How is the principle of federalism connected to the idea of limited government

Learning Objectives

Define the separation of powers and explain how this system works.
Describe federalism, including how it functions within our constitutional system and how it affects our lives.
Identify where we see the separation of powers in the Constitution and why the Founding generation valued it as an important feature of their new system of government.
Identify where federalism is in the Constitution and why the Founding generation valued it as an important feature of their new system of government.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

How is federalism related to limited government?
How is the principle of limited government related to the principle of individual rights?
What is limited government connected to?
What was the idea of limited government?

6.1 Activity: Separation of Powers and Federalism: Whose job (or check), is it?

Student Instructions
Teacher Notes

Purpose
When crafting a new Constitution, the framers were concerned about the threats posed by a powerful new national government. To guard against potential abuses of power, the Founding generation divided power.

In this activity, you will explore the separation of powers and federalism.

Process
Complete the Activity Guide: Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, and Federalism Reflection worksheet. Discuss with your group your understanding of the separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism.

After your discussion, your teacher will lead you through an activity to determine your understanding of separation of powers and checks and balances, in particular.

Launch
Open the discussion by asking students what they know about separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism. Then, ask them whether there's anything they wonder about those key principles.

Activity Synthesis
After students complete their group discussions, lead them through the Activity Guide: Separation of Powers and Federalism: Whose job (or check), is it? document. You may distribute the document or use it to lead class discussion.

Now that students have a better understanding of the separation of powers, ask students to identify examples of when a branch has the sole power to work alone and when a branch must work with another branch to take action.

Ask the students these follow-up questions:

Which jobs are standalone jobs of one of the branches of government?
Which jobs are overlapping?
Why did the founders separate power between the branches and included connections and overlap between jobs (checks and balances)?

As part of the discussion, connect the principles of the separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism to the broader theory of our republic: the need to both check abuses of power and create a government that creates policy that serves the common good (by slowing politics down, blocking bad ideas, curbing abuse, promoting deliberation, valuing principled compromise, etc.).

Students should see not only the value of checking government abuse, but also the constructive parts of our complicated system—how it might promote good policy—and also reflect on whether they think that the founders struck the right balance.

To frame this part of the discussion, ask students to reflect on the following questions:

How does this system of separating power act as a tool to ensure better outcomes?
How does the entire system work together to slow down politics, limit abuses, promote deliberation and compromise, and force us to work together to achieve common purposes (but only when the ideas are consistent with the Constitution and attract broad support)?

Constitution 101 Resources

6.2 Activity: Key Terms

Student Instructions
Teacher Notes

Launch Information
Review with all students the key principles and the definitions. Give examples of each of the criteria in the worksheet: Definition (pre-written), Characteristic (define), Example (define), and Non-example (define) before asking students to start their group work. Break students into groups and allow them time to explore, discuss, and begin to complete the worksheet.

Activity Synthesis
At the end of the activity, remind students that they will be exploring this tool throughout the entire module and will use it as a worksheet for the video lesson. Have students share a few ideas and questions from each group.

Activity Extension (optional)
Now that students have a better understanding of these key principles, ask them to find current examples of separation of powers, checks and balances, or federalism in news articles.

Constitution 101 Resources

6.3 Video Activity: Separation of Powers

Student Instructions
Teacher Notes

Purpose
Your guide, Professor Jeffrey Rosen, will explore the separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism.

Process
Watch the following video about the separation of powers.

Then, complete the Video Reflection: Separation of Powers worksheet.

Identify any areas that are unclear to you or where you would like further explanation. Be prepared to discuss your answers in a group and to ask your teacher any remaining questions.

Launch
Give students time to watch the video and answer the questions.

Activity Synthesis
Have students share their responses in small groups and then discuss as a class.

Activity Extension (optional)
Now that students have a better understanding of the separation of powers, you could provide a Word Cloud to support students’ word building skills (virtue, power, checks, reserved).

Constitution 101 Resources

6.4 Activity: Branch Exploration

Student Instructions
Teacher Notes

Purpose
Separation of powers refers to the Constitution’s system of distributing political power between three branches of government: a legislative branch (Congress), an executive branch (led by a single president), and a judicial branch (headed by a single Supreme Court). In this activity, you will explore each branch in more detail.

Description
Review the summary document for each article:

Info Brief: Article I - Congress
Info Brief: Article II - The Presidency
Info Brief: Article III - The Judiciary

Complete the Activity Guide: Branch Exploration worksheet to further explore your branch. Students should also be encouraged to look at the Constitution’s text itself when completing the activity sheet.

