Instruction
MID-TERM EXAM ESSAY
Prepare a multi-paragraph essay (the format includes an introduction paragraph, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph) with a minimum of 500 words.
Be sure to support your argument / viewpoint with historical information.
Please use Times New Roman font, size 12, double-space the text of your essay, and use 1 inch margins on all sides.
Follow English grammar standards and rules, using use college-level language.
1) Read pages 173-178 of your Textbook.
2) Read #44, "Thomas Jefferson on Race and Slavery," within Voices of Freedom: a Documentary History.
3) Review the two videos provided.
4) Within the Constitution, which can be found toward the back of your textbook, Read Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, Article I, Section 9, Clause 1, and Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3.
5) How was the 5th Amendment used by slave owners – particularly the part about property?
6) Review The Great Compromise presentation.
7) Review the Constitution and Bill of Rights presentation.
8) Read the article provided, “Reconstituting the Constitution.”
Consider the learning you just obtained and answer the following questions within your essay.
From the #44 reading, how does Jefferson describe the effect of slavery on the morals and behavior of white Virginians?
What does the Constitution call slaves? Does it use the word slave?
Why doesn’t the Constitution contain any reference to God?
In what ways does the Constitution protect slavery and the right to own slaves?
Would the President of the United States have had the power to end slavery under the Constitution? Explain.
Could a state within the union pass a law refusing to return a runaway slave? Explain.
By 1787, the year the Constitution was written, we had been using slave labor for 168 years. How can we get slave owners to give up their slaves and end slavery?
· In what ways does the 1st Amendment’s statements on freedom of speech appear to leave the door open for debate on the legality of hate speech?
· Fearing that this new government of America could be subjected to the religious will of leaders, as they had experienced in England with its King, our founders decided to create a government that has a separation of church and state.
o Knowing this, why is it unconstitutional to have the Ten Commandments represented on government grounds?
· Thomas Jefferson believed that the Constitution should be re-written every 19 years. What are your thoughts on this idea?
· Consider this quote by Thomas Jefferson:
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
· What do you think Thomas Jefferson meant by this quote?
· Be sure to cite ALL of the sources provided within the text of your essay.
Include specific references (in-text citations) to the videos and the information from the web link in your essay.
DO NOT copy and paste ANY of your essay from ANY print or Internet source. This is academic plagiarism and will result in an automatic zero for the Exam.
You must CITE all sources used (use all of the sources I have provided) within the text of your essay and provide a bibliography of those sources; you may use whichever style you are most familiar: APA, MLA, Chicago. If you need assistance with this, please let me know.