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Proposed Amendments

The U.S. Constitution is an amazing document, but it is nowhere near perfect.

The Constitution is a living and evolving document.  One of the ways that the Constitution is changed is through a grueling amendment process. The process is arduous, antiquated, and tedious...and that's exactly how it should be. Changing the Constitution (and with it the structure of our nation) SHOULD be difficult and cumbersome.  This allows us to avoid knee-jerk reaction to extreme events.

Though out the history of our nation (nearly 240 years and counting) we have only changed our Constitution 27 times. And to be fair, two of those times don't count (once was when we created Prohibition with the 18th Amendment and the second time was 17 years later, when we created the 21st Amendment to get ride of the 18th). 

However, our limited changes to the Constitution aren't from a lack of trying.  Each year, hundreds of constitutional amendments are proposed. Almost never do any of them become actual Amendments. In fact, almost never do any of them even get out of committee.

Before we get to the specifics, it's worth reviewing the process for amending the U.S. Constitution.  

Amendments can be proposed two ways:  '

1. In Congress or
2. By a national convention assembled at the request of the request of the two-thirds of the state legislatures.

The national convention approach has been attempted twice but has never been successful.

Below are some examples of unsuccessful Amendments that have been proposed within the 21st century.

• A balanced budget amendment, in which Congress and the President are forced to balance the budget every year, has been introduced many times.
• School Prayer Amendment to establish that "The people retain the right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, and traditions on public property, including schools."
• God in the Pledge of Allegiance – declaring that it is not an establishment of religion for teachers to lead students in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (with the words "one Nation under God")
• Every Vote Counts Amendment – proposed by Congressman Gene Green on September 14, 2004. It would abolish the electoral college.
• Continuity of Government Amendment – after a Senate hearing in 2004 regarding the need for an amendment to ensure continuity of government in the event that many members of Congress become incapacitated, Senator John Cornyn introduced an amendment to allow Congress to temporarily replace members after at least a quarter of either chamber is incapacitated
• Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment – proposed by Senator Orrin Hatch. It would allow naturalized citizens with at least twenty years' citizenship to become president.
• Seventeenth Amendment repeal – proposed in 2004 by Georgia Senator Zell Miller. It would reinstate the appointment of Senators by state legislatures as originally required by Article One, Section Three, Clauses One and Three.
• The Federal Marriage Amendment has been introduced in the United States Congress four times: in 2003, 2004, 2005/2006 and 2008 by multiple members of Congress (with support from then-President George W. Bush). It would define marriage and prohibit same-sex marriage, even at the state level.
• Twenty-second Amendment repeal – proposed as early as 1989, various congressmen, the current amendment limits the president to two elected terms in office, and up to two years succeeding a President in office. Last action was On January 4, 2013,
• On January 16, 2009, Senator David Vitter of Louisiana proposed an amendment which would have denied US citizenship to anyone born in the US unless at least one parent were a US citizen, a permanent resident, or in the armed forces.
• On November 11, 2009, Senator Jim DeMint proposed term limits for the U.S. Congress, where the limit for senators will be two terms for a total of 12 years and for representatives, three terms for a total of six years.
• On December 8, 2011 Senator Bernie Sanders filed The Saving American Democracy Amendment, which would state that corporations are not entitled to the same constitutional rights as people. It would also ban corporate campaign donations to candidates, and give Congress and the states broad authority to regulate spending in elections. This amendment would overturn the United States Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

The Simpsons v The Bill of Rights

Civics teachers nationwide are letting out a collective, “Doh!”

A new survey(McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum) was released that makes social studies teachers everywhere weep.  The survey showed that only an incredible one in four Americans (28 percent) are able to name more than one of the five fundamental freedoms granted to them by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Yet when it comes to knowledge of popular culture, Americans are considerably more tuned in. For example, almost twice as many Americans (52 percent) can name at least two members of “The Simpsons” cartoon family.

And while more than one in five (22 percent) Americans can name all five of the fictional Simpsons family members – Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie – just one in 1,000 people surveyed (that's .1 percent) were able to name all five freedoms granted under the First Amendment.

“These survey results clearly demonstrate that many Americans don’t have an understanding of the freedoms they regularly enjoy.,” said Dave Anderson, executive director of the  McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum.

Similar results were seen when comparing Americans’ knowledge of the First Amendment to that of the long-lasting Fox Television show “American Idol.” More than four in 10 Americans (41 percent) could name two of the three “American Idol” judges and one in four could name all three. Unfortunately, just 8 percent of Americans could name at least three of their First Amendment freedoms.

