Creating Your Own Constitution

Objectives: In this lesson, you will make decisions and develop strategies which will become the constitution of an imaginary country. You and a group of your classmates will form a constitutional convention and decide upon how your country should be governed. After completing the form below, press the "submit" button and your constitution will be ready for printing. Good Luck!

Name Your Country:

Article I:

Section 1: How many people should make the laws for the country? (one person, a small group of people, a large group of people? Your answer should be a number).

Section 2: How will the legislator or legislators (Congressmen) be selected? (will they be elected or chosen in some other way?

Section 3: How many years should there be in a legislator's term?

Section 4: How old must a person be to become a legislator?

Must he/she have been born in your country, or could he/she have been born in another country? (don't put yes/no, describe the requirement for citizenship).

Section 5: Does each state send the same number of legislators to Congress? Describe the method that will be used to determine the number of legislators that will be sent from each state.

Section 6: If the legislators think the President is doing a poor job, should the legislators be able to impeach (vote the President out of office)? If your answer is yes, what fraction or percent of the legislators must vote in favor of removing the President before he/she can be removed?

Section 7: How much should each legislator be paid per year?

Section 8: How many legislators must vote in favor of a "bill" (a suggested law) before it becomes a law?

Section 9: Should the President have anything to do with making the laws? Explain to what extent the president should be involved.

 

ARTICLE II: THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

Section 1: How many years should there be in a President's term? Should there be a limit placed on the number of terms a President can serve? (term limit?)

Section 2: How should the President be chosen?

Section 3: How old must a person be to become President? Must he/she have been born in your country or could he/she have been born in another country?

Section 4: How much should the President be paid per year?

 

ARTICLE III: THE JUDICIAL BRANCH

Section 1: Should judges be appointed by the President, selected by Congress, elected by the people, or appointed in another way? (describe the process).

Section 2: Once chosen, should a judge be allowed to serve as long as he/she is doing a good job, or should he be allowed to serve only a certain number of years? Describe your anser below.

ARTICLE IV: ADDITIONAL PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS

Section 1: Should a criminal be put on trial in the state where the crime was committed or must he/she be put on trial in the state where he/she is captured? (describe below).

Section 2: Should changes or additions be allowed to the constitution? Describe your answer below.

Section 3: If trouble breaks out within a particular state, should the government, if asked by the state, send soldiers to end the trouble or should the states be required to settle their own problems? Describe your answer below.


Section 4: If a state does not agree with parts of the constitution, should the state be able to pass its own loaws, or should no state be able to pass a law that goes against what the constitution says? Describe your answer below.

Section 5: Should all people have freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to protest against decisions of the government, the right to peacefully gather in groups, and protection from unreasonable searches? or should the people have most, but not all, of the above rights and freedoms? Draft a "bill of rights" below, and be specific about what rights and privileges will have.

Section 6: If a person is put on trial and found innocent should he/she be able to be put on trial again for the same crime if new evidence is discovered that shows he/she is probably guilty? (This is called double jeopardy). Be specific about your answer.

Section 7: Should a person on trial have to answer a question if the answer might show he is guilty, or must the person answer all questions asked of him/her? Be specific.

Section 8: Can the government take away a person's land for public use (such as a road) if the person is paid a fair price of should the government be forbidden from taking away a person's land under any circumstances?

Section 9: Can the judge or jury decide upon any amount of bail, any amount of fine, or any type of punishment, or must certain rules be followed in setting bail fines and punishments? Be specific about your answer.

Section 10: Should Congress have the right to pass laws requiring people to pay income taxes or should Congress not have the right to pass laws requiring people to pay income taxes? If Congress does not have the right to pass laws requiring people to pay income taxes, how will the government be funded? Be specific about your answer in the space below.

Section 11: At what age should citizens be allowed to vote (put a number in the box)?

Section 12: Should each state, on its own, be allowed to declare war, make peace treaties, and coin money? Or, should only Congress be allowed to declare war, make peace treaties, and coin money? Be specific about your answer below.