Why governments exist, and the main forms they take

Grade 12 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A to F on purposes and powers in the Constitution (the excerpts are exact; cards E and F are made up). Card A, "The Preamble (1787)". Who made it: the Constitutional Convention. When: September 17, 1787. For whom: the states and the people. Why: to introduce the Constitution. From the National Archives transcription: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Card B, "Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905)". Who made it: Justice John Marshall Harlan, for the Supreme Court. When: decided February 20, 1905. For whom: the parties, other courts and the public. Why: a challenger argued that a Massachusetts law was in derogation of rights secured by the preamble of the Constitution. Excerpt: "Although that preamble indicates the general purposes for which the people ordained and established the Constitution, it has never been regarded as the source of any substantive power conferred on the government of the United States, or on any of its departments. Such powers embrace only those expressly granted in the body of the Constitution, and such as may be implied from those so granted." Card C, "Article I, Section 8, clause 1". Who made it: the Constitutional Convention. Excerpt: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;" Card D, "The Tenth Amendment (1791)". Who made it: Congress proposed it and the states ratified it. Excerpt: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Card E, "The constitution of Zendrin (made up)". Who made it: written for this sheet. Preamble: "We, the citizens of Zendrin, to keep our land safe, to honor our founder's memory and to keep our traditions, establish this constitution." Article 4: "The president may take any action the president judges necessary for these purposes." Article 9: "The president may order any person held, with no hearing, if the president judges that person a danger to these purposes." Card F, "Two Acts of Congress (made up)". Who made it: written for this sheet. Summary in our words: Act 1 taxes tires and uses the money to pay states that train teachers; Congress says it acts "to promote the general Welfare." Act 2 orders every adult to complete 30 hours of civic training each year; Congress says it acts "to promote the general Welfare." Neither Act cites any other power.

2. 1.

   Congress cites the Preamble's words "promote the general Welfare" for Act 2 on card F. Zee checks cards A and B. Which reasoning is strongest?

   • Act 2 is valid, since powers implied from the Preamble's purposes are among those card B allows
   • Act 2 is invalid, because card B says the Preamble has no place in reading what the Constitution means
   • The Preamble cannot carry Act 2 alone: card B says Congress's powers are those granted in the body or implied from them
   • Act 2 is valid, because card A says the Constitution was ordained to promote the general Welfare and the Act does exactly that
3. 2.

   Ari imagines a Zendrin court following Jacobson on card B to judge Article 9 on card E. What would follow?

   • Article 9 would stand, because Jacobson says a preamble indicates the purposes of a constitution and the president serves them
   • Article 9 would fall, because Jacobson holds that a statement of purposes cannot support any government power
   • Article 4 would fall, since Jacobson allows just the powers listed one by one and Article 4 lists no powers
   • Little: Article 4 puts the power in the body, tied to the purposes, so Jacobson's limit on preambles does not touch Article 9
4. 3.

   Luz compares Acts 1 and 2 on card F with cards C and D. Which statement is best supported?

   • Both Acts are invalid, since card D reserves to the States any power that the Preamble does not name in so many words
   • Both Acts are valid, since card C lets Congress provide for the general Welfare and each Act says that is what it does
   • Act 1 uses the taxing power in card C, but the cards list no granted power for Act 2, which card D leaves to States or people
   • Act 1 is invalid, since card C requires taxes to be uniform throughout the country and Act 1 taxes just one product

5. Use this

   Cards A to D on lawful power (the excerpts are exact; card B has notes in our words; card D is made up). Card A, "Magna Carta, chapter 39 (1215)". Who made it: King John of England and the barons, in a charter. When: June 1215. For whom: the free people of England. Why: to limit what the king could do to a person. From the Avalon Project, Yale Law School; "disseised" means put out of one's land. Excerpt: "No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land." Card B, "Article I, Section 9, clauses 2 and 3". Who made it: the Constitutional Convention. When: September 17, 1787. For whom: Congress and the people. Why: to limit what Congress may do. Excerpt 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." Excerpt 2: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed." Notes in our words, not a quotation: a bill of attainder is a law that declares named people, or a group easy to identify, guilty and punishes them without a trial. An ex post facto law makes an act a crime, or raises the punishment for it, after the act was done. Card C, "The Massachusetts Constitution (1780)". Who made it: the people of Massachusetts, through a convention. For whom: the people of Massachusetts. Why: to set up a government and its limits. Excerpt 1 (Declaration of Rights, Article XXX): "In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them: the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men." Excerpt 2 (Part the Second, chapter I, section II, Article VIII): "The senate shall be a court with full authority to hear and determine all impeachments made by the house of representatives, against any officer or officers of the commonwealth, for misconduct and mal-administration in their offices." Card D, "Four Acts of Orvane (made up)". Who made it: written for this sheet. Summary in our words: Act 1, passed after a flood, lets the minister hold any person for 90 days on written suspicion, with no judge. Act 2 names 12 merchants, finds that each sold flour above $9 a sack in the week of the flood, and bans them from trade for five years. Act 3: courts tried each merchant convicted of price gouging last year and banned each for two years; this year the legislature lengthens that ban to five years for those same merchants and changes nothing for anyone convicted later. Act 4 creates the Orvane High Court out of the legislature's own members, who will hear every appeal from every court.

