02.10-1 The U.S. Constitution

General: Citizens must choose between a plan to build a new city auditorium or a plan to restore the old one. Supporters of the new auditorium claim that building a new auditorium would be more economical than restoring the old one.

In evaluating the credibility of this claim, citizens should pay particular attention to:

• the number of performances held in the auditorium each year.

• the amount of money the supporters spend on promoting their position.

• the popularity of the supporters as community leaders.

• the projected cost data provided by architects and accountants.

General: People rely on public records and surveys as source materials to analyze issues.

Determine whether the statement below describes public records or surveys:

"This source may consist of opinions obtained through a representative sample of citizens."

• Public Records

• Surveys

General: People rely on public records and surveys as source materials to analyze issues.

Determine whether the statement below describes public records or surveys:

"This source contains data collected by major polling organizations."

• Public Records

• Surveys

General: Consensus building as a way of solving conflict is an important tool for citizens of a democratic society. Which statement describes consensus building?

• Both parties sacrifice something they want in order to resolve a conflict.

• Both parties agree to a series of meetings in order to discuss solutions to a conflict.

• Both parties try to convince each other that their idea is better in order to solve a conflict.

• Both parties search for common ground or areas of mutual agreement in order to solve a conflict.

General: What do compromise, persuasion, negotiation, and consensus building all have in common?

• All of them are nonviolent methods of conflict resolution.

• All of them involve getting each party to make sacrifices.

• All of them typically produce unequal results for opposing parties.

• All of them involve enabling opposing parties to have their positions accepted.

General: People rely on public records and surveys as source materials to analyze issues.

Determine whether the statement below describes public records or surveys:

"Examples of this source may include county tax documents or a report issued by a state agency."

• Public Records

• Surveys

U.S. Constitution: Read the following statement and decide if it was written by a Federalist or Anti-Federalist author.

"In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence, a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself."

• Federalist

• Anti-Federalist

U.S. Constitution: Read the following statement and decide if it was written by a Federalist or Anti-Federalist author.

"I wish for nothing more than a good government and a constitution under which our liberties will be perfectly safe. To preserve which, I think the wisest conduct will be to keep… power in our hands as much as possible, and not wantonly (recklessly) and inconsiderably give up a greater share of our liberties."

• Federalist

• Anti-Federalist

U.S. Constitution: Which constitutional principle is identified with the concept of “consent of the governed”?

• Rule of law

• Popular sovereignty

• Checks and balances

• Separation of powers

U.S. Constitution: What kind of practice is exemplified in the situation described below:

"The Supreme Court takes on a case about the constitutional merits of a law. After hearing arguments for and against the law, they issue a verdict that the law goes against certain provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Once determined unconstitutional, the law is struck down, or voided."

• Judicial review

• Federal appeal

• Limited government

• Popular sovereignty