May 16, 2008
Government teachers, can you find this in the textbooks you use in your classes?
Nat Hentoff reports:
The Bush administration believes, he said, “that the president could ignore or modify existing executive orders that he and other presidents have issued without disclosing the new interpretation.”
I noted before, these are exciting times to be teaching, with all these examples of Constitutional law, and Constitution abuses, and President Bush’s War on the Constitution in the headlines, or buried on page 14, every day.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. Nat Hentoff’s original column is at WorldNet Daily (!!!). The Constitution with comments, and also here.
Other resources:
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
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9/11, Bill of Rights, Capturing history, Checks and Balances, Democracy in action, Ethics, Freedom - Political, Freedom of Information, Freedom of the Press, Government, History, Law, Patriotism, Politics, Presidents, Totalitarianism, U.S. Constitution, War on Terrorism, War on the Constitution | Tagged: Dictatorship, Government Secrecy, Homeland Security, Politics, Totalitarian Regimes, War on the Constitution | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
May 12, 2008
You’re a good student of history. You know that when someone says, “a house divided,” they’re talking about Lincoln’s famous, troubling speech from June 1858. Right?
Look below the fold.
Read the rest of this entry »
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1 Comment | 1787, Cartoons, DBQ sources, Famous quotes, History, Lesson plans, Quotes, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: 1787, A House Divided, Cartoon, Constitution, History, Lesson plan ideas, Library of Congress | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 6, 2008
Living through the Watergate scandals and the Constitutional crises they produced — and spending part of that time in Washington, D.C., working for the Senate — I got a wonderful view of how constitutional government works, why it is important that good people step up to make it work, and a glimpse of what happens when good people lay back and let the hooligans run amock.
Over the last three months it occurs to me that we may be living in a similar time, when great but latent threats to our Constitution and the rule of law may be halted or rolled back by one John Dean-like character who will stand up before a group of elected officials, swear to tell the truth, and then, in fact, tell the whole truth.
Teachers, are you taking advantages of these lessons in civics that come into our newspapers every day?
We live in interesting times, exciting times — we live in educational times.
You should be clipping news stories on these events, and you should be using them in your classrooms today, and saving them for the fall elections, for the January inauguration, for the new Congress . . . and for your future classes.
What other opportunities for great civics lessons come to our doorsteps every day?
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Checks and Balances, Government, Heroes, Journalism, Justice, Law, Leadership, Lessons of history, Scandals, U.S. Constitution, U.S. House of Representatives, Watergate scandal | Tagged: Checks and Balances, civics, Constitution, Current Events, Government, Newspapers, Politics, Teaching, U.S. Congress | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
March 15, 2008
Freedom of Conscience Day?
James Madison’s birth day is March 16, Sunday. He was born in 1751, in Conway, King George County, Virginia.
Father of the Constitution, fourth President of the U.S., Great Collaborator, and life-long champion for religious freedom and freedom of speech, press and thought: How should we mark his birthday?
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
9 Comments | 1787, Bill of Rights, Education, First Amendment, Free press, Free speech, Freedom - Political, Freedom of Information, Freedom of the Press, History, James Madison, Politics, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Founder, History, James Madison, Politics, Religion | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 17, 2008
Beautiful, indeed!
I’ve often recommended students diagram the Preamble to the Constitution, to better understand the source of authority in our government (“We, the People”).
Betsy (I have no surname) sent me a link to this:
Preamble to the Constitution as your English teacher wishes you would have diagrammed it.
Sentence diagram of the Preamble to the Constitution. GIF version
The work is done at a the site of Capital Community College, their “Guide to Grammar and Writing.”
Here’s the Preamble as it usually appears:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
I wonder: Has anyone diagrammed the Mayflower Compact?
Tip of the old scrub brush to Betsy at The Reality Based News Feed, and to Boing Boing.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
5 Comments | Historic documents, History, History images, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Grammar, History, Law, Preamble, U.S. Constitution | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 2, 2008
Some of us were still digesting the heart- and conscience-rending story of the Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) who resigned rather than continue to work in an organization that unethically endorsed torture, when we also became aware of the Bush administration’s plan to politicize the justice operations of the U.S. military. (See Geneva Conventions, here.)
