Archive for the ‘American History’ Category
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6
Nov
2008
Obama Wins
In case you have been living in a cave and your only source of news is MrOsman.com – Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States of America. He landed the 270 (and more) electoral college votes that he needed.
Were your electoral college predictions correct?
26
Oct
2008
Bet You Didn’t Know
Even I didn’t know this!!!
From takeyourkids2vote.org:
Do you know why Election Day is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November? Don’t worry. Most people don’t. That day was picked by Congress in 1845 because most Americans were farmers back then; and by November, most of the crops were in.
But, why Tuesday? That‘s because most of the people who lived in rural America had to travel quite a long way by horseback or carriage to reach the county seat where they voted. Monday wasn’t a good day because many people would need to begin traveling on Sunday, and that would have meant missing Church.
Why the first Tuesday after the first Monday? Lawmakers wanted to prevent Election Day from falling on the first of November for two reasons. First, because November 1st, the day after Halloween, is All Saints Day, a Holy Day for Roman Catholics. Second, since most merchants were in the habit of doing their books on the first day of the month, Congress chose a day that wouldn’t interfere with the business community.
Fascinating!
The lesson to be learned in this post is that I told you something incorrect in class:
I told you that the election date (the first Tuesday after the first Monday) has been set since the constitution was ratified by the original thirteen colonies. Obviously that’s not correct!
So after I did some historical research on this subject, I got to thinking about election day.
Even though Tuesdays made sense for elections in 1845, do they make sense 163 years later?
Tuesday, a work day, can be a difficult day for voters to make time to get to the polls. Saturday may be a more advantageous day to have election day. Citizens are less likely to be at work on a Saturday (although a significant amount of the populous does work on weekends) and more likely to be available to vote.
In 1845 election day was moved to Tuesday to encourage rural voters to make it in to town to vote. If election day was originally moved to Tuesday to encourage voting, why not move it to a day like Saturday in order to encourage voting?
In addition, other than tradition, why do we vote in November?
Why not vote the day after taxes are due, April 16th? This would surely encourage a more fiscally responsible government. Or why not vote on July 4th while patriotic spirits are high? Election day on July 4th would surely encourage a higher level of voter participation. Right?
21
Sep
2008
A More Perfect Constitution
This week we’ll spend a lot of time talking about how we can change the Constitution. Every year dozens of amendments are proposed to the Constitution an in the entire history (230+ years) of the United States, we’ve only approved 27 amendments. Of those 27, the first 10 (the Bill of Rights) were more like an extension to the original Constitution. In fact, several amendments have been passed by congress and not passed by the states. Obviously its pretty difficult to amend it!
However, the Constitution is far from a perfect document. We have an Electoral College that prevents the people from directly electing the President, a Senate that isn’t truly democratic, and a Supreme Court that isn’t democratic at all! Some political scientists even argue that so many Americans are disinterested in the political system because an antiquated Constitution alienates them!
If you WERE actually able to amend the Constitution, what would you change?
I found a list of recently proposed amendments to the Constitution.
Some of the more interesting ones ( along with the Congress that voted them down) are:
109th Congress (2005-2006)
- To ensure reproductive rights of women
- To allow non-natural born citizens to become President if they have been a citizen for 20 years
- The “Every Vote Counts” Amendment – providing for direct election of the President and Vice President, abolishing the Electoral College
108th Congress (2003-2004)
- To lower the age restriction on Representatives and Senators from 30 and 25 respectively to 21
- To restrict marriage in all states to be between a man and a woman
- To allow Congress to pass laws for emergency replenishment of its membership should more than a quarter of either house be killed
107th Congress (2001-2002)
- To specify a right to “equal high quality” health care
- To allow for any person who has been a citizen of the United States for twenty years or more to be eligible for the Presidency
106th Congress (1999-2000)
- To provide a new method for proposing amendments to the Constitution, where two-thirds of all state legislatures could start the process
- To declare that life begins at conception and that the 5th and 14th amendments apply to unborn children
105th Congress (1997-1998)
- To provide for the reconfirmation of federal judges every 12 years
- To prohibit the early release of convicted criminals
Sanford Levinson, professor at the University of Texas, says we need to make some significant changes to the Constitution!
Larry J. Sabato, professor at the University of Virginia, makes of list of 23 amendments that should be made to the Constitution!
Some other interesting ideas:
- War Making Limitations
- Non-Natural Born Presidents
- Proportional Representation in the Senate
- Extending the length of House Terms
- Term limits for members of Congress
- End Lifetime tenure for Supreme Court Judges
- Mandatory retirement for Federal Judges
- Improving/Removing the Electoral College
- Automatic Voter Registration
- Mandatory National Service in the Military
What do you think? Should we add something new to the Constitution? What should we amend? Or should we simply have another Constitutional Convention and start all over?
And remember Thomas Jefferson’s ideas on the Constitution:
Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of nineteen years. If it be
enforced longer, it is an act of force, and not of right. – 1789
Download the assignment (.doc) here:
Amending the Constitution activity
You will use Microsoft Word, the textbook, and the internet to complete the assignment. I will let you know how to turn the assignment in at the end of class. Do not print it!
Take some time, when you’re completed with the assignment, to post some comments on MrOsman.com!
(Don’t forget your next test is on Wednesday the 24th)
12
Sep
2008
Foundations of American Government
Here’s the PowerPoint from Friday. Don’t forget the homework that’s due Tuesday of next week
Use the PowerPoint to study, take notes, and review. According to the schedule, the next test will be September 24th/25th so start preparing. I’d like to see SOMEONE get a 100 on this one! Use the link below, or view the PowerPoint below to study. You will need Flashplayer to view – download it here.
13
Aug
2008