3. Does it Work?
Thomas Jefferson’s Quotes on the Constitution:
• Nothing is more likely than that the enumeration
of powers is defective. This is the ordinary case of
all human works. Let us go on perfecting it by
adding by way of amendment to the Constitution
those powers which time and trial show are still
wanting.
-To Wilson Nicholas, 1803
• No Society can make a perpetual constitution, or
even a perpetual law.
-To James Madison, 1789
4. School of Rock
• Bob Dylan, one of
America’s best-known
songwriters, used his
music in the 1960s to
illuminate the political and
social issues of the time
– Civil rights, women’s rights,
the Vietnam War
• The Times They Are A-
Changin’ captured this
spirit of upheaval that
characterized the period
6. Notes: Amendment Process
That useful alterations will be suggested by experience, could not but be
foreseen. It was requisite, therefore, that a mode for introducing them
should be provided. The mode preferred by the convention seems to be
stamped with every mark of propriety. It guards equally against that
extreme facility, which would render the Constitution too mutable; and
that extreme difficulty, which might perpetuate its discovered faults. It,
moreover, equally enables the general and the State governments to
originate the amendment of errors, as they may be pointed out by the
experience on one side, or on the other.
James Madison, Federalist No.43
7. Notes: Amendment Process
Methods of Proposal
Method 1 Method 2
By a national
By 2/3 vote in both constitutional
the House and the convention called by
Senate Congress at the
request of 2/3 of the
(most common method of states
proposing an amendment)
(has never been used)
8. Notes: Amendment Process
Methods of Ratification
Method 1 Method 2
By legislatures in ¾ Through
of the states conventions in ¾ of
the states
(in all but one case, this is
how our amendments have
been ratified) (only used once to ratify the
21st Amendment)
9. Questions for Review
• What is a constitutional amendment?
• Why do you think the Founders built the
amendment process into the Constitution?
• Since the Constitution’s ratification in 1788,
there have only been 27 amendments added.
Why is it so difficult to change it?
• Do you think the amendment process needs
to be changed? Explain why or why not.
10. Making Sense of Political Cartoons
• Political cartoons use satire to point out issues or
take a position on political events
• Satire is the use of humor, irony, or sarcasm to make
fun of an individual event
12. EXAGGERATION /
UNDERSTATEMENT
• Exaggeration:
– Wildly overstating the
truth
– Making a problem seem
bigger than it is
• Understatement
– Saying less than the
truth
– Making an issue seem
unimportant
13. CARICATURE
• Picks up on a unique physical feature – magnifies it
to make it more noticeable
• Makes the character both:
– Humorous (funny)
– Identifiable (you can figure out who it is)
14. STEREOTYPES
• Opposite of
caricature – ignores
uniqueness
• Generalizes about
groups of people
• Emphasizes biases
about those groups
15. Determine the Message
• Who? • Combine with
• What? S.E.C.S.
• Use background
• Where? knowledge
• When? • Look for clues
• Why? in words
