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Before and Beyond the Constitution: What Should a President do?
—Curriculum Unit Overview—
“… the executive authority, with few exceptions, is to be vested in a single magistrate. This will scarcely, however, be considered as a point upon which any comparison can be grounded; for if, in this particular, there be a resemblance to the king of Great Britain, there is not less a resemblance to the … khan of Tartary, to the Man of the Seven Mountains....”
—Alexander Hamilton in The
Federalist Papers #69 on the EDSITEment-reviewed website Avalon
Project at the Yale Law School
“if you adopt this government, you will incline to an arbitrary and odious
aristocracy or monarchy…” —Anti-Federalist Paper Cato
#5 Executive Power on the Constitution
Society website, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library
Introduction
At the time the Founders were shaping the future of a new country, John Adams suggested the President should be addressed as "His Excellency." Happily, others recognized that such a title was inappropriate. Though the proper form of address represents only a small detail, defining everything about the Presidency was central to the idea of America that was a work-in-progress when the nation was young.
In this curriculum unit, students look at the role of President as defined in the Constitution and consider the precedent-setting accomplishments of George Washington.
Note: This unit may be taught either as a stand-alone unit or as a sequel
to the complementary EDSITEment curriculum units, Background
on the Patriot Attitude Toward the Monarchy and Lost
Hero: Who Was Really Our First President?
Guiding Questions:
How was the role of "President" defined in the Constitution?
What important developments occurred during George Washington's tenure as the first "President of the United States"?
How did they affect the future of the U.S. and the office of President?
Learning Objectives
After completing all the lessons in this unit, students will be able to:
- Discuss the powers and responsibilities of the President as defined by the Constitution.
- List some of the precedents set during George Washington's term in office.
- Match an action of a President with a power or responsibility of the Chief Executive.
Preparing to Teach This Curriculum Unit
- Review the lesson plans in this unit. Locate and bookmark suggested materials
and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and
duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
- Download the blackline
masters for this lesson, available here as a PDF file. Print out and make
an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.
- Unless otherwise specified, historic documents referred to in the lesson
plan are available on the EDSITEment-reviewed website Avalon
Project at the Yale Law School.
- The EDSITEment resource Digital
Classroom offers The
Declaration of Independence: A History and The
Constitution: A History for background on those fundamental documents.
- The Founders were faced with a difficult decision-fix the flawed Articles
of Confederation or develop a new system. Essays in favor of the passage of
the Constitution and discussing weaknesses in the Articles (written by the
likes of Madison and Hamilton) were published in the Federalist Papers. About
the Federalist Papers, on the EDSITEment-reviewed website American
Memory, explains:
…the Federalist Papers, is a series of 85 essays written by Alexander
Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788.
The essays were published anonymously, under the pen name "Publius," in
various New York state newspapers of the time.
The Federalist Papers were written and published to urge New Yorkers to
ratify the proposed United States Constitution, which was drafted in Philadelphia
in the summer of 1787. In lobbying for adoption of the Constitution over
the existing Articles of Confederation, the essays explain particular provisions
of the Constitution in detail. For this reason, and because Hamilton and
Madison were each members of the Constitutional Convention, the Federalist
Papers are often used today to help interpret the intentions of those
drafting the Constitution.
- George Washington became President-reluctantly-at a critical time in the
history of the United States. The Confederation had threatened to unravel;
the weak central government (which included a weak executive with the sole
responsibility of presiding over meetings of Congress and no special power
to initiate laws beyond that of any member of Congress, enforce laws, or check
acts of Congress) created by the Articles
of Confederation had failed. As part of its goal to form a “more perfect”
government, The Constitution
of the United States defined a new role for the executive, the President,
in a much stronger federal system. However, a definition on paper and a President
in practice could be two very different things. In this activity, students
review the responsibilities and powers of the President as intended by the
Founders and as practiced during Washington's precedent-setting terms in office.
- Students with an understanding of the fears of the Founders-especially the
Anti-Federalists-regarding a powerful executive will benefit the most from
this lesson. When discussing the structure of the Executive sketched in the
Articles of Confederation, it is useful to refer back to the complaints of
the colonists as summarized by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.
Help students understand why and how the Founders were cautious. Consult the
following EDSITEment lessons for grades 6-8 for more information on:
- The Declaration of Independence.
- The defects in the Articles of Confederation and the debates in the Constitutional
Convention.
- The debates in the Constitutional Convention.
- The unit uses very brief excerpts from Alexander Hamilton's The Real
Character of the Executive (Federalist
Paper #69), provided in the handout The Real Character of the Executive
on pages 1-2 of the PDF file
(see download instructions, above). Hamilton's essential statements about
the Executive have been grouped together. Definitions for a few difficult
terms are provided in parentheses and some spelling has been modernized, but
all of the text is Hamilton's. In many classes, students should be able to
work with the passages in small groups. Classes can also work through the
document together.
- For further reading, consult the Recommended
Reading List provided here as a PDF file.
Unit Lesson Plans
Selected EDSITEment Websites
Standards Alignment
View your state’s standards
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