GoPoPro Activities
Bill of Rights Fun Facts
1.WE DIDN’T ALWAYS HAVE A BILL OF RIGHTS
On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. The Bill of Rights was not approved until it was ratified by Virginia’s legislature on December 15, 1791.
2.WE ALMOST HAD 17 AMENDMENTS TO THE BILL OF RIGHTS
The House approved 17 amendments. Of these 17, the Senate approved 12. Those 12 were sent to the states for approval in August of 1789. Of those 12, 10 were quickly approved (or, ratified).
3.SOME OF THE ORIGINAL COPIES WERE PROBABLY DESTROYED
During his first term, President Washington and Congress had 14 official handwritten replicas of the Bill of Rights made. At present, two are conspicuously unaccounted for. One copy was retained by the federal government while the rest were sent off to the 11 states as well as Rhode Island and North Carolina, which had yet to ratify. Subsequently, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, and Georgia all lost theirs somehow. It’s believed that the Empire State’s was burned in a 1911 fire while Georgia’s likely went up in smoke during the Civil War. In 1945, a long-lost original copy—experts aren’t sure which—was gifted to the Library of Congress. Forty-nine years earlier, the New York Public Library had obtained another. Because it’s widely believed that this one originally belonged to Pennsylvania, the document is currently being shared between the Keystone State and the NYPL until 2020, when New York will have it for 60 percent of the time and Pennsylvania for the rest.
4.NORTH CAROLINA’S COPY MAY HAVE BEEN STOLEN BY A CIVIL WAR SOLDIER.
That’s my home state!!!! During the spring of 1865, Raleigh was firmly under the control of pro-Union troops. According to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s office in that city, “Sometime during the occupation, a soldier in Gen. William Sherman’s army allegedly took North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of rights [from the state capitol] and carried it away.” Afterward, it changed hands several times and eventually came into antique dealer Wayne Pratt’s possession. When the FBI learned of his plan to sell the priceless parchment, operatives seized it. In 2007, the copy went on a well-publicized tour of North Carolina before returning to Raleigh—hopefully for good.
5.THREE STATES DIDN’T RATIFY IT UNTIL 1939.
To celebrate the Constitution’s 150th anniversary, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia formally gave the Bill of Rights the approval they’d withheld for well over a century.
6.THE BILL OF RIGHTS’S LEAST LITIGATED AMENDMENT IS THE THIRD.
Thanks to this one, soldiers cannot legally be quartered inside your home without your consent. Since colonial Americans had lived in fear of being suddenly forced to house and feed British troops, the amendment was warmly received during the late 1700s. Today, however, it’s rarely invoked. As of this writing, the Supreme Court has never based a decision upon it, so the American Bar Association once called this amendment the “runt piglet” of the constitution.
7.BILL OF RIGHTS DAY DATES BACK TO 1941.
On November 27, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt urged America’s citizenry to celebrate December 15 as “Bill of Rights Day” in honor of its anniversary:
“I call upon the officials of the Government, and upon the people of the United States, to observe the day by displaying the flag of the United States on public buildings and by meeting together for such prayers and such ceremonies as may seem to them appropriate.”
“It is especially fitting,” he added, “that this anniversary should be remembered and observed by those institutions of a democratic people which owe their very existence to the guarantees of the Bill of Rights: the free schools, the free churches, the labor unions, the religious and educational and civic organizations of all kinds which, without the guarantee of the Bill of Rights, could never have existed; which sicken and disappear whenever, in any country, these rights are curtailed or withdrawn.”
Epic Bill of Rights Battle
Take 1
Give each student a copy of the Bill of Rights.
Each student turns each Amendment of the Bill of Rights into an emoji. For example, First Amendment = Smiley face + church emoji; Second Amendment = gun emoji.
Each student shows their emojis, out of order, and one at a time, to a partner who tries to match each emoji with each of the 10 Amendments.
Switch r oles with your partner and repeat.
Take 2
Give each student a copy of the Bill of Rights.
Each student turns each Amendment of the Bill of Rights into into a Hashtag. For example, #no1/4soldiers.
