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This year we looked at the Federalist and Anti-Federalist visions for the proper size of government, the appropriate number of representatives, and Federalism. My discussions with students were informed by the Montesquieu and Cicero readings. Discussions of the "best men" lead to a discussion about what goes into an effective leader within government.

I am also looking forward to applying ideas from our recent guest speaker on gerrymandering when I teach gerrymandering later in this current unit.

Joe Boeck

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I used Lincoln's description of Fort Sumpter as an intro the start of the war.  Students answered a series of questions using the text, looking for specific details.  They then compared their findings to a basic details page. We compared their findings and focused on the details each source provided.

Tracy Heider

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During our unit on the Revolution and Constitution this fall, I had my students inductively develop a definition of republicanism using short excerpts from a number of the texts we read this summer - Adams, Hamilton, Montesquieu, Cicero, plus some others I found myself. We broke down each difficult piece of text and then synthesized each piece of evidence into a cohesive definition of the term.

Sam Barnett

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I liked the LIncoln/Calhoun readings.  I was able to use them during my Civil War unit.  I am still planning on using parts of our earlier readings as a lead in to my Constitution Unit and then into my State Government unit.
Nathan Hesselbacher

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I recently did a unit on the Enlightenment in my World History class. I chunked out text from a variety of Enlightenment thinkers including Montesquieu and Rousseau. Students had to check whether they agreed with the statements or disagreed with the statements. They then explained why they agreed or disagreed. The last part was to put them in categories of relevant to today's society or irrelevant. It was interesting for them to categorize them. Even though many frequently complain that history is dead they put almost all of the Enlightenment ideas in relevant to today.

Jacque Moss

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Lincoln as springboard to modern debate about Federalism

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Lincoln as springboard to modern debate about Federalism

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"It forces us to ask, Is there in all republics this inherent and fatal weakness? Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?"

I think this fits very nicely with discussion over Civil Liberties  vs. National Defense with respect to terrorism and I would like to incorporate some of these arguments of Lincoln into a seminar about this topic that I have used with my Citizenship students as we discuss and analyze the purpose of government. I also think I can incorporate these ideas into my Law Class as we look at the Bill of Rights and examine how the Courts have generally ruled for more freedoms (example, right of speech/protest, guns)....Perhaps an evaluation of Lincoln's in context to today.

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While developing Cultural Awareness, soon to be Social Awareness, I have identified the need to understand the progression of using states rights as a code to hide the truth of the Civil War which was fought with the objective of preserving slavery.  From that discussion, students can follow the progression of legalizing racism in the United States.

Amy Jambor

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While admittedly I didn't teach Cicero's Pro Sestia directly, I was able to use his idea of seeking the "best men" for leadership in a republic.
Do do this, our AP Government class examined a Pew study on desirable and undesirable traits and discussed why voters find these traits to be worthy or disqualifying of the presidency.  It turned into a very interesting discussion of how voters seem torn between wanting the Best Men (People) as Cicero hoped, and wanting a man person more descriptively representative of the common people.
Garrett Jones

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In my AP U.S. History class , we studied the Constitution and its ratification debate.

Then I sprung on them Adams and his creation of government from 1776.  We did a comparative analysis of his ideas and Madison's ideas.
They enjoyed this and it opened their eyes to why Adams was angry in subsequent years and gave a bigger perspective to Federalist vs Democrat-Republican debates and Marbury/Midnight judges.

It also allowed them to more fully understanding the elitism in the Constitution.  Also, we explored its republican origins while going back to some documents from the English Glorious Revolution giving a better understanding of the idea of federal republic.

Then this allowed going forward for the "contradistinction" of democratization with Jefferson and Jackson.   Only to have them try to reconcile the authoritarian republican ideas shown in both presidents actions with their democratic / populist impulses  especially in regards to the current presidency. Or isn't this what the United States really wants which is a king and to be lied too?

Anthony Swaekauski

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We are in the early stages of our 8th grade unit on the Constitution.  Federalism is a part of our discussions.  We spent more time on the Articles of Confederation than in past years and the need for a federal government was clear to my students.

I hope to utilize aspects of the Lincoln/Calhoun writings when we move to the Civil War later in the school year.   They will bring some interesting things to discuss.

Erik Jappinen

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I currently have a student teacher and do not have my AP GOPO class yet. When I do start with my class (the beginning of December) I plan to have the central theme of Federalism permeate throughout the entire class. I plan to have the students look at historical examples of federalism and current examples. The entire time I would like my students to consider the intent of federalism when the Constitution was created and to determine if the current and historical examples align with the intent.  Also I want them to determine if the original intent of federalism is outdated or if it still applies today.

I am looking forward to getting started and am sure my plans will morph and change as we get going.

Luke Piwoni

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We are just wrapping up Puritanism in our literature study, but we are setting up a thought of division. Some see the settlers as our founding fathers while history is the revolutionaries. We'll be analyzing the values set in place and the values of the people going forward. It will be interesting to analyze Calhoun and Lincoln's perspectives with them.

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After our opening session this fall, I returned to my classroom and in my AP GOPO class we spent a class period discussing the definition of a Republic and used Fed 9 and the Guarantee Clause in a Socratic Seminar Discussion based on the following question.

Hypothesize how our countries development might have been different if the framers had not included the "Republican Guarantee."  Would a lack of this guarantee have lead to a stronger or weaker National government developing here?
Jeff Woodward