Supreme Court DBQ: Marbury v.

Madison
The curriculum, Supreme Court DBQs, was made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities through its We the People program.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies

8. Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses).

The Court stated that (i)t is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is marking the first exercise of this power of the Supreme Court.

1. res nulis 2. writs of mandamus 3. judicial review 4. judicial restraint

5. not sure

Application: Marbury v. Madison (1803) p. 5

Key Question for Marbury v. Madison (1803) p. 6.

Argue whether
or not the Supreme Court should have the power to overturn unconstitutional federal laws.

William Marbury

Read background for Marbury, p. 5 Skim documents A-K

What if your students have no clue about what to do with a DBQ? Analyze the prompt What is power/authority? Define overturn. Define unconstitutional. Define federal.

Teaching the APUSH DBQ Lesson Plan

Overview/Outside Infowhat you know before you look at the documents YesThe Supreme NoThe Supreme Court should have the Court should not have power the power Evidence Source Evidence Source

Teaching the DBQ Lesson Plan Document analysiswhat you learn from the documents Yes No Evidence Document
Three groups: Group 1: Documents A, B, C Group 2: Documents D, E, F Group 3: Documents G, H, I

Evidence

Document

Teaching the DBQ Lesson Plan

Document analysiswhat you learn from the documents

Yes Evidence

Document
B C D F G H

No Evidence

Document
A I K

Skim Document J: the opinion of the Court

Read Document K-Thomas Jeffersons objection to the ruling.

Document E (and others) could be used either way.

Suggested Thesis Statement

The thesis statement for this Key Question might be The Supreme Court should (or should not depending on analysis of evidence) have the power to overturn unconstitutional federal laws because of _______, as argued in _______, because of _______ as in _________, and because of _______as shown by ________.

Teaching the DBQ Lesson Plan

Discussion?what was the most interesting issue your group explored? Debriefhow might you use this lesson with your students?

Chief Justice John Marshall

The Court stated that (i)t is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is marking the first exercise of this power of the Supreme Court.

1. res nulis 2. writs of mandamus 3. judicial review 4. judicial restraint

5. not sure

Website

www.billofrightsinstitute.org

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