A SOCIAL STUDIES LESSON

KAREN HUGUENOT

JULY 2, 2001

ED 617

DR. RONALD HELMS

AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES

• 7TH GRADE

• HOW POLITICAL PARTIES ARE FORMED

OBJECTIVES

• To understand what politics is

• To understand what a Political Party is

• To know how Political Parties began in the United States

• To learn some of the things Political Parties do for Americans

MATERIALS

• POSTER BOARD• MARKERS• NOTES• PAPER• PEN OR PENCIL

WEB SITES

• 1. http://www.democrats.org/

• 2. http://www.rnc.org/

• 3. http://www.whitehouse.gov/

• 4. http://www.americanpresidents.org/

• 5. http://encarta.msn.com/find/concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761558305

STUDENT ACTIVITIES

• Elect a class President and Vice-President

• Take notes on the chapter

• Review game on the chapter

• Write an essay

ACTIVITIES CONTINUED

• Make a poster that has facts and pictures of the first two political parties in America.

• Have a class debate between the Federalist and Democratic-Republic.

CLASS ELECTION

• Hold a class election ,where students nominate their classmates they want to run for their parties.

• The parties need to make a list of ideas they believe in.

• Each party needs to campaign for their candidate and hold an election.

VOCABULARY

POLITICS POLITICAL PARTIES

NOMINATE

CANDIDATE WATCHDOGS DEMOCRATIC

REPUBLICAN FEDERALIST CIVIL LIBERTIES

CLASS NOTES

POLITICAL PARTIES

• Parties form• Group of people who

share the same ideas• Put their ideas into

action• Connect the

government to the people

PARTIES IN AMERICA

• POLITICS is everything about government

• DEMOCRATIC• REPUBLICAN• THIRD PARTIES

FIRST POLITICAL PARTIES

• Hamilton’s party was called the FEDERALIST.

* Jefferson’s party was called the DEMOCRATS.

CIVIL LIBERTIES

• Our rights as citizens• Both parties have this

in common• Keep the form of

government• Cooperate in the time

of crises• Democracy in our

country to work

REVIEW GAME

HOW POLITICAL PARTIES ARE FORMED

Political Parties are groups

• A. of countries joined together to increase armed forces

• B. of families who want to control their lives better

• C. of people who want to control the government

C.

• POLITICAL PARTIES ARE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO CONTROL THE GOVERNMENT.

Which of the following is not politics?

• A. Passing a law

• B. Getting a parking ticket

• C. Listening to the radio

ANSWER IS C.

• POLITICS IS NOT LISTENING TO THE RADIO.

What does “will of the people” mean?

• A. The written message people fill out before they die

• B. A famous candidate

• C. What the people want

ANSWER IS C.

• THE “WILL OF THE PEOPLE” IS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT.

The person who runs for office is the

• A. campaign

• B. Watchdog

• C. candidate

ANSWER IS C.

• CANDIDATE IS THE PERSON WHO RUNS FOR OFFICE.

What does WATCHDOG mean?

• A. Politicians are like animals

• B. Protectors

• C. The pets that represent each political party

ANSWER IS B.

• WATCHDOGS ARE PROTECTORS.

In democracies parties get control of governments by

• A. Winning elections

• B. Becoming politicians

• C. Gaining control of the army or police

ANSWER IS A.

• IN DEMOCRACIES PARTIES GET CONTROL OF GOVERNMENTS BY WINNING ELECTIONS.

Political Parties began in the United States because

• A. not all the leaders agreed on how to run the government

• B. not all the leaders liked each other

• C. George Washington wanted them

ANSWER IS A.

• POLITICAL PARTIES BEGAN IN THE UNITED STATES BECAUSE NOT ALL THE LEADERS AGREED ON HOW TO RUN THE GOVERNMENT.

The party that is not in power

• A. has nothing to do until the next election

• B. keeps watch over the party that is in power

• C. breaks up after each election it loses

ANSWER IS B.

• THE PARTY THAT IS NOT IN POWER KEEPS WATCH OVER THE PARTY THAT IS IN POWER.

ESSAY

• Write an essay on if your think that the two party system is a good system? Why or why not? What kind of system do you think there should be?

POSTER

• Make a poster that has facts and illustrations of either Thomas Jefferson or Hamilton. Find out about their political parties and the ideas they believed in. Why did they form? Pretend you are campaigning for them by using a poster format.

DEBATE

• HAVE A CLASS DEBATE BETWEEN THE FEDERALIST AND DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN.

THE END