Jurist, a news organ from the University of Pittsburgh Law School, with the short version here (with a recounting of other political troubles in JAG); the Boston Globe has the longer version here.
It’s the sort of move one expects from Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharaf; it’s the sort of move one would expect President Hugo Chavez to try in Venezuela, before the college students and military shout him down. It’s a banana republic-style action. It’s a move beneath a U.S. politician. Or, it should be.
If Orrin Hatch and Arlen Specter were alive today, you can bet this proposal would be dead.
For high school history and government teachers, these are exciting times. Abuses of the Constitution and potential crises cross the headlines every day. Each of these stories tells students the importance of knowing government and where the levers of power are.
Jan Carlzon at SAS Airline used to say people armed with knowledge cannot help but act. We must be missing the boat — where is the action?
Tip of the old scrub brush to Ed Brayton at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
2 Comments | Government, Justice, Law, Politics, Presidents, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Government, Justice, Politics, U.S. Constitution | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
December 31, 2007
A note today from the Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell University’s Law Library notes that a big death penalty case is set for argument on Monday, January 7.
The issue in Baze v. Rees is whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore prohibited under the 8th Amendment to the Constitution. Plaintiffs Thomas Baze and Thomas K. Bowling argue that there is an impermissible chance of pain from the execution process.
Two lower courts ruled against the plaintiffs. In a rather surprise move, the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari on September 25 to hear the case, which some interpret as the Court’s willingness to review the cruel and unusual argument in the light of a majority of the states now refusing to use the death penalty, while others think it means the more conservative Roberts Court is willing to quash death penalty appeals with a ruling that injection is not cruel and unusual.
This highlights the 8th Amendment. Discussion of this topic may help students cement their knowledge of the amendment and Bill of Rights. News on this case generally highlights court procedures, procedures, legal and constitutional principles that students in government classes need to understand.
News on the arguments in this case should go into teacher scrapbooks for later classroom exercises. Teachers may want to note that the decision will come down before the Court adjourns in June, but it may come down before the end of the school year. Teachers may want to have students review information about the case and make predictions, which predictions can be checked with the decision issues.
Below the fold I copy LII’s introduction to the case in their Oral Argument Previews, with the links to the full discussion, which you may use in your classes.
LII operates off of contributions. I usually give $10 or so when I think of it — these resources are provided free. You should be using at least $10 worth of stuff in your classrooms — look for the donation link, and feel free to use it in the support of excellent legal library materials provided free of cost to teachers and students.
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7 Comments | Bill of Rights, History, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, Lesson plans, Politics, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court | Tagged: Bill of Rights, death penalty, History, Law, Politics, Supreme Court | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
December 14, 2007
Courtesy the Bill of Rights Institute, a few “did you knows” about the Bill of Rights:
The Bill of Rights was ratified December 15, 1791.
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Congress adopted twelve amendments, of which only ten were ratified by the states by 1791.
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Over 200 years later, one more of the original twelve, concerning compensation for Congress was ratified on May 7, 1992, becoming the Twenty-Seventh Amendment.
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James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights and was inspired, in part, by the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason.
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The Bill of Rights initially applied only to the federal government; however, the Supreme Court, through the Fourteenth Amendment, has incorporated some portions to apply to the states.
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Only 17 amendments have been ratified since the adoption of the Bill of Rights.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
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Posted by Ed Darrell
December 12, 2007
Our friends and benefactors at the Bill of Rights Institute put up a great branch of their site, Founders Online. A grant from the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation made the project possible.
Check it out:
John Adams | Samuel Adams | Alexander Hamilton | Patrick Henry
Thomas Jefferson | James Madison | GeorgeMason | Gouverneur Morris
James Otis | Thomas Paine | George Washington | John Witherspoon
This page should be a first stop for your students doing biographies on any of these people, and it should be a test review feature for your classes that they can do on the internet at home, or in class if you’re lucky enough to have access in your classroom.
Good on-line sources are still too rare. This is stuff you can trust to be accurate and appropriate for your students. Send a note of thanks to the Bill of Rights Institute, and send your students to the site.
Just in time for Bill of Rights Day, December 15 . . .