As if that isn't bad enough! What many would consider worse is the number of Americans who misidentify various other rights as coming from the First Amendment.  For instance, a majority of Americans (55 percent) believe the right to a jury trial was guaranteed by the First Amendment (it was the 7th).  What is even more dumbfounding is that 38 percent of Americans believe that the right against self incrimination at trial -commonly called "taking the 5th" - is also a right granted by the First Amendment (Guess what, it actually comes from the 5th).

Other statistics in the study show that not only are we ignorant about our rights but we're ignorant about our history also.  36 percent of people polled somehow believe that the First Amendment guarantees women the right to vote, that right wasn't granted until 1920 (the 19th Amendment).

But wait, do you want the statistics that will break your heart and give up all hope in humanity? How about this? According to the study about one in five Americans (21 percent) believe that the First Amendment grants them the right to own a pet! Seriously?  Yes, our Founding Fathers were concerned with taxation without representation, a lack of due process in the courts....and Fido!

The icing on the cake:  one in five also believe that the right to drive a car is guaranteed by the First Amendment, even though the automobile was not invented for another 100 years.

Below is a list of other freedoms, and the percentage of Americans who were able to name them when asked to list the freedoms of the First Amendment, are:

•  Freedom of Speech (69 percent)
•  Freedom of Religion (24 percent)
•  Freedom of the Press (11 percent)
•  Freedom of Assembly (10 percent)
•  Freedom to Petition (1 percent)

Declaration of Independence

Most people think that the Declaration of Independence is some dry legal documents that declared the 13 colonies intention to be free of British rule. In reality, it is so much more than that.  The Declaration of Independence is beautiful. It is literature genius. In it's simplest form, it is one of the most beautiful and eloquently written break up letter of all time. 

NFL 2014 Declaration of Independence Commercial

ASSIGNMENT:  Read through the D.O.I. and re-write it as a traditional teen break-up letter. You do not need to recreate the declaration word for word, just the intent of each paragraph.  You need to re-write the Opening Paragraph, Political Theory, and Conclusion paragraphs. In the List of Grievances, you need to find 10 and "modernize" them.

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.  The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,

*Opening Paragraph:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

*The Political Theory of the Declaration:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

**A list of grievances committed by the King:

• Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
• He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
• He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
• He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
• He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
• He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
• He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
• He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
• He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
• He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
• He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.
• He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the civil power.
• He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
• For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
• For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
• For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
• For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
• For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
• For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
• For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
• For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
• For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
• He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
• He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
• He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
• He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
• He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
• In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
• Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

*The Formal Proclamation of Independence:

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Signers of the Declaration of Independence:

John Hancock, Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton, , Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery ,  Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott,William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross,  Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean, Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton, William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

* = You must re-write this paragraph

** = You must choose 5 of these grievances and re-write them.

Video Reflectio

Reflect on the different videos we watched in our introduction.  Which one did you find the most IMPRESSIVE?  Create a comment to this post starting your choice and explaining why you picked it.

Need to see one of the clips again?  Click on the link below.

1.  Shorewood High School Lip Dub
2.  Boy Scout Video
3.  Dalton Sherman addresses the Dallas School District staff
4.  Jim vs. Dwight

Marshmallow Challenge

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1st Block Movie Trailer

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Kimberly Idol -Turn In

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Should We Raise The Minimum Wage?

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Glogster Turn In

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1920s Website - 2nd Quarter

2nd Quarter Only!

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1920s Website - 1st Quarter

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The Evolution Of Technology

THE EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY | Infographics

ISP - Project Turn In

What's Wrong With KHS?

Project Turn In

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HAS - World War I Project- Turn In

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The Sinking Of The Lusitania

The Lusitania

You are a up and coming Blogger who just happened to be on vacation in Ireland when the Lusitania was sunk. Your location and your occupation gives you the perfect opportunity to be the FIRST to present first-hand accounts of what happened to the Lusitania. Due to the nature of blogs you will want to keep your blog short and accurate.

ASSIGNMENT
Go through the numerous primary sources below and retell the story of the Lusitania. Include as many significant details as you can. Be sure to answer the basic questions of any story: Who? What? When? Where? Why? 

WHAT HAPPENED?:

What actually happened to the Lusitania and her passenger on the afternoon of May 7, 1915? The first reports of the sinking to reach America were confused and sketchy. Americans, particularly those who had friends or relatives on board, were eager for more information on the fate of their loved ones. Below you will find several different accounts of the sinking of the Lusitania.

