Presidents and the Constitution: Commander in Chief

The curriculum, Presidents and the Constitution, was made possible by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities through its We the People program, as well as from Dr. John Templeton.

Presidents and the Constitution

Each unit includes Scholarly essay

Primary source activity focusing on Article II

Lessons to show how three different presidents understood and exercised their constitutional powers

Volume I Units
War

Slavery
Chief Diplomat Federal Power Electing the President

Back of the book resources

Answer Key Appendix A: The Declaration of Independence Appendix B: The Constitution Appendix C: The Bill of Rights Resources Special Thanks Image Credits National Standards

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies

8. Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses).

What argument was NOT made in support of the Alien and Sedition Acts?
1. Personal attacks against public officials are a threat to public order.

2.

Punishment of seditious speech did not violate freedom of the press, which merely prohibited prior restraint of speech.
In time of crisis, it is necessary to take strict measures to defend the stability of government. These acts are constitutional because they apply to both political parties equally. Not sure

3. 4. 5.

War and the Constitution

Constitutional Connection Activity, p. 34 Students analyze excerpts of the Constitution to review the Presidents authority as Commander in Chief. Please skim this activity nowhow would it work for your students?

War and the Constitution

War and Civil Liberty essay by Professor Robert M.S. McDonald, Ph.D. Dr. McDonald is Associate Professor of History at the United States Military Academy.

Commander in Chief: War and the Constitution

Commander in Chief: War and the Constitution Mini-Documentary

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts, p. 40

Read Handout A: John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts (p. 42-43) and answer the questions. 1. Why did President Adams want to quiet support for the French in the United States? 2. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts? 3. What were arguments for and against the constitutionality of these acts? 4. Do you believe the Alien and Sedition Acts were constitutional? Why or why not? 5. Do you think that the threat of war justifies limits on civil liberties? If not, why? If so, what kinds of limits would be constitutional?

John Adams by John Trumbull, 1793

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

A. Dinner Party! Use the 6 Dinner Party Guests cards to become familiar with your identity. B. Form groups based on card coloreach group should be made up of six different individuals. C. Introduce yourselves, remain standing and mingle as though at a dinner party.

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

A. Using Handout C: Dinner Party Conversation(and your own paper), sit down and write down five questions (one question each for the other people at the table). Use not only the information on your dinner party card, but also your own knowledge as well as information from Handout A. B. Proceed with the conversation, asking questions of each other and responding. C. What was the most important question you received, and what was your response?

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

A. To wrap up dinner, prepare to make a toast (or a roast) to President John Adams. Use irony or humor!
Toasts should include mentions of Adams accomplishments and the guests opinions about them. A guest who supported the Alien and Sedition Acts might say: To my good friend John, who kept us out of war, and kept us civilized.
Roasts: To His Majesty Adams, who could wait barely a year in office before trampling upon our most sacred rights.

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

Homework, p. 41Have students write two or three paragraphs in response to the following prompt: Why does history seem to blame the President who is not a lawmakerfor bad laws?

1799 Sedition Indictment of Meyer and Fahnstock, publishers of a Germanlanguage newspaper

ExtensionsWhile the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions condemned the Alien and Sedition Acts, ten of the fourteen states responded to those resolutions by issuing proclamations that condemned state interference with federal law, and, in some cases asserting the constitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Have students read the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions as well as the responses of Rhode Island and New Hampshire in response to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. How do the arguments compare and contrast? The documents can be found at www.ArticleII.org/War/Units.

John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts

The Issues EndureHave students write a two to three page essay in response to the following prompt: One historian describes a rampant fear of the enemy within during the time the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed. Has this description applied at other times in U.S. history? Does it apply today? Explain.

What argument was NOT made in support of the Alien and Sedition Acts?
1. Personal attacks against public officials are a threat to public order.

2.

Punishment of seditious speech did not violate freedom of the press, which merely prohibited prior restraint of speech.
In time of crisis, it is necessary to take strict measures to defend the stability of government. These acts are constitutional because they apply to both political parties equally. Not sure

3. 4. 5.

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