Learning target:
There are three parts today's class which I hope to all link together in a way that's appropriate for the end of the week. This became a three part lesson because late yesterday our House of Representatives was thrown into turmoil when Kevin McCarthy, the expected new Speaker of the House, pulled his candidacy. We now have a House of Representatives without a leader and far amount of chaos in Congress.
What's going on now is really off the charts and so we should talk about it. Reporters are asking in the Washington Post whether this is the beginning of the end for the Republican Party. What does the Speaker of the House do? Why is this role important? Well, for one, the Speaker is third in line of succession to the Presidency. If Obama and Biden died, the Speaker would become President. To understand the speaker, we need to know how a bill becomes a law. We'll spend most of the second half of class on this.
What's happening now also connects to our discussion yesterday as we looked at our first political parties and falling apart of the Federalist coalition. I hope connecting these events brings them more alive for you.
1. Context for John Adams video
Looking at the takeaways you gave me yesterday, my sense is that giving you some historical context would help make the connections. I'm going to give you some straight history by going over this timeline of events in America and Europe during this crazy period from 1763-1815 and a little bit beyond.
I'll do this in two parts. The first part will emphasize the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 that were featured in the video. These restricted the freedom of speech and press and gave the government unprecedented and unchecked powers. Why wasn't this law immediately ruled unconstitutional? The short answer is that nobody knew the Supreme Court had that power. It wasn't until 1801 when the last big Federalist Chief Justice John Marshall claimed that power for the Supreme Court. I'll also flash this diagram that shows how today's system works. We'll learn about how he did this in the case Marbury v. Madison. This is basically the case that gave the Supreme Court its power. And it's tied up with everything we watched in yesterday's video.
The second half of the timeline will cover from 1800 to 1828 and the falling apart of first the Federalist Party and then Jefferson's Democrats and Republicans. This story about the falling apart of political parties shadows what's happening right now in the Republican Party.
I'll also reference this article about why the Democrats use the donkey and the Republicans use the elephant. It all goes back to a famous cartoonist.
2. How a Bill Becomes a Law and the Speaker of the House
After break, you'll divide up into the House of Representatives and the Senate and you'll compete to see who can go through the process of passing a bill the quickest. If we run this at the right speed, it should be fast-paced and fun. I'm going to pick up some incentives for the winning group to keep things moving. Here are the instructions we'll be using for reference.
I think you running through this is the best way for you to understand the power of the Speaker of the House and why what's happening in Washington right now is important.
3. Project Update and Feedback
Given time at the end, we'll debrief the junior exhibition last night and discuss where we are in the project, what's next and the calendar moving forward. Your exit ticket is this Google Survey.
Homework for Monday, October 12th
Finish your Constitutional Values Writing Packet
- We can connect the politics from 200 years ago to today
- We can describe how a bill becomes a law
- We can name the source of the principle of judicial review
There are three parts today's class which I hope to all link together in a way that's appropriate for the end of the week. This became a three part lesson because late yesterday our House of Representatives was thrown into turmoil when Kevin McCarthy, the expected new Speaker of the House, pulled his candidacy. We now have a House of Representatives without a leader and far amount of chaos in Congress.
What's going on now is really off the charts and so we should talk about it. Reporters are asking in the Washington Post whether this is the beginning of the end for the Republican Party. What does the Speaker of the House do? Why is this role important? Well, for one, the Speaker is third in line of succession to the Presidency. If Obama and Biden died, the Speaker would become President. To understand the speaker, we need to know how a bill becomes a law. We'll spend most of the second half of class on this.
What's happening now also connects to our discussion yesterday as we looked at our first political parties and falling apart of the Federalist coalition. I hope connecting these events brings them more alive for you.
1. Context for John Adams video
Looking at the takeaways you gave me yesterday, my sense is that giving you some historical context would help make the connections. I'm going to give you some straight history by going over this timeline of events in America and Europe during this crazy period from 1763-1815 and a little bit beyond.
I'll do this in two parts. The first part will emphasize the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 that were featured in the video. These restricted the freedom of speech and press and gave the government unprecedented and unchecked powers. Why wasn't this law immediately ruled unconstitutional? The short answer is that nobody knew the Supreme Court had that power. It wasn't until 1801 when the last big Federalist Chief Justice John Marshall claimed that power for the Supreme Court. I'll also flash this diagram that shows how today's system works. We'll learn about how he did this in the case Marbury v. Madison. This is basically the case that gave the Supreme Court its power. And it's tied up with everything we watched in yesterday's video.
The second half of the timeline will cover from 1800 to 1828 and the falling apart of first the Federalist Party and then Jefferson's Democrats and Republicans. This story about the falling apart of political parties shadows what's happening right now in the Republican Party.
I'll also reference this article about why the Democrats use the donkey and the Republicans use the elephant. It all goes back to a famous cartoonist.
2. How a Bill Becomes a Law and the Speaker of the House
After break, you'll divide up into the House of Representatives and the Senate and you'll compete to see who can go through the process of passing a bill the quickest. If we run this at the right speed, it should be fast-paced and fun. I'm going to pick up some incentives for the winning group to keep things moving. Here are the instructions we'll be using for reference.
I think you running through this is the best way for you to understand the power of the Speaker of the House and why what's happening in Washington right now is important.
3. Project Update and Feedback
Given time at the end, we'll debrief the junior exhibition last night and discuss where we are in the project, what's next and the calendar moving forward. Your exit ticket is this Google Survey.
Homework for Monday, October 12th
Finish your Constitutional Values Writing Packet