Each student shows their hahtags, out of order, and one at a time, to a partner who tries to match each hashtag with each of the 10 Amendments.
Switch roles with your partner and repeat.
Download a PDF of the Bill of Rights
Public Policy Lesson Sampler
Overview of Elite and Pluralist Models of Democracy in the United States
Table 1 The Basic Principles of the Elitist Model of Politics
1. American society is divided into those who have political power (the few) and those who do not have political power (the many). Only a small number of people allocate society's resources and make policy; the masses do not decide public policy. Values are determined by elites.
2. Those who govern are not typical of the masses. Elites come from the upper echelons and upper socioeconomic strata of society. They are wealthier, better educated, and have many other social and economic advantages over the average citizen.
3. Nonelites must slowly be elevated into higher positions to avoid revolution or social and political instability. Only nonelites that have accepted the basic values of the elites can be brought into the circles of those who govern.
4. Elites share a basic consensus about the basic values of the social system and are committed to protecting and preserving the system (the status quo). Any changes made to the system must be slow and evolutionary. In the United States, the basics of the elite consensus are for the sanctity of private property, limited government, and individual liberty (freedom).
5. Public policy does not reflect demands made by the masses. Public policy reflects the values of elites and changes in public policy will be incremental (not revolutionary).
6. Elites are subject to little direct influence from the apathetic masses. The masses are generally poorly informed and can be controlled by the elites, who hold a disproportional amount of political power. The elites influence the masses far more than the masses influence elites.
7. Public policy is directed from the top downward. Power is concentrated at the top and public policy decisions are made and implemented from the top.
Source: Adapted from James Lester and Joseph Stewart, Jr. Public Policy: An Evolutionary Approach (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2000), pp. 54-55. The original source of these basic descriptions is credited to Thomas Dye and Harmon Zeigler, The Irony of Democracy (Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1981).
Overview of Elite and Pluralist Models of Democracy in the United States
Table 2 The Basic Principles of the Pluralist Model of Politics
1. Power is an attribute of individuals in their relationships with other individual in the process of decision-making. Interest groups are the key to understanding American democracy and the public policy process. It is the competition between interest groups in the governmental process that influences public policy.
2. Power relationships are not permanent. They are often formed for a particular decision. After the decision is made, the relationships may disappear and may be replaced by another set of power relationships when the next decision is made. These power relationships involve what we think of today as interest groups.
3. There is not a permanent distinction between the elites and masses. Individuals who participate in decision making at one time may not be the same individuals who participate in the next decision at a different time. Individuals move in and out of the ranks of decision-makers simply by becoming active or inactive in politics.
4. Leadership is fluid and mobile. Wealth and social status are assets in politics but are only one of many assets that are part of political power. Elites are elites only in the sense that they hold leadership positions of power, not because of some superiority of social or ruling class. The term "leader" is a better description than the term "elite" for those who hold temporary positions of political power. Power resides in the position more so than with the person. An aristocracy does not govern America.
5. There are multiple centers and bases of power in society. No single group dominates decision making in all areas.
6. Considerable competition exists between interest groups.
7. Public policy reflects the bargains and compromises reached between competing groups.
Source: Adapted from James Lester and Joseph Stewart, Jr. Public Policy: An Evolutionary Approach (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2000), pp. 54-55. The original source of these basic descriptions is credited to Thomas Dye and Harmon Zeigler, The Irony of Democracy (Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1981).
Elite & Pluralist Policy Making Models
There are two competing theories about how policy decisions are made in the US.
Read the two tables (above) and decide for yourself which theory is more accurate.
1) Rename the two theories:
2) Take each of the seven points from each theory and transcribe it into: a graphic image (drawing, sketch, cut and pasted digital image); a 140 character Tweet with hashtag, or a condensed bullet point in your own words.
3) Name the theory you find to be a more accurate description of how policy actually gets made in the US today:
4) Choose any one policy area - health care, gun control, tax policy, oil tax, immigration, trade - and decide which theory does the better job of explaining the specific steps and actors (people, groups, institutions) involved in the actual making of policy in the US today. Show your answer in a flow chart, graphic organizer, storyboard, digital image from the internet, or any visual form that would be convincing to a student of US politics.