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | 1787, 1789, Accuracy, Ben Franklin, Civil Rights, Classroom technology, Declaration of Independence, Education, Famous quotes, Freedom - Economic, Freedom - Political, George Washington, Heroes, Historic documents, History, James Madison, John Adams, On-line education, On-line learning, Student projects, Technology in the classroom, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Bill of Rights, Constitution, Education, founders, History, Lesson plans, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
December 10, 2007
December 15th is Bill of Rights Day, a tradition since Franklin Roosevelt first declared it in 1941.
It falls on Saturday this year — which means teachers can choose whether to commemorate it Friday, or next Monday, or on both days. It marks the date of the approval of the Bill of Rights, in 1790.
Texas requires social studies teachers to spend a day on the Constitution. The law isn’t well enforced, but Bill of Rights Day might be a good time to fill the legal duty in your classrooms.
The Bill of Rights Institute offers lesson plans and supporting materials (see “Instructional Materials” in the left column). Below the fold I copy a list from the Institute’s webpage on Bill of Rights Day.
More material here, and the National Archives material can be reached here.
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* The ides is merely the middle of the month. Of course you thought of Shakespeare’s witch warning Julius Caesar to “beware the ides of March.” In this case, we can celebrate the ides of December — Hanukkah mostly gone, Christmas, Eid and KWANZAA on the way.
Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, Historic documents, Human Rights, Lesson plans, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, History, Law, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
December 4, 2007
We get e-mail, sometimes good stuff — this piece from the Bill of Rights Institute. [I copied it, art, links and all — please pass it on.]
Are you ready for Bill of Rights Day, December 15? The Bill of Rights Institute has resources for teachers:
Celebrate Bill of Rights Day with the Bill of Rights Institute!
The Bill of Rights Institute invites you to celebrate Bill of Rights Day on December 15, 2007 by taking advantage of the resources on the Constitution and Bill of Rights we are offering educatorsFREE of charge. These activities will engage your students and demonstrate the importance of the Bill of Rights in their lives. Utilize the lessons on December 14th as part of a Bill of Rights Day celebration for your students or save the lessons for use throughout the school year.
Access our website and find:
- Founders Online includes audio clips, biographical essays, classroom activities
videos on our nation’s Founding Fathers
- Readings for your students on the Bill of Rights
- Free, complete lesson plans for middle and high school students
- Background information from Princeton University professor Dr. Ken Kerch
on First Amendment freedoms
- Links to other Bill of Rights Day resources
Check out the Bill of Rights Institute’s Bill of Rights Day site today!
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, Human Rights, Law, Lesson plans, Patriotism, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Bill of Rights Day, Bill of Rights Institute, Civil Rights, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
November 2, 2007
Old hoaxes never die. Sometimes they don’t even fade away (making it certain that they are less honorable than any soldier).
Folding the flag by an Air Force color guard at Arlington National Cemetery; photo by Arlington National Cemetery
The right wing whine machine is working up a dudgeon because National Cemeteries now have a policy against use of a flag- and history-insulting script that ascribes all sorts of hoakum to the simple folding of the American flag at funerals — a ceremony which is touching and sobering when done as a military color guard does it in silence, as they are trained.
A blog named headsup explains most of the issues, with a few links, at “Keep opinion to self.”
Regular readers recognize the issue. Fillmore’s Bathtub explained how the discontinued ceremony butchered history, how some people clung to the old ceremony, and how the Air Force devised a more accurate ceremony to use if color guards are asked.
People who sow strife for a living never let facts get in the way of a good dudgeon.
Were this worthy of controversy, it should have been controversial months ago. The “folding ceremony” in contention was never official, and was rarely used. Do your own survey of veterans’ funerals to see; I have never heard of the ceremony actually used. We have the DFW National Cemetery within a few miles of our home. I regularly visit with veterans, and I have attended ceremonies myself. Don’t take my word for it.
Stick to the Flag Code and the Constitution, and no one will get hurt.
Michelle Malkin? Any other wacko commentators who don’t know the Flag Code? Get a clue. Remedial history is calling you. Please get off the soap boxes. Please quit using the U.S. flag to cover your gluteus maximii.
It’s time to stand up for accuracy, for real history, and for the law. Honor the flag by following the rules, not by dressing in it, or dragging it through the mud for ratings points.
