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.

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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.

Which was NOT a justification Lincoln used for suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus?
1. Suspension was necessary for ending the insurrection occurring in some southern states.

2.

Suspension was justified by the oath of office which required him to defend the Constitution of the United States.
Suspension was necessary to enforce the emancipation of slaves. The President, as Commander in Chief, had power to declare martial law. Not sure

3. 4. 5.

In which case did the Supreme Court rule constitutional the Espionage Act, which placed significant restrictions on speech and press during wartime?

1. Ex parte Merryman 2. Ex parte Milligan

3. Adams v. Callender
4. Schenck v. U.S. 5. Not sure

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.

Lincoln and Habeas Corpus, p. 48

Article I, Section 9, Clause 2: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

Lincoln and Habeas Corpus, p. 48

Read Overview, p. 48, and skim through the rest of the lesson. Read Handout A: Abraham Lincoln and Habeas Corpus. Comprehension and Critical Thinking Questions 1. What is habeas corpus? 2. What does the Constitution say about habeas corpus? 3. What were the facts of the case in ex Parte Merryman? 4. How did Justice Taney rule? Do you agree with his ruling? 5. When Lincoln asked, Are all the laws, but one, to go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated? what did he mean?

Mathew Brady photo, 1860

Lincoln and Habeas Corpus

Use Handout B: A Proclamation.
1. Who wrote it? 2. What two measures does it announce? 3. Why is it necessary?

In 1861, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus in some areas. This 1862 suspension of habeas corpus covers the entire nation.

Lincoln and Habeas Corpus

We will now argue the case of Mr. Milligan. Handout A: Abraham Lincoln and Habeas Corpus Handout B: Lincolns Proclamation Handout C: Sections of the United States Constitution. Using Handouts A, B, and C, fill in Handout D: Case Briefing Sheet (or use your own paper) Does the President have the constitutional power to suspend habeas corpus throughout the entire nation, hold Mr. Milligan, and try him in a military court?
The Old Senate Chamber, where the Supreme Court met from 1860 - 1935

Lincoln and Habeas Corpus

Does the President have the constitutional power to suspend habeas corpus throughout the entire nation, hold Mr. Milligan, and try him in a military court?
Attorneys for the U.S. government make your case! Attorneys for Mr. Milligan make your case! Supreme Court members deliberate and announce your verdict.
The Old Senate Chamber, where the Supreme Court met from 1860 - 1935

Lincoln and Habeas Corpus

Use Handout E: The Ruling. Was Lincolns action constitutional? How would you assess Lincolns attempt to balance the strength of the government with the liberties of its people.

Lambdin P. Milligan

Union Troops Marching Through Washington, D.C., May, 1865; Library of Congress

Lincoln and Habeas Corpus

Homework ex parte Merryman (1861) ex parte Milligan (1866)

BOTH

Lincoln photo by Mathew Brady, 1864

Lincoln and Habeas Corpus

Extension: Issues of habeas corpus have emerged with the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the War on Terror. Have students research Supreme Court cases involving habeas corpus such as Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004), Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, (2006) and Boumediene v. Bush 08).

Lincoln and Habeas Corpus

The Issues Endure: Have students read President Barack Obamas executive order closing Guantanamo Bay detention facilities. What did President Obama say about habeas corpus? Do you agree with him? What has happened regarding this issue since the Presidents executive order?
The order can be found at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ the_press_office/ ClosureOfGuantanamoDetentionFacilities/

Wilson and the Espionage Act, p. 56

Critical Engagement Question: Was the Espionage Act of 1917, signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, a constitutional war measure? Objectives: Understand Wilsons fear of the poison of disloyalty. Understand challenges to civil liberties associated with WWI.

Assess constitutional limits on free speech and whether they change in wartime.
Evaluate the constitutionality of the 1917 Espionage Act.

Wilson and the Espionage Act, p. 56

Background/Homework: Read Handout A: Woodrow Wilson and the Espionage Act, (p. 59-60) and, as time permits, consider the Critical Thinking Questions.

Wilson and the Espionage Act

Warm Up: A. Print out or project images of posters found at www.ArticleII.org/War/Units B. Have students examine the images and conduct a large group discussion to answer the questions:

What is the topic of these posters? How are the different individuals portrayed? Why? What is the goal of these posters? What can you conclude about the tenor of the times in the U.S. before the country entered World War I?

Presidents and the Constitution link

What is the topic of these posters? How are the different individuals portrayed? Why? Images of posters found at What is the goal of these posters? What can you conclude about the tenor of the times in the www.billofrightsinstitute.org U.S. before the country entered World War I?

Wilson and the Espionage Act

poison of disloyalty Have a student assume the persona of Wilson and dramatically read the excerpt from his 1915 State of the Union Address on Handout B: Wilsons Request. we are without adequate federal laws Such creaturesmust be crushed out

Distribute Handout C: The Espionage Act (1917). Read the law and clarify any questions students have.

Wilson and the Espionage Act

A. Read Handout D (P. 63): No Conscription Newsletter What is this newsletter asking you to do? Did the author of the No Conscription newsletter violate the Espionage Act? B. Tell students that next class they will put the newsletters author, Emma Goldman, on trial. Distribute Handout E: The Trial of Emma Goldman. C. Assign the following roles: Narrator Emma Goldman Lead Counsel for Miss Goldman US Attorney Leon Frank Czolgosz President Woodrow Wilson Four judges

Wilson and the Espionage Act

Handout E (along with additional exhibits and resources from www.ArticleII.org ) The Trial of Emma Goldman, a scripted role play.

Wilson and the Espionage Act

D. Students may stick to the script or add to it as appropriate. E. Additional roles: (See www.ArticleII.org )
assistant counsel to the attorneys on either side law clerks for the judges Theodore Roosevelt J. Edgar Hoover congressional supporters of the Act World War I soldiers Kate Richards OHare Rose Pastor Stokes

F. Have students file amicus briefs (e.g. short, historically accurate statements in support of either the prosecution or the defense.)

Wilson and the Espionage Act

Debrief : Did Emma Goldman break the law? Was the law she was accused of breaking, the Espionage Act, constitutional?

Was the Supreme Court correct to uphold her conviction under the Espionage Act?

Palmer Raids

Wilson and the Espionage Act

Homework Evaluate the Supreme Courts actions regarding the Espionage Act and Emma Goldmans conviction. Essay topic: What if the Espionage Act were passed today? Extensions 1917 film: Spirit of 76 Robert Goldstein Trial of Sacco & Vanzetti

The Issues Endure

Students investigate Palmer Raids Violations of civil liberties during WWII, Vietnam War, War on Terror Do laws excused on the plea of necessity in wartime in fact tend to become the fixed rule once war is over?

2007 letter requiring that certain email records be surrendered to the FBI

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

3.

4.
5.

These acts are constitutional because they apply to both political parties equally.
Not sure

Which was NOT a justification Lincoln used for suspending the privilege of the write of habeas corpus?
1. Suspension was necessary for ending the insurrection occurring in some southern states.

2.

Suspension was justified by the oath of office which required him to defend the Constitution of the United States. Suspension was necessary to enforce the emancipation of slaves.
The President, as Commander in Chief, had power to declare martial law. Not sure

3.
4. 5.

In which case did the Supreme Court rule constitutional the Espionage Act, which placed significant restrictions on speech and press during wartime?

1. Ex parte Merryman 2. Ex parte Milligan

3. Adams v. Callender
4. Schenck v. U.S. 5. Not sure

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