Final Assignment:
Work with your group to build a dossier on your assigned branch and present your findings to the class.
Examples of what goes into the dossier:

Title: What is the name of the branch?
Role: What is the primary role and/or responsibility of the branch in our constitutional system?
Structure: How is the branch structured? Where do we find the branch’s structure set out in the Constitution?
Power: What part of the Constitution defines the powers of the branch?
Background: Write a short paragraph on the historical origins of the branch. What did the Founding generation have in mind?
Key moments: List the major turning points and/or Supreme Court cases about the branch.
Other information: Share any other vital information about the branch and how it works.

Launch
Review each branch of government with the students briefly before splitting them up into three groups.

The legislative branch—Congress—makes the laws. (We find this branch in Article I).
The executive branch—led by a single president—enforces the laws. (We find this branch in Article II).
The judicial branch—headed by a single Supreme Court—interprets the laws. (We find this branch in Article III).

Activity Synthesis
Ask students to complete the Activity Guide: Building a Branch Dossier about their branch and present it to their class. Ask students what branch sounds most interesting to them and why. Ask students to examine whether these answers come from their knowledge about the role as spelled out by the Constitution or how the role plays out every day in our government.

Activity Extension (optional)
Create a spider web map (ecosystem map) of the three branches of government. Students can mark a check on a branch and another color for when branches work together. Refer to the spider web map example.

Constitution 101 Resources

6.5 Activity: Philosophical Thinking on Separation of Powers

Student Instructions
Teacher Notes

Launch
Ask students to read and mark up (one or all of) the primary sources. They should then individually answer the questions. Break students into three groups to review their assigned reading(s) and their answers to the questions.

As a class, discuss the connection between Montesquieu’s ideas of separation of powers, Adams’s views, and Madison’s views.

Activity Synthesis
Have students write an answer to the following questions:

How do the ideas of separation of powers and checks and balances prevent one group from gaining too much power?
What are the benefits of these key principles? (Answer: Prevent tyranny/abuse of power. Slow down politics and promote deliberation/compromise.)
Are there any drawbacks? (Answer: The system is slow. Can’t respond to problems as quickly. Sometimes the government can’t take action. Get them thinking about this now.)

Activity Extension (optional)
Now that students have a better understanding of the separation of powers and checks and balances, ask students to write a response to one of the authors either agreeing or disagreeing with their argument.

Constitution 101 Resources

6.6 Activity: Federalism, It’s in There

Student Instructions
Teacher Notes

Purpose
Federalism is the word used to describe the Constitution’s system of dividing political power between the national government and the states. When we look for federalism in the Constitution, where can we find it? The Constitution itself doesn’t say the word “federalism” anywhere. But it’s in there. It’s everywhere.

In this activity, you will find examples of federalism in the Constitution.

Process
Read the Info Brief: Federalism and then build out the Activity Guide - Federalism in the Constitution chart to explore the concept of federalism as a key principle in the Constitution.

Launch
Review the concept of federalism. Review the definition and big ideas from activity one and the video.
Give students time to use the chart to identify examples of federalism in the Constitution.

Activity Synthesis
Ask students to explain why we have a system of federalism.
As a group discussion, ask students again, why did the framers embed these ideas of separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism into the structure of the Constitution?

Activity Extension (optional)
Now that students have a better understanding of federalism, ask them to find current examples of federalism in news articles. Or explore how women won the vote through federalism and the 19th Amendment by exploring The Awakening interactive map. Students can explore this map to discover how women’s suffrage at the state level paved the way for the 19th Amendment.

Constitution 101 Resources

6.7 Test Your Knowledge

Student Instructions
Teacher Notes

Purpose

Congratulations for completing the activities in this module! Now it’s time to apply what you have learned about the basic ideas and concepts covered.

Process

Complete the questions in the following quiz to test your knowledge.

Launch

This activity will help students determine their overall understanding of module concepts. It is recommended that questions are completed electronically so immediate feedback is provided, but a downloadable copy of the questions (with answer key) is also available.

Knowledge Check

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Federalism limits government by creating two sovereign powers—the national government and state governments—thereby restraining the influence of both. Separation of powers imposes internal limits by dividing government against itself, giving different branches separate functions and forcing them to share power.

The concept of limited government holds that there should be legal constraints on the power of political authorities, especially with respect to individual rights.

What is limited government connected to?

Limited government is closely associated with constitutions; the United States Constitution of 1789 and the French Constitution of 1793 were both enacted in an effort to reaffirm limited government, although in different ways.

What was the idea of limited government?

Limited government is the belief that the government should have certain restrictions in order to protect the individual rights and civil liberties of citizens.