Midterm and Presentations Due for 2/7/13

The Midterm is due next week:

Seidman's article: Let's Give up on the Constitution

Midterm:

Professor Louis Seidman has recently argued that adherence to the Constitution, “with all its idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions” is the reason why America’s system of government is broken. He argues that the Constitution has given us  “a dysfunctional political system”.  Seidman is not the only critic of the Constitution, Charles Beard is a historian who “provided the most controversial historical interpretation of the origin of American national government in his landmark book, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913).He argued that the founders benefitted financially from the Constitution.

You will find a summary of Beard’s book on page 69 in your ebook in  Conflicting View: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution.

Write a three-page essay (12pt Times New Roman, 1 inch margins) analyzing arguments from Seidman and Beard and answering the question, “Should we give up on the Constitution?” To support your analysis briefly define what Seidman means by Constitutional disobedience. Demonstrate in depth understanding of his article as well as Beard’s view that the framers economically benefited from the Constitution. You will need to discuss what Beard, Seidman, and the founders of the Constitution expected from a government, and asses Beard’s and Seidman's arguments based on the circumstances of the Constitution. In your essay do not simply summarize Seidman and Beard, your role is to analyze and evaluate their assertions as well as include viewpoints of those who oppose their ideas from class lectures and reading. For full credit you need to demonstrate clear understanding of Seidman’s article.

50 points
due: February 7th

Presentations are due next week too! 

Presentations should be between 3 to 5 minutes long. You will not be turning anything in to me. You will be graded on:

1. Nonverbal skills: eye contact, posture
2..Verbal Skills: Clear, loud voice, correct pronunciation, positive about topic
3.Organization: Logical sequence of information
4. Visual Aids: Readable, clear, professional
5. Correct & Complete: Correct facts, audience learns

25 points
 



 

For Class 1/31/13

Utah Lands Map

What percentage of Utah Land does the federal government own?

Does the Constitution allow the federal government to withhold states' lands?

udiciary Hearing: Mie Lee Gns

Class 1/24/13 and homework for next week

Today in class we had a guest speaker. His name was Larry Shephard, he is a staffer from Senator Mike Lee's office.  Please go to the Senator's website:  Mike Lee  
Like him on facebook:       https://www.facebook.com/senatormikeleehttps://www.facebook.com/senatormikelee

Your assignment is to write a one page response to what you learned about the role of the Senate, the purpose of the Senate, and how to get involved in the process.

Second,
Research is due next week for your presentation on a Member of the Constitutional Convention. Print out your research and bring it to class.

Don't Know Much About Martin Luther King Jr.

https://www.polleverywhere.com/login.


Don't Know Much About Martin Luther King Jr.: ABCNEWS.COM - All you didn't know about Michael King (including his real name).


"When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

A promissory note is a negotiable instrument, wherein one party (the maker or issuer) makes an unconditional promise in writing to pay a determinate sum of money to the other (the payee), either at a fixed or determinable future time or on demand of the payee, under specific terms.

In MLK's terms, the architects of the republic were the issuers of the promissory note. They made a promise to in writing to pay out: rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

"I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

Obama's inaugural address    
and here NYTIMES



Debt Ceiling

Mike Lee
Orrin Hatch

Today's Class

Dear Students,

I apologize about being late to class this morning. Class starts at 8! Who knew? Anyway, I hope that it wasn't too scattered and I hope you don't feel overwhelmed. I will go over the eportfolio again in class next week.

Here are your assignments:

1. follow my blog by putting your email address in the box on the right hand side and pressing sign up
2. Do post 1, Introduction: All About Me. Give me an idea of who you are, why you are here at the Art Institute, what you want out of life, what your hobbies are, etc. Please feel free to be creative and really express yourself.
3. Do post 2: This is the paragraph that we wrote in class on Everything I Know Already About the Constitution. I want to know how much you know so I know what to teach in class. It is also a way to reflect on your learning, at the end of this project you should see things differently.
4. Do post 3: The Declaration of Independence. This should be answers 1 through 6 on the papers you got in class on Analyzing the Declaration.
5. Do post 4: Preamble to the Constitution. We discussed this in class. You can use the questions on the sheet in class to guide your reflection.

REFLECT: Please don't worry about the amount of information you know already. This is an opportunity to think about the two documents that changed the course of history. I want you to really think about the words and what they mean.

You should share your posts with me by next Wednesday.  Please email me or call me with any questions.

The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence


Preamble: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Equality not from the government, politicians and leaders do not determine equality. Human beings are equal because they the Laws of Nature and Nature's God created them that way. The preamble is an introduction to why the colonies are dissolving political bands with England.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.[ But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security].--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Governments are created to protect rights that men possess from God. These rights are: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. People enter into a social contract when they live under a government. This social contract means that they give up some of their power so that the government can do it's job protecting the people. It is also a right of the people to abolish government that does not do it's job of securing the rights of the people. Any new government should be established on principles that would make the people safe and happy. Despotism and Tyranny are governments that destroy happiness. They lead to misery and suffering. America's Founding Fathers "carefully scrutinized every system of government in existence to see which one was most likely to make it possible for humanity to attain the three great goals of freedom, prosperity, and peace"(3, Skousen)

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved 


 repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
 
 The majority of the abuses have to do with laws, legislature, or representation. How important are laws? "The Founders considered the power to make laws to be the most significant part of the governmental machinery"(249, Skousen).  The Constitution soon after establishes the Congress, which is the power plant of government. Which is most powerful today, the Congress, the President, or the Courts? I lean toward the courts because they have no check on their power. Then there is the president with his Executive Order. I think that the Congress is third on the list of power, which is not how the Founders meant for it.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

The Continental Congress sent out an Olive Branch petition right before the Declaration of Independence was written. When they received the King's reply they knew it was time to break off. There were a few in the congress who didn't want to declare independence because they knew the consequence of such action. Where they saw darkness and destruction, people like John Adams saw hope and freedom.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We havI e reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. 