Newspaper account: New York World on May 8, 1915.
The Cunard Liner Lusitania was torpedoed, supposedly by German submarines shortly after 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon, ten miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, near Munster, Ireland. She sank fifteen minutes later. The company states that no warning was given her. The Lusitania carried 2,104 persons when she sailed from New York. The meager, confused reports so far received make it uncertain how many of these have been saved. A steward of the first boat that reached Queenstown with survivors from the liner said he feared that 900 lives had been lost.

Newspaper reports account: Queenstown, Ireland on May 9, 1915:
“The tugboat StormShuttle has returned here, bringing about 150 survivors of the Lusitania, among whom were many women, several of the crew, and one steward. Describing the experience of the Lusitania the steward said:
‘The passengers were at lunch when a submarine came up and fired two torpedoes which hit the Lusitania on the starboard side, one forward and the other in the engine room. They caused several explosions. Captain Turner immediately ordered the boats out. The ship began to tilt badly. Ten boats were put into the water, and between 400 and 500 passengers entered the lifeboats. I fear that few of the officers were saved. They acted bravely. There was only fifteen minutes from the time the ship was struck until she foundered and sank, bow first. It was a dreadful sight.’”

Official ship diary of Captain Schwieger, Commander of the U-boat that sunk the Lusitania:
May 6, 1915
...The voyage to the St. George’s Channel had consumed so much of our fuel oil that it would be impossible for us to return (to German) around the southern end of Ireland if we had now continued to Liverpool. I intended to return as soon as two-fifths of our fuel is used up. I intend to avoid, if at all possible, the trip through the North Channel on account of the type of service which U-20 encounter there on her last trip. Only three torpedoes are still available, of which I wish to save two, if possible, for the return trip.

May 7, 1915
3:10 p.m. Ahead to starboard four funnels and two masts of a steamer with course perpendicular to us came into sight. Ship is made out to be large passenger steamer.

Submerged to a depth of 11 meters and went ahead at full speed, taking a course converging with the one of the steamer, hoping it might change its course to starboard along the Irish coast.

The steamer turns to starboard, takes course to Queenstown, thus making possible an approach for a shot. Until 3:00 p.m., we ran high speed in order to gain position directly ahead.

Clean bow shot at a distance of 700 meters (G-torpedo, 3 meters depth adjustment); angle 90, estimated speed 22 knots. Torpedo hits starboard side right behind the bridge.

An unusually heavy detonation takes place with a very strong explosion cloud. The explosion of the torpedo must have been followed by a second on board (boiler, coal, or gun powder). The super-structure above the point of impact and bridge are torn apart, fire breaks out, and smoke envelopes the high bridge.

The ship stops immediately and keels over to starboard very quickly, immersing simultaneously at the bow. It appears as if the ship were going to capsize very shortly. Great confusion ensures on board; the lifeboats are released and they are lowered into the water. In doing so, a great panic must have reigned; some boats, full to capacity, are rushed and sink immediately.

3:25 The ship blows off its excess steam; on the bow the name Lusitania becomes visible in golden letters. Ship was running 22 knots. Since it seems as if the steamer will keep above the water only a short time, we dived to a depth of 24 meters and ran out to sea. It would have been impossible for me to fire a second torpedo into this crowd of people struggling to save their lives.

Newspaper reports account: London Times on May 9, 1915

“Seven torpedoes were fired by the attacking German craft, one of them striking the Lusitania midship. This would indicate that at least two submarines were waiting for the ship, since the newest types of undersea boats carry but six torpedo tubes...”

Excerpts from three interviews with survivors of the Lusitania.
Oliver P. Bernard (passenger)
“I think I can say I was one of the few people who really saw a torpedo discharges at the Lusitania. Coming on deck from the dining salon, I was leaning against the starboard rail of the ship when I saw the periscope of a submarine about 200 yards away. Then I noticed a long, white streak of foam. It gave me the impression of frothy, sizzling water. Almost immediately there was a terrific impact, followed by an explosion.”

Dr. Carl E. Foss (passenger)
“I was traveling second class, and on May 7th, I was leaning against the port side of the ship, looking off towards the Irish coast. It was just at 1:30 that I noticed something low in the water about a mile away.”

Ernest Cowper (passenger)
“I was chatting with a friend at the rail about 2:00 when suddenly I caught a glimpse of the conning tower of a submarine about 1000 yards distant. I immediately called my friend’s attention to it. We both saw the track of a torpedo...”

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DBQ - Progressivism