U.S. Constitution

Then and Now

The Founding Fathers of our nation seemed to be faced with some of the same issues that we are today. They recognized the need to protect and serve the common citizen of the United States, as well as, bring justice to those who posed a threat upon those rights. Even though the framers used a language that was to travel throughout the changing times, there is a doubt they pictured innocent bystanders gunned down in a drive by shooting between two rival gang members. How can the Constitution be interpreted and adapted into our modern society? As a group, we will examine the framers and their thought processes behind the writing of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Amendments and relate the "law of the land" to issues we face in today's world.

You and your team members will travel throughout the history of the United States. You will begin as members of the Constitutional Convention and argue the issues of forming a new nation. A compromise must be met. The compromise must be used to help make decisions on future events.

The learner will:

• Create a mock Constitutional Congress and argue the pro's and con's of a strong centralized government -vs- state rights
• Examine the qualifications of some of the more prominent members of the Constitutional Convention and cast a vote for the most "qualified" first President of the United States
• Examine the need for addition of amendments to the Constitution
• Compare the issues that faced the first Congress to the issues that face our modern congress
• Analyze how Congress, under the Constitution, responds to contemporary issues
• Investigate former Supreme Court Cases and form an opinion on the issues of a case and if the Constitution was interpreted correctly for the case
• Examine current issues that may become cases facing the Supreme Court and form a decision of those issues based upon the Constitution

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Reference and Primary Sources

The Constitution http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

Primary Sources http://www.jacksonesd.k12.or.us/k12projects/jimperry/Primary.html

Electronic Documents http://www.tntech.edu/www/acad/hist/edocs.html

Carol Oats Reference Desk http://www.idbsu.edu/carol/refdsk.htm

The American History Index http://history.cc.ukans.edu/history/usa/usaindex.html

National Archives http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/charters.html

Delegates

Founding Fathers Page http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/confath.html

The Framers http://www.usconstitution.net/constframe.html

Overview of Delegates http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/overview.html

Demographics of Delegates http://www.usconstitution.net/constframedata.html

Our Feuding Fore Fathers http://www.discovery.com/area/history/feuding/feuding.html

Supreme Court and Contemporary Issues

Supreme Court Cases http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/name.htm

Supreme Court Cases from 1990 - today http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/

Hallmark Cases http://library.advanced.org/11572/cc/index.html

Present Day Issues http://library.advanced.org/11572/issues/index.html

Media

USA Today http://usatoday.com/

ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/

The American Spectator (Conservative View Point) http://www.spectator.org/

The Washington Post (Liberal View Point) http://www.washingtonpost.com/

The Christian Science Monitor http://www.csmonitor.com/

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There are a series of activities that you will complete in this project. Your objective is to complete each activity with a complete understanding of the significance of the United States Constitution at the time of its construction, as well as how it affects your life now. Each activity is on a time line and will be assigned and controlled by the instructions of you teacher. You can retrieve the full instructions and guidelines for each activity by clicking on the activity.

Activity One

Be a member of the Constitutional Convention. You will learn the issues that were facing the framers of the Constitution, the differences between the members of the Convention, and the compromises that were made to form the Constitution.

Activity Two

Get to know some of the more prominent framers of the Constitutional Convention. They were all successful politicians. Why was George Washington elected the first President of the United States? Based on his qualifications, would you elect him?

Activity Three

Share your knowledge of the Constitution. You will create a book that describes the Articles and Amendments to the Constitution.

Activity Four

Examine former Supreme Court Cases that challenge the rights that are presented in the Constitution.

Activity Five

Look at some of the issues that we face in our world. Can these problems be solved by a document that was written 200 years before?

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Evaluation for these activities will be specified by the individual rubrics that are linked to each activity. Read the rubrics before beginning each activity so you will be able to complete the task thoroughly.

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After you complete this project you will have a full understanding of the Constitution, how it has shaped our nation's history, and how it will have an effect upon our future.

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