Education
Emancipation Podcast StationWelcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students.Episode #1 - Introduction to Government We are a govt - tell us about how America came to have a governmentBen - Pilgrim code of law was put into place in 1636. Annual elections, a General Court, and seven council assistants was how they divided most power. There were oaths and jurys and everything you might expect from a basic democratic government. However, in other aspects like currency, they were very behind. An official currency separate from the british types of money wasn’t issued until 1775, a single year before the Declaration of independence was signed. (This currency was named “continentals”)caydan-The constitution and the fight for it to be ratified-the constitution is the basic groundwork for the whole united states the three main points being inherent rights, general rights of being a human rights government ruled by the people the people pick those in power the separation of powers checks and balances making no one person hold to much power audrey - The pilgrims didn’t have lasting economic success so after the early 1630s some of the original people including Brewster, Winslow, and Standish left to start their own communities. Because of the cost of king Phillip’s war colonies were struggling even more. After about a decade the king appointed a colonial governor to New England and soon Plymouth just became part of massachusetts.Illy- articles of confederation (1777-1781) the continental congress pretty much decided that the new states needed some kinda government after the split from the british and so they created this honestly terrible weak one and called it the articles of confederation but like i said it was terrible and weak so they ended up havin to throw it out because they left most of the power to the states and that went south really fast because they all had different ideas of how to govern themselves so it of course led to chaos and then they later came up with the declaration of independence which is what we still use today.Jonathan - The Constitution of the United States established America's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.Ella - The U.S government took a lot of inspiration from their British heritage. They used ideas and traditions from their past. The events that happened at the time also had an impact on how the government was formed. Juan- The United States is a constitutional democracy, a type of government characterized by limitations on government power spelled out in a written constitution. Written in 1787, the U.S. Constitution is both the oldest and shortest written constitution in the world. It serves as the supreme law of the United States. The Bill of Rights - What are they and what is included? Caydan - 1 Freedom of religion and speech 2Right to a militia and right to bear arms 3You can not be forced to house a soldier in time of war or otherwise 4Can not search a house without probable cause g5no person can be convicted of crime unless there are good facts innocent until proven guilty 6Right to a trial with a lawyer and for the trial to not be delayed and to know the nature of the crime you are being convicted of7 in civil law the right to sue people if money is more than 20 bucks in federal court 8 no cruel or unusual punishment9 natural rights cannot be taken away 10 everything that doesn't fall under these is controlled by the states Caydan- There was a ton of debate whether these rights were to be added or not between the federalist and anti federalists The federalist did not think the bill of rights was necessary and that the constitution Was enough the antifederalist demanded the rights be written down Where the federalists thought people would think they have no rights if they were not written down Ben - The bill of rights was approved and put into effect in 1791, and despite how much it seems to change the government, really didn’t affect the lives of citizens as much as it may imply since it was more about how the government treats citizens, and less about citizens inherent rights. Later amendments had a large impact, though. audrey - When the Bill of Rights was being written they were concerned they would be limiting their rights by writing them down so to make sure they didn’t lose any rights the 9th and 10th amendments were written. The 9th amendment “Non-enumerated rights are obtained by the people” basically is saying that the bill of rights isn’t a complete list of all the rights. The 10th amendment “Rights not delegated to the federal government reserved to the states or the people” which means if a right of the federal government is not specifically said by the constitution then it is up to the states and people to decide.Illy- pretty much without the bill of rights everybody would jus think they could do whatever they please which is not true, the bill of rights outlines our basic rights to the stuff we ARE allowed to do Gabe - All of these things are true id just like to throw in really that they clarify the rights we already had they make sure that us as citizens CANNOT under any circumstances lose our basic and most fundamental rights Jonathan- The bill of rights just covers our rights as citizens in the United states and enforcing that those rights are not violated in any way or manner.Juan- These amendments in the Bill of Rights guarantee essential rights and civil liberties, such as the right to free speech and the right to bear arms, as well as reserving rights to the people and the states.Ella - The U.S. version of the Bill of Rights was written by James Madison. He wrote them in response to the states wanting better and more secure individual rights. Amendment 11 - When and why was this amendment added?gaincaydan- this one i find interesting it was put into place after alexander chisholm tried to sue georgia over him giving them supplies during the revolutionary war the 11th amendment nullified this later making sovereign immunity valid aBen - The eleventh amendment was passed to stop biased court cases, but the wording makes it confusing, as there are now several different interpretations in modern day. I don’t know if it’s right to have an opinion on this, but