Talk:To be Strict or to not be Strict?

• times new roman, 12 size

Instructions

Students, here you will find the instructions for your We the People long term project. There are several assignments you need to complete for this project.

1. Individual Statement: For this assignment, you will work on your own to answer the competition question for your unit. You will need to do independent research to get a solid answer to the question. Then you will write an essay detailing your responses the main question and the sub questions. Good essays will showcase good depth of research, constititutional application and factual support, and will deal directly with the questions asked. A good essay will have an introduction and a strong conclusion. Essays have no set length per se, but should be at least 3-4 pages. You are to work on this assignment ON YOUR OWN -- the idea is for each group member to write a response independently, and then come together to share how they answered the question. Remember that for our school competition, groups are doing the FIRST question in each unit. This assignment is due at the beginning of class on October 30.

2. Team Plan of Attack: This is how your group plans to attack the question once you have read each member's individual statement and talked about the question. This is a short one page description of how you plan to answer the question and defend your answer. One group member will submit for the group. Due November 6.

3. Team Rough Draft: This is your team's rough draft of a response. It should have a wealth of information, showcasing all of the research that your team has put into the project, and displaying a solid grasp of the question and it's possibilities. Due November 13.

4. Team Final Statement: This is your team's final statement for competition. It should be considerably shorter than the rough draft, having been carefully edited and cut down to a statement that can be read by the group in 4 minutes without speed reading. This is the statement you will read on the day of competition. Due November 30.

5. Individual Work Log: This is a log that you will keep of all the work that you personally do for the project. This should detail all of your contributions to the group as a whole. It is due December 16.

And finally, just in case you need to be reminded about what unit you are in, here are the unit assignments:

—Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 16:50, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Question

Unit Three: How Has the Constitution Been Changed to Further the Ideals Contained in the Declaration of Independence?

1. Thomas Jefferson stated that “I had rather ask an enlargement of power from the nation where it is found necessary than to assume it by a construction which would make our powers boundless. Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.”* Did the addition of amendments reduces our written framework of government to a “blank paper”?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the amendment process in Article V?
• What other methods, if any, have been used to extend powers and liberties beyond the written Constitution?

—Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 16:55, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Subquestions must be integrated into response; 3 pages long. —Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 16:56, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

"I would rather ask for our national power to increase when we need it to be increased, rather than to randomly guess, making our powers infinite and possibly reckless. Our strange security is found in our written constitution. Let's not void the Constitution, its original meaning in containing the gov't powers, by adding extra rulings which would make our powers unlimited--destroying the very essence of the DOI". See https://fee.org/articles/judicial-monopoly-over-the-constitution-jeffersons-view/ for more Jefferson views. —Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 01:00, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

"Let's not void the Constitution, its original meaning in containing the gov't powers, by adding extra rulings which would make our powers unlimited--destroying the very essence of the DOI". See https://fee.org/articles/judicial-monopoly-over-the-constitution-jeffersons-view/ for more Jefferson views. —Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 01:10, 22 October 2020 (UTC)