rank in order of importance to you the top five rights in the Bill of Rights.
6. What should the government do to help poor people? Should they at all?
7. What role should religion play in politics?
8. What might be one group that should not be allowed to receive money from the government?
9. Give me an instance where you’ve had one of your constitutional rights infringed upon.
11 “Checks and Balances”
1. Give an example of a power shared by both the national and state government.
2. Give me an example of a power reserved for the state government.
3. Give me an example of an implied power that the federal government has.
4. Give me an example of a concurrent power.
5. Should we have branches of the government completely work together or is it a good idea if they have some opposing viewpoints on things?
6. What’s more important (and why)
• strong federal and weak local government
• weak federal and strong local government
• equal power between state and local governments
7. Give an example of a law that might be different in Illinois than it is in another state.
8. If Illinois wants a speed limit of 80 miles per hour, but the federal government doesn’t want anyone going faster than 65 mph, what happens and why?
17 Voting
1. What would be 2 important questions you could ask any political leader (or a specific leader if you want)
2. Most people giving you political information have their own biases (people, newspapers, television, etc…). Who do you listen to for unbiased facts and how can you tell what angle people might be coming from?
3. “Mudslinging” is when one politician totally rips on another one, over and over again. If your running for office and you know bad things about your opponent, do you tell everyone? Why/Why not?
4. What’s 2 ways you can become a better voter?
5. List 2 other political parties besides democrats and republicans – along with who their leader is right now.
6. What happens / what should you do when someone you voted for completely changes all the things they said they’d do if elected?
7. How do all these people running for office have the money to pay for all their campaigning?
8. Where will you vote at? (where do you’re parents go to vote?)
21 Branches of Government
1. Who has the power to declare war?
2. Who approves of the government spending money?
3. Who has the power to see that laws are enforced?
4. Who would be in charge of making the decision to change our country to the metric system?
5. Who has the power to make money?
6. Who could force a president to resign?
7. Who can give reprieves or pardons?
8. How many people do you think work in the country’s legislative branch? Executive branch? Judicial branch?
9. What do we call the way of keeping one branch of the government from becoming too powerful or from doing things that area wrong?
10. President Reagan once said: “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” What did he mean by this?
24 Presidential Powers and Duties
1. Should a president be exempt from being formally charged with a crime while he’s in office? (Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton).
2. What should the Vice President’s job be about?
3. If you were president, would you follow the “spoils system” and hire a lot of your friends and supporters? Why/Why not?
4. What is the president’s cabinet supposed to be doing?
5. What are the leaders of each cabinet department called?
6. What would be your top 3 cabinet posts if you were made president and had to appoint a group of advisors (either ones we already have or your own)?
7. When is election day and when is inauguration day and why are they so far apart?
28 Congress
1. Term limits? good idea or bad (president and everyone else). Dwight Eisenhower said… “the United States ought to be able to choose for its President anybody that it wants, regardless of the number of terms he has served.”
2. What would be 2 possible motivations for someone to run for political office?
3. What are 2 things you think Congress can’t do?
4. Can an ex-President be in Congress?
5. Can Congress declare war for any reason?
6. Who is more powerful, the Congress or the President?
7. Who gives these government leaders their power?
8. Why do you think the qualifications to be a senator are tougher than the qualifications to be a representative?
29 How Laws are Made
1. Is there a never before seen political group that you think might someday overtake our politics?
2. What should you do if you disagree with some of our representatives, senators, or presidents (any elected officials) decisions and/or ideas?
3. Name 2 places an idea for a new law could start
4. What percent of people do you think should be in favor of a new law for it to take effect?
5. What percent of people do you think should be against an already existing law in order for it to be eliminated?
6. Why does public pressure and lobbying do a great deal to get new laws passed?
7. If you were a lobbyist, who would you most likely be working for?
8. Why are most laws written?
32 The Judicial Branch
1. Why is the supreme court important ?
2. Can a judge be sued for a decision they made in court?
3. What is the term of office for US Supreme Court justices?
4. What qualifications are needed to become a US Supreme Court justice?
5. How many cases does the US Supreme Court hear each year?
6. Can a US Supreme Court justice be impeached and removed from office?
7. In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court and in 2010, for the first time, there are 3 women on the Supreme Court. What would be your ideal make-up of the Supreme Court (9 justices right now)? (Think of men/women, race, backgrounds, religion, past careers, etc…).
46 County Government
1. If Illinois’s governor is unable to complete his term of office, who takes over for him?
2. In Illinois, who keeps track of how our money is spent?
3. In Illinois, who’s in charge of all state papers and documents?
4. In Illinois, what are the names of our branches of government?
5. In Illinois, who’s job is it to work for the state and help prove the guilt of an accused person?
6. How do most school districts in Illinois get their money?
7. In Illinois, who actually pays for state property that is destroyed or damaged in some way?
8. Rank, in order of importance, the top 5 people you think you’ll come in contact with (in our local/county government) during your life and why.
50 Other Information
1. In 2000, Al Gore had more votes that George Bush, but lost the election because Bush had more electoral votes (it’s happened 3 other time). Was that fair? Is our electoral college still a good idea?
2. Saying the Pledge of Allegiance – good or bad? Is there anything that should be taken out. If you had to add at least 1 more thing to it, what would that be? (the words were last changed a little in 1954)
3. How do you think political parties got their starts?
4. List advantages and disadvantages of having a 2 party system.
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