6. 4.

   Jun tests Act 1 on card D against cards A and B. Which reasoning is strongest?

   • Card B permits suspension only in rebellion or invasion; a flood is neither, so a public-safety claim does not rescue Act 1
   • Act 1 passes, since card A allows imprisonment by the law of the land and the legislature passed Act 1 as a law in the usual way
   • Act 1 passes, since card B lets the public Safety justify suspending habeas corpus and a flood threatens public safety
   • Act 1 fails because card A bars every imprisonment before a trial by peers, even during a rebellion or an invasion
7. 5.

   Noah tests Act 3 on card D against the notes on card B. Which statement is best supported?

   • Ex post facto only: Act 3 raises punishment for past acts, but courts already tried each merchant, so none is punished untried
   • Both bars apply: Act 3 raises past punishments and also singles out a group of merchants for punishment by the legislature
   • Neither bar applies, since a court imposed the original ban and the legislature may then lengthen it without a new trial or hearing
   • Attainder only: Act 3 targets an easy-to-identify group, and the ban's length changes only a sentence already imposed
8. 6.

   Massachusetts's senate tries impeachments (card C). Bo asks whether that weakens the objection to Act 4 on card D. Which reasoning is best?

   • No: the Massachusetts senate acts only on charges from the house, so Act 4 fails only because it has no second chamber to bring charges
   • Yes: Article XXX binds only the executive and judicial departments, so a legislature acting as a court is not covered
   • Yes: if the Massachusetts senate may judge, any legislature may, since Article XXX's ban on judicial powers is not meant literally
   • No: the same constitution grants the senate a narrow judicial role, while Act 4 would give the legislature judicial power over all appeals
9. 7.

   A speaker says Orvane is a "government of laws" because every act it takes is a published law. Tala tests the claim against cards A to C. What is the best verdict?

   • Weakly supported: Acts 1 to 4 are all published laws, yet the tests on cards A to C bar or limit each of them
   • Refuted: card A requires a judgment of peers for every act of government, and no Orvane act provides for one
   • Supported: card C uses the phrase government of laws, and every one of Orvane's acts was passed as a published law
   • Cannot be judged: the cards give no test of what makes a government one of laws and not of men

10. Use this

    Cards A to D on why governments are made (the excerpts are exact; card D is made up). Card A, "The Massachusetts Constitution, Preamble (1780)". Who made it: the people of Massachusetts, through a convention. For whom: the people of Massachusetts. Why: to set up a government. Excerpt 1: "The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility their natural rights, and the blessings of life: and whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity and happiness." Excerpt 2: "The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals: it is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good." Card B, "The Mayflower Compact (1620)". Who made it: the men among the Mayflower colonists who signed it, as the ship lay off Cape Cod. When: November 11, 1620. For whom: the colonists. Why: to set up rule in a colony before landing. From the Avalon Project, Yale Law School. Excerpt (the opening words are cut): "covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience." Card C, "Federalist No. 51 (1788)". Who made it: James Madison, writing as Publius. When: February 6, 1788. For whom: the people of New York. Why: to explain how the proposed government would keep its parts in check. Excerpt 1: "But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others." Excerpt 2: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." Card D, "The Harbor Compact (made up)". Who made it: written for this sheet. Summary in our words: The 60 households of Harbor agree to keep order and share the harvest. The assembly of all households makes the rules, and a majority binds all. A household that dislikes a rule may leave with its goods. A Board of Three, elected by the assembly, enforces the rules and also judges any dispute about whether the Board enforced a rule fairly.

11. 8.

    Milo compares the remedies for bad government on cards A and C. Which statement is best supported?

    • Card C relies on the people to alter government after it fails, while card A builds checks inside government to prevent that failure
    • Card A has the people alter government after it fails; card C builds checks inside government so departments resist one another
    • Card C relies on voters to alter government, as card A does, since both assume that men and not angels will govern
    • Card A gives the people no remedy, while card C gives each department the means to resist the others
12. 9.

    Ren applies card C to the Harbor Compact on card D. Which weakness does Madison's reasoning expose?

    • A majority of the assembly binds the households, which card C names as the main danger to a small community
    • The Board both enforces the rules and judges disputes about its own enforcement, so nothing is positioned to resist it
    • No weakness: the assembly makes the rules and the Board enforces them, so the separate departments card C asks for already exist
    • Households that dislike a rule may leave with their goods, which shows the compact controls the governed too weakly
13. 10.

    A student says all three documents agree that government exists mainly to protect individual rights. Kira tests the claim against cards A, B and C. What is the best verdict?

    • Supported: card A names natural rights, card C warns of government's abuses, and card B's general good covers rights too
    • Weakly supported: card A names natural rights, but card B names ordering and the general good, and card C controlling government
    • Cannot be judged: one of the three documents is a compact among colonists, so it cannot be compared with the other two
    • Refuted: cards B and C do not mention rights, so just card A supports the claim that rights are the purpose of government