What should Congress do if it disagrees with the president’s plan to fight a war?
Answers
Explanation:
1. Introduction and group discussion
Introduce the students to the Guiding Question. Read the clauses on the war powers that the Constitution grants to Congress in Article I, Section 8, and to the President in Article II, Section 2. After reading these clauses, ask the students what sense they get about the Founders' thoughts on the use of war powers. Note to the teacher: Students' answers may include the idea the war-making power should not be in the hands of one person. They might also suggest that Congress is responsible for deciding war or peace, for enabling the nation to fight a war, and for providing funding, while the President is responsible for field command of the military. Also discuss what balance of power between Congress and the President they think the Founders intended to create. Why did they do it that way?
2. War of 1812: The first war under the Constitution
The War of 1812 was the first time constitutional war powers were applied. Share the quotes on Handout 1 with your students, and ask them to describe the authors' views of the war making responsibilities of Congress and the President. How do these views compare with the clauses of the Constitution the students read in the first activity? Assess how closely Congress and the President observed the Founders' vision this first time the United States fought a war under the Constitution.
Note to the teacher: You may want to share with the students some of the views of James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution, and the President at the time that Congress first declared war. Madison observed in his formal communications with Congress what he saw as the proper constitutional roles of the executive and legislature. When making a decision to go to war, Madison believed the President had the prerogative to make suggestions to Congress, and Congress had the prerogative to accept or seek suggestions from the President to arrive at its own decision on the question.
3. Balance of Powers
Project or distribute a copy of Handout 2, the Balance of Powers continuum, which illustrates a balance with Congress and the President at opposite ends. Ask students to consider where to plot a point on the chart to mark their assessment of which branch, the executive or legislative, wielded more influence over the use of war powers in 1812, and by how much.
4. Group document analysis of primary source documents
Divide students into four groups. Assign each group the documents from one of the time periods listed on Handout 3. Some documents have facsimiles and all have transcripts. Distribute Worksheet 1 to help them conduct document analysis. The groups will evaluate each document to assess the viewpoint of the author regarding the use of war powers by the executive or legislative branches.
5. Report from groups
Taking each set of documents in chronological order, direct a spokesperson from each group to share the results of the group discussion. The spokesperson should give the title of each document, summarize its content, and then share the group's assessment of the viewpoint on war powers of the executive and/or legislative branches as expressed by the author. The spokesperson will mark the Balance of Powers continuum to denote the group's understanding of each branch's influence on questions of war at that point in time.