I’m not going to law school so I guess it doesn’t matter. I just think its simplest if it means the U.S. courts have a limited amount of power when it comes to suing foreign countries and foreign citizens, to prevent a considerable amount of bias and mainly to simplify contradictory laws.Gabe - I will start by saying what the amendments are so the amendments were rules almost or privileges for the american people and they gave us the right to have things no matter what some dag nabit government says. Amendment 11 is a protection for united states citizens to protect them from a states laws so imagine you can do something in one state but not in the other you cannot be persecuted by one state in another to protect citizens from the exact problem. Illy- so basically i can not go and sue my a state bc of this amendment which is a good thing bc if this didnt exist then EVERYBODY would sue the state over meaningless things like taxes or something yk or bad vacations lol Audrey - For example, if an individual has a case against the state he lives in he has to bring the lawsuit in the District Court of that state and there’s some exceptions but very few. Ella -The 11th amendment was created to overrule the supreme court. While a state cannot be sued, but federal court can force state officials to follow the law. Jonathan-So this amendment seems like it applies more to the country/state for lawsuits such as getting a divorce in a different state from the one which you were married. Juan- The Eleventh Amendment's text prohibits the federal courts from hearing certain lawsuits against states. The Amendment has also been interpreted to mean that state courts do not have to hear certain suits against the state, if those suits are based on federal law. Amendment 12 -When and why was this amendment added? Ben - The 12th Amendment is enforcing the security of the electoral college and its votes. It says they must cast both their votes, presidential and vice presidential. Because sometimes not voting is more powerful than voting, especially in such a complex political environment.audrey - The reason the 12th amendment was put into place was because in 1796 and 1800 there was a problem with the electoral college. The way it worked was instead of some people running for president and some people running for vice president everyone just ran in the presidential election and each elector would vote for 2 people and whichever candidate came in 1st was president and whoever came in 2nd was vice president. So obviously the federalists would vote the 2 federalists and the democratic republicans would vote the democratic republicans. But somebody has to throw away their vote so there’s not a tie so like one of the federalists would vote for who they all want as president and then one of the other candidates that way the person they want as vice president comes in 2nd. But it wasn’t always clear who was going to throw away their vote so in 1796 they ended up with John Adams in 1st and Thomas Jefferson in 2nd. And then in 1800 it was Adams vs Jefferson and nobody threw away their vote so they tied. Gabe - Ray vs Blair(1952) is an example of the 12th amendment where ray the alabama executive committee chairman who was in charge of certifying electoral candidates had declined Blair because he refused to pledge to protect the nominees. Now this isn't required but ray still had the authority to who he could certify this led to a lawsuit where blair declared a writ of mandamus which is an order from the court that directs an inferior government official (ray) to fulfill his duties and fix the abuse of freedoms they used the 12th amendment saying that ray making blair pledge restricted electors freedoms voting in state primary ray then applied for writ of certiorari which makes a lower court give all the records of a specific court because the alabama court referred to the constitution which was a federal document they granted certiorari and proceeded to hear the case they used alabama's supreme court decision the court said that a state has the right to exclude potential electors if they don't pledge to support for a nominee the court also decided that the 12 amendment did not protect individuals from requiring elector candidates to pledge their support for a nominee nor does such a requirement deny individuals of their equal protection rights under the 14th amendment. Caydan - The 12th amendment came into play on feb 9th 1825 were andrew jackson and john adams neither received the majority of the electoral votes then the three candidates that received the popular votes where to be put in the white house so representative henry clay used his influence to support john adamsIlly- so while i was researching this amendment i found something that was actually pretty recent with the case Chiafalo v.s. Washington back a few years ago in 2016. So these dudes Peter Chiafalo, Levi Guerra, and Esther John decided to all violate their pledges and support the same candidate which in this case was the (oh so great) Hilary Clinton (whoop dee doo) pretty much they got a slap on the wrist and a $1000 fine and the courts made a big announcement abt it all and was like the next time this happens there will be more severe punishments for the people who do it (now ur taking a view illy)(?? Jonathan- so basically what this amendment seems to be is that there needs to be a vote for vice president as well as the president. The 12th amendment was passed because the tie vote between Jefferson and Burr in 1801 and the Electoral College were pointing out many problems with the electoral system. In 1804, the passage of the 12th Amendment corrected these problems by making separate votes for President and Vice President needed/ necessary.Ella - The presidential election in 1824 since the amendment was added that resulted in the house deciding because no candidate got majority vote. Juan- The 12th Amendment provided for separate Electoral College votes for President and Vice President, correcting weaknesses in the earlier electoral system which were responsible for the controversial Presidential Election of 1800.That’s all we have time for today. Thanks for joining us in this emancipation from the box, that is learning.