pc 2 federal power-cleveland and texas seed bill-student program

8/2/2019 PC 2 Federal Power-Cleveland and Texas Seed Bill-Student Program

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Educating Young People about the Constitution

www.BillofRightsInstitute.org

Presidents and the Constitution,Vol. 2

Federal Power:Grover Cleveland and the Texas

Seed Bill


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Presidents and the Constitution Resources

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President Grover Cleveland vetoed a bill that

would have given drought-ridden farmersseeds to replant crops because theConstitution did not authorize the Presidentto help individuals.

Since all Executive power comes from ArticleII, how can Presidents come to differentconclusions about what they can do? Whatare the limits of the Presidency?

Directions: Read Dr. Marc Landys EssayThe Presidency and Federal Power onpages 4-6. Underline or highlight the factsyou think are important.


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Constitutional Connection Activity

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Impeachment and the Constitution


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Critical Engagement Question

Why would the President adhere to the Constitution during acrisis?

Grover Cleveland and Texas Seed Bill Veto

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Objectives

Understand Grover Clevelandsphilosophy of limited government.

Analyze Clevelands actions asPresident in light of theConstitution.

Evaluate the prudence ofClevelands veto of the Texas SeedBill.

Assess whether Clevelanddeserved the homage or theenmity of the nation.

Grover Cleveland 22 nd and 24 th U.S.President (1885-1889 and 1893-1897)

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Background/Homework

Read Handout A: GroverCleveland and the Texas SeedBill Veto and answer thequestions.1) List three ways that

President Clevelandworked to make the federalgovernment less partisanand more efficient.

2) Why did Cleveland veto somany Civil War Pensionclaims?

3) Why did Cleveland veto

the Texas Seed Bill?


Anti-Grover Cleveland political cartoon.References the fact that Cleveland had had anillegitimate child. The catch phrase was MaMa wheres my Pa? It was ironic becauseClevelands reputation was of honesty and

always doing what is right. 6


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Background/Homework continued 4) Why did the President adhere tothe Constitution during the Crisis.5) How would you assessClevelands understanding that hisprimary role was to stop bad lawsrather than promote good ones?


Political cartoon showing Grover Clevelands

shrinking popularity through time (1882-1888) 7


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Warm-Up Brainstorm large scale crises in

American history (i.e. HurricaneKatrina, 2001 terrorist attacks,etc.)

Brainstorm private and publicways that our society hasresponded to disasters (i.e.private groups like the RedCross; government agencies likeFEMA and the National Guard.)

Grover Cleveland wrote an article in Ladies Home Journalwhere he said if women were allowed to vote it wouldupset the natural order between men and women. Womenwere furious. This cartoon shows a leader of the womenssuffrage movement, Susan B. Anthony, chasing Clevelandwith an umbrella.


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Activity

Review the purpose of the Texas Seed Bill; then respond to thefollowing questions:1) What was your first impression when you learned thatCleveland vetoed the Seed Bill?2) Was Cleveland choosing between adhering to the

Constitution and relieving human suffering? Why or why not? Read Handout B: Clevelands Veto Message and complete HandoutC: Document Guide as you read.


Wheat.One of several

crops grownin thepanhandlearea of Texas,where theseed bill was

supposed tohelp. 9


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Activity

After completing Handout C , review Handout B andsummarize Clevelands ideas in your own words. Discuss the following questions:1) What was Clevelands constitutional objection to the Texas

Seed Bill?2) What was his other major objection to it?3) Should Cleveland be admired for his veto? Why or Why not?


Cotton.One of several

crops grownin thepanhandlearea of Texas,where theseed bill was

supposed tohelp. 10


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Wrap-Up Discuss the critical thinking questions in Handout C . Discuss the following questions:

1) How much more involved in direct assistance has thegovernment become since Grover Cleveland was President?

2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?3) Are there some situations where government assistance not

only discourages private assistance, but actually forbids it?


One casualty in the

Texas panhandledrought of the 1880swas cattle. With nocrops, they couldntfeed and died.Courtesy of BillHathorn

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Homework

Write a newspaper obituary for President Cleveland inwhich you reference some of the major events of hisPresidency and his responses to them.

Grover Cleveland is on this $1,000 bill. It is still legal tender in the U.S., but was part of a large currency printing (in normal sized bills) in 1929.The government stopped printing the bills in 1945 and began takingthem out of circulation in 1969. There are still some in the hands of

private collectors.


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Extensions

Write a one or two sentence summary of following the three Founders' viewsabout the role of government in providing charity to citizens. Then select onequotation and write a one-paragraph response:

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I thinkthe best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, butleading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observedin different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor,the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, onthe contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

-Ben Franklin, 1766


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Extensions continued

To take from one, because it is thought that his own industryand that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spareto others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equalindustry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle ofassociation, "the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his

industry, and the fruits acquired by it."-Thomas Jefferson, 1816


[T]he government of the United States is a definitegovernment, confined to specified objects. It is not like the

state governments, whose powers are more general. Charityis no part of the legislative duty of the government.

-James Madison, 1824

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pc 2 federal power-cleveland and texas seed bill-student program

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