Section #2 - DBQ Resources
DBQ – The United States Constitution (1787)
Article I, Section 1
All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Answer This Question:
What internal conflicts led the delegates to create the Senate as a second legislative chamber?
Article I, Section 2
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons.
Answer This Question:
Why did each state’s total population include all free persons plus 3/5th of all other persons?
Article I, Section 3
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
Answer This Question:
How did creation of the Senate resolve internal conflicts between delegates at the Convention?
Article I, Section 7
All Bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.
Answer This Question:
What does this imply about the relative power the delegates sought between the House and the Senate and also the wish for “checks and balances?”
Article I, Section 8
Congress shall have the power to…declare war.
Answer This Question:
Why does Lincoln call the South’s secession an “insurrection” rather than asking Congress to declare war?
Article I, Section 9
The migration or importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
Answer This Question:
Does this limitation represent a victory for those opposed to slavery and how does it turn out after 1808?
Article I, Section 9 and Article II, Section 1
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.
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Answer This Question:
Do these Articles justify Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus during the war, or not?
Article II, Section 1
The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall be elected, as follows
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress.
The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted.
Answer These Questions:
Why did the delegates create this Electoral College to select the President rather than simply relying on the popular vote count?
Why were the two Senators from each state included in the total number of Electoral Votes granted?
Article II, Section 1
The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said house shall in like manner chose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall chose from them by ballot the Vice President.
Answer This Question:
In case of a run-off for President in the House, what impact does it have that each state is given the same single vote?
Article II, Section 4
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Answer This Question:
Do you agree or disagree that the definition of impeachable offenses is clear enough, and if so, why?
Article III. Section 1
The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.
Answer This Question:
Is this description of the Supreme Court so vague as to be meaningless, and if so, does it appear that the delegates considered it a third co-equal branch of government.
Article IV. Section 2
No Person held to Service or labor in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or labor, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or labor may be due.
Answer This Question:
Why did the Southern delegates demand this section and how enforceable was it before the update in the 1850 Compromise?
Historical Maps
| Key Historical Topics | Related Historical Maps |
|---|---|
| 1607-1775 | |
| 1. The first 13 colonies | Early immigration routes to America |
| 2. Early American tribes | Location of Native American Tribes |
| 3. Beginning of slavery | Triangular Trade routes |
| 4. British taxing the colonials | |
| 5. The call for revolution | Dates that states ratified the Declaration of Indep. |
| 6. The first battle of the war | Battle at Lexington & Concord |
| 1776-1781 | |
| 7. The formal break with Britain | |
| 8. Early American losses | Battle sites: 1775 to 1776 |
| 9. The tide begins to turn | Battle sites: 1777 to 1781 |
| 10. The British surrender | Battle of Yorktown |
| 1781-1787 | |
| 11. America’s 1787 Constitution | Dates that states ratified |
| 12. The Bill of Rights | |
| 13. Initial boundaries on slavery | Northwest Ordinance |
| 14. President George Washington | 1788 Electoral College votes by state |
| 1787-1829 | |
| 15. Early expansion of slavery | Enslaved population moving west |
| 16.Competing economic visions | |
| 17. The movement west begins | Total population moving west |
| 18. Another battle with Britain | Key battles in War of 1812 |
| 19. Blacks fight for survival | |
| 20. Another compromise on slavery | The 1820 Missouri Compromise |
| 21. America asserts it hegemony | |
| 22. The Age of Jackson begins | |
| 23. First signs of Southern secession | |
| 24.Opposition to Jackson appears | |
| 1829-1835 | |
| 25. America seeks spiritual guidance | The “burned over” districts in the east |
| 26. The search for racial justice | Location of major black churches |
| 27. Abolitionists get organized | |
| 1836-1848 | |
| 28. Movement west accelerates | |
| 29. Native tribes lose homelands | Trail of Tears |
| 30. “Slavery as a positive good” | |
| 31. Churches divide over slavery | |
| 32. The search for new slave states | |
| 33. The Mexican War adds land | The Mexican Cession |
| 34. The Wilmot Proviso resists expansion | |
| 1848-1861 | |
| 35.The Free Soil Party poses a political threat | |
| 36. “Popular Sovereignty” fails in Kansas | |
| 37. The 1850 Compromise fails both sides | |
| 38. Abolition gains ground | Landmark abolition events by state |
| 39. The Kansas-Nebraska Act proves fatal | |
| 40. Republican Party founded | |
| 41. High Court denies slave’s rights | |
| 42. Harper’s Ferry Raid fuels secession | Battle of Harper’s Ferry |
| 43. Lincoln’s election ensures schism | 1860 Electoral Votes by state |
| 44.Confederate States secede | |
| 45. Failure of President Buchanan | |
| 46. Crittenden’s Compromise fails | |
| 47. The Civil War begins. | |
InfoGraphics
| Name & Image | Profile |
|---|---|
 George Washington | Home state: Virginia Father occupation: Planter Born: 1732 Birth order: 1st of ten Height: 6’2” Education: Tutors Early occupations: Surveyor/military Marriage: Once Children: None Estate: Very wealthy # slaves owned: 317 (freed in will) President terms: 1789-1797 Vice-President: John Adams Political Party: Independent Died: 1799 (67 years) Cause of death: Pneumonia Did you know? That his false teeth were not made from wood, but from carved animal bone and teeth from his slaves? |