Process for Students

Background for All – Foundational Documents

1. To get started, in pairs, you should examine each of the following Foundational Documents which will help you trace, analyze and evaluate the origins of government safeguarding individual rights and serving the public interest. Print and use the OUR ROOTS CHART to record your findings.

• The Declaration of Independence
• The Preamble and Article 1, Section 8 and 9 of the U.S. Constitution
• The Bill of Rights

Getting Specific– Historical Clashes

2. Next, combine with another pair to form a new group of four. Read and review the USING PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS GUIDE together. Keep these points in mind as you work with Primary Sources.

3. Each person in your group of four should review and analyze one of the following primary source sets and print and record your findings on the TO LIMIT OR NOT TO LIMIT GRAPHIC ORGANIZER. Use the back of the Graphic Organizer if you wish to analyze more than 3 primary sources.

4. Regroup again as a quad, and present your primary source set and its key issues to one another.

5. Next, discuss and evaluate these clashes and determine three justifications for protecting individual rights and three justifications for promoting the public interest. Record your reasons in the last box of the graphic organizer.

Staying Current – Contemporary Controversies

6. Form a new group with all the 1’s, 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s, together. You will be researching one of the following current issues:

Note: You will use the Library of Congress legislative resource, THOMAS as your primary research tool. Before you begin, read and review INTRODUCING THOMAS! Complete the Scavenger Hunt.

7. In your new groups of four, search THOMAS for at least one bill or law relevant to your issue. Read the bill or law carefully and print and take notes on the legislation on the CONTEMPORARY CONTROVERSY GUIDE.

Note: If sufficient background information is lacking, please do some basic research now so as to better understand the issue. You might try the archives of newspapers such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, or The Wall Street Journal for information. Record these notes and your sources on the back of your Guide.

8. As a group, discuss the rationale behind such bills or laws and your opinions regarding its merits in light of this question regarding the public interest influencing the liberties and rights of individuals.

On My Own – The Position Paper

9. Finally, as individual Clerks of the Supreme Court, you are charged with writing a two-page essay outlining the issue you have researched, identifying the civil right being promoted or limited, and the rationale for doing so. You should include whether you believe the act or law to be constitutional and/or in the spirit of democratic principles. You should use quotes and arguments from the Foundational Documents and Historical Clashes primary sources to support your opinion. See CLERK’S POSITION PAPER for assignment requirements and rubric evaluation.

Back to the Beginning

10. Lastly, meet with your original partner and create a metaphor describing the LibraryQuest’s conceptual unit question.

How paramount are one’s civil rights? Or...

How does the public interest influence the liberties and rights of individuals?

Remember, a metaphor is a comparison that illustrates the relationship between two concepts or ideas. Use the METAPHOR BRAINSTORMING GUIDE to get started.

Your metaphor should meet the requirements specified on the LibraryQuest METAPHOR assignment sheet.