Day 7
Learning Target:
Students will be able to ...
- Explain the constitutional principles of separation of powers and “checks and balances.”
- Explain the implications of separation of powers and “checks and balances” for the U.S. political system.
- Explain how the author’s argument or perspective relates to political principles, institutions, processes, policies, and behaviors.
Opener: Quick Write
After reading the brief description below, respond to prompt in blue.
At 5'4", James Madison was too small to enlist in the Revolutionary War against the British. Madison, however, was an intelligent and ambitious person who would later be referred to as "The Father of the Constitution", since his contributions at the Constitutional Convention outlined a system of government where no one person, or institution, could ever assume complete control over the government. Imagine if "Little Jemmy" had enlisted and perished in the war.
Other ideas, however, emerged at the convention. Alexander Hamilton proposed that Presidents should serve for life, while Franklin thought that the office of President should be shared by 3 people, and decisions would be put to a vote between these three. In the end, however, the three branches that we know today (Legislative/Congress, Executive/President, and Judicial/Supreme Court) were entrusted to share power equally and with a system of "checks" that limited the power of each branch.
Since there were 55 delegates from all 13 states, how do you think that "Little Jemmy" was able to get them all to listen to, and adopt, his ideas?
Activity #1: Federalist #51 - Use ASAP to analyze the document below.
Federalist #51 was part of a series of papers written to persuade state legislatures to vote in favor of adopting (ratify) the newly drafted US Constitution in 1787. James Madison, the writer of the document excerpts below, was the chief architect of the Constitution and therefore defended its design.
In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others. ...
But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government.
But it is not possible to give to each department an equal power of self- defense. In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit. It may even be necessary to guard against dangerous encroachments by still further precautions.
Activity #2: Nifty Fifty - Checks and Balances
LD
SD
Examples
Related Terms
Non-Examples
Activity #3: Topic Quiz 1.5 & 1.6 - Constitutional Convention Checks and Balances