It must have been very hard for these colonists to break of from England, for after all they considered themselves Englishmen. Doubtless they had friends and family in England and in the states that were loyal to the crown. Only 12% of the American Population actually participated in the Revolutionary War, and only 3 % of the population fought in it. So there was a division.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The concluding paragraph is the most powerful. They created Free and Independent States. What is a state? A state is government entity that makes it's own laws. The importance of making your own laws is a major reason for declaring independence from England. It was worth so much, that they pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor. In fact, if they had been captured by the crown, they would have been hanged, disembowled, and quartered.

Let's Give Up on the Constitution

We all agree that the American system of government is broken. But what exactly is broken? According to Louis Siedman, it's the Constitution that is holding us back.  The principles in the Constitution brought us limited government, separation of powers and representative government. These three things created the largest, freest, and longest lasting democratic republic, why would we blame our problems on the Constitution?

Glenn Beck 

Why did we need the Constitution then? Do we need it now? 

Members of the Constitutional Convention Presentation

John Adams Heather Whittle
Abraham Baldwin James Huff
Richard Bassett
Bedford Gunning Michael Haggerty
John Blair Kirsten Brown
William Blount
David Brearly
Jacob Broom
Pierce Butler  Taylor Brown
Daniel Carroll Tyrell Bergstrom
George Clymer
William Davie
Jonathon Dayton
John Dickinson Summer Heaps
Oliver Ellsworth Tara
William Few Kassidy Johnson
Thomas Fitsmons  Kevn Thompson
Benjamin Franklin Tori Myers
Elbridge Gerry Michael Barnes
Nicholas Gilman
Nathaniel Gorham
Alexander Hamilton Jasmine chaltron
Jared Ingersoll George Delgadillo
Thomas Jefferson  Cassandra Newbold
James Madison  Jeremy Morris
George Mason  jasmena nersesian
Charles Pinckney Corey Gagnone
Edmund Randolph EJ Reyes
John Rutledge Markus Young
Roger Sherman
George Washington Jeffrey Aun
George Wythe Brain Vance
John Hancock Steven Rowe
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/intro.html

Separation of Powers

Levin: If Obama seizes congressional power to borrow and spend, he should be impeached

 

 

All About Me

My name is Cassie Silvester. These are my two girls Maggie, age 5 and Olivia age 4. I spend the majority of my time taking care of these little midgets. Maggie is taking piano, and they both take dance class together. We spend our summers at the pool and we love it.
I am married to Kenny Silvester, he is a correctional officer in Draper. He likes to fix old cars, new cars, or any machine really, and he likes to grow a beard.
I like to run, wakeboard, snowboard and play softball and basketball, and I am the girls sophomore basketball coach at Mountain View High School in Orem. We live in Orem, and bought our first house last year, it's great being a homeowner! We love it.
I am excited to teach political issues at the Art Institute of Salt Lake. I have been a political person my whole life thanks to my mom. She has a law degree and went to the U of U on a debate scholarship. I am a conservative because I think that the values that our country was founded on are timeless: Personal responsibility, equality, independence, hard work.  I do not know everything there is to know about politics or history. I studied history at BYU, I studied abroad in Paris, France.  Last year I got involved on a United States Senatorial campaign because my french teacher from BYU invited me to help.

It was about 7 months of work. I worked on the calling team for his campaign. I met lots of people and learned a lot about the political process. Politics is tricky business. Some people are more tricky than others... But that is for another day. Dan Liljenquist ran an all out campaign against 36 year incumbent Orrin Hatch. Hatch had NEVER been challenged to a primary. EVER. I played sports all my life, I have been in some very competitive matches. I never felt so much pressure then at convention when Dan pushed hatch to a primary with one percentage point. Crazy. We fought "machine" politics. Hatch spent millions and millions of dollars. He had a paid staff, Dan spent 150,000 of his own money, and none of his volunteers were paid. I wish I had been paid. I made phone calls from my house mostly. We worked social network sites, I got a letter to the editor published in the Salt Lake Trib and the Des News. Check it out:
My Oped in the Deseret News

I am excited to teach this course on historical and political issues, and I hope by the end of this course you will have a deeper understanding why we do things the way we do things here in America. Yes, things are messed up, things are broken. But liberty is a fragile thing. We as citizens need to critically consume the news, and become truly informed, then we actually have to get off the couch and do something. I used to watch a lot more TV before all this. We can no longer say that my voice doesn't matter, or think that someone else will do it. We need to re-learn  what it means to be a citizen.