Dishonor Roll:
Honor Roll:
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
2 Comments | Bogus history, Flag ceremony, Flag etiquette, History, U.S. Constitution, Voodoo history | Tagged: First Amendment, Flag ceremony, flag desecration, Flag etiquette, Politics, Religion, Voodoo history | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
October 31, 2007
I get e-mail, some of it interesting, some of it useful in the classroom.
The Bill of Rights Institute’s essay contest has a deadline just over a month away. Are your students entering?
Here’s the e-mail I got:
___________________________________
It is not too late for you and your students to win over $63,000 in awards by entering the Being an American essay contest.
Assign the essay question to your students today!
They will explore civic values, describe American ideals, and connect with the Constitution. The top winners will attend an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on April 4-5, 2008!
Contest ends December 3, 2007!
Visit the contest website for more information.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
2 Comments | Bill of Rights, History, Lesson plans, Patriotism, Student projects, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Being an American, Bill of Rights, essay contest | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
October 17, 2007
Every Member of Congress needs someone to read the Federal Register daily, the Congressional Record each day, and the Constitution regularly.
The Federal Register records agency actions, many of them quite obscure, but all of the agency actions that affect a member’s state or district. Sometimes an agency will try to sneak something past a member, and sometimes they’ll simply fail to notify the member of something that really deserves a lot of attention. The Congressional Record does the same thing for Congress. It’s a difficult read, but someone who knows it well can tell when conditions are ripe to get action on some measure.
Al Kamen at The Washington Post gives an object lesson on why knowledge of the Constitution is important. In this case, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Constitution experts invoked the clause that prevents a president from making recess appointments.
This may be inside baseball to most people. Kamen’s story demonstrates why a party will elect someone like Reid as their leader. He may not be as suave and funny as Jack Kennedy on camera, but he knows where the buttons are that open and close the automatic doors of power.
The detente the two sides reached over the Senate’s August break — which saw the Senate approve dozens of nominees in exchange for a no-recess-appointment pledge — is over.
That deal was reached in part because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) dusted off an old weapon — the pro forma session — which would mean theoretically that the Senate would never be in recess. When both sides negotiate anew, that weapon looms large.
Turns out the pro forma session originally had nothing to do with recess appointments. It comes from Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution, which says neither the House nor Senate may be out for more than three days while the other body is in session, without the consent of that other body.
But neither chamber wanted to seek “permission” from the other one for anything. Bad form and all that.
Did you know what was in Article I, Section 5?
Perhaps more important, this was covered by the much-maligned-in-blogdom “Main Stream Media” (MSM). Can you find a blogger who broke this story before Kamen? I’ll wager you can’t.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Government, Law, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Senate | Tagged: Constitution, hardball politics, recess appointments, Sen. Harry Reid, Senate procedure | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
September 30, 2007
Trial simulations put students into the middle of tough topics in government, economics and history — or can do, depending on how well the simulations work. In the middle of the fight is a great place to learn.
Scholastic.com features a series of lesson plans suitable for government and civics. Looking for Constitution Day lesson plans I stumbled into a trial-by-jury simulation, with the mock trial script all prepared for you, for grades 5 through 8.
It looks to me to be a good way to study the jury system (see Amendments 6 and 7 of the Constitution). The lesson plans and materials were designed, and their dissemination supported by the American Board of Trial Advocates. Yes, that’s a group with a view; no, the bias doesn’t show up in the classroom materials, really.
Here’s a graphic on amending the Constitution, from the same site. This could be reproduced for student journals, printed for small posters, or, check with your high school drafting classes to see whether they won’t print this out for you in a poster size, in color. Scholastic.com features nine graphic pages like that one.
Trial by jury provides the foundation for some of our greatest drama: On television with Perry Mason, Matlock, Law & Order, Boston Legal, or L.A. Law; on the stage with Inherit the Wind and Ayn Rand’s The Night of January 16th; in opera with Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury (okay, in operetta). This is the sort of thing students enjoy, and probably will remember.
How and why to show up for jury duty is one of the most important understandings our students can take away.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | 6th Amendment, 7th Amendment, Bill of Rights, Government, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, Lesson plans, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: 6th Amendment, Bill of Rights, Constitution, Lesson plans, Trial by jury | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 