Do-Now Questions for Week of 12/10/12

MONDAY:
Name the three branches of government set up by the U.S. Constitution. What is the simple function of each branch (make the laws, carry out the laws, interpret the laws), and what branch do each of the following fall under:
   1. President
   2. House of Representative
   3. Supreme Court
   4. Federal Bureau of Intelligence
   5. Senate
   6. National Security Agency

The three branches of government and their functions are: the legislative branch (makes the laws), the executive branch (carries out the laws), and the judiciary branch (interprets the law). Of the organizations listed, the Senate and House of Representatives (two houses of Congress) are part of the legislative branch. The President, FBI, and NSA, along with all of the other government organizations, are part of the executive branch. Finally, the Supreme Court is part of the judiciary branch.

TUESDAY:
Compare and contrast the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. Specifically, discuss how these two plans differed in terms of the way states would be represented in the national government.

Both plans call for three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judiciary. The Virginia Plan calls for a two-house legislature with representation based proportionally on wealth and population. The New Jersey Plan on the other hand calls for a one-house legislature with representation on an equal basis (one vote per state). In the Virginia Plan, the national government was given many more powers than in the New Jersey Plan (which looked much like the Articles of Confederation).

WEDNESDAY:
Describe the two major compromises made during the Constitutional Convention.

In the Great Compromise, the Virginia and New Jersey Plans were combined to create three branches of government, and a two-house Congress with the upper house (Senate) based on equal representation and the lower house (House of Representatives) based on proportional representation. The 3/5 Compromise stated that slaves would count as 3/5 of a person for the purposes of representation and taxation.

THURSDAY:
What did the Federalists and the Antifederalists each want? How did they both get their message to the general public? Which group ultimately won?

Both the Federalists and the Antifederalists published their writings in newspapers in order to reach the general public. The Antifederalists were actually the first group to do so, and the Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay were a response to Antifederalist criticisms of the Constitution. The Federalists, who supported the ratification of the Constitution, ultimately achieved their goal since the Constitution was adopted as the new law of the land.

FRIDAY:
None