The Commander-in-Chief
Objectives:
- Students will evaluate various presidential actions as related to the president’s constitutional role as Commander-in-Chief.
- Students will assess how the role of Commander-in-Chief aligns with the president’s role as chief executive.
- Students will analyze how the role of Commander-in-Chief changed over time.
Engage:
- Provide access to Article I and Article II for students. Depending on classroom needs, post the articles on the board, provide the articles printed for annotation, have students use their pocket Constitutions, or a digital version. Have students focus on the powers of the legislative and executive branches. Alternatively, use excerpts of Article I and Article II as listed below.
- Scaffolding Note: Have students focus on Article I, sect. 8, and Article II, sect. 2, clause 1. The text is excerpted below.
Article I sect. 8: The Congress shall have the power to..
- To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
- To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
- To provide and maintain a Navy;
- To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
- To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
- To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
- Article II sect. 2 clause 1.
- The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;
- After students review Articles I and II, have them summarize or restate each article in their own words.
- Scaffolding Note: Use the following questions as needed to help students summarize the text of the Articles.
- Scaffolding questions for Article I.
- What is Congress’s role in relation to the military and war?
- Why did the Framers place these war powers in the Congress?
- How do these powers relate to Congress’s role as the voice of the people in government?
- How do these powers relate to Congress’s role as a deliberative body forging consensus?
- Scaffolding questions for Article II.
- Have students list jobs they think the president does.
- What war powers does the president have?
- Why do you think the Framers gave this role to the president?
- The Framers often used the words “energy” and “dispatch” when discussing the role of the president. Why are these concepts important in relation to war powers?
- How do you think this role relates to the president’s other roles?
- After students complete their own summaries, allow them to share their results with a partner or small group. Allow time for a whole group discussion of students’ findings.
Explore:
- Divide students into four groups. Each group will examine a different president and their performance during their term. The students will explore how the president acted and how they interpreted their actions as Commander-in-Chief.
- Give one handout to each group of students. Instruct them to read their document aloud within their group and provide answers to the questions on the handout.
- Once they complete their handouts as a group, have students create a poster or other visual representation of their document that also includes information from the context and summarizes their questions and answers.
- Each group should create a final product that can be posted for a gallery walk or station rotation. This final product would allow the other groups to review the product to gain the information needed about the context, document, and overall actions and relationship of President as Commander-in-Chief and Congress.
Assess & Reflect:
- Have students complete a gallery walk or station rotation to review the poster each group created. Choose one of the following questions all students must answer. Then, allow students to answer two or three additional questions of their choice. Students can submit answers in writing or video but should include evidence to justify their responses.
- How are these actions similar/dissimilar?
- How consistent are the actions of the president as Commander-in-Chief over time?
- How have the war powers of the president expanded or contracted over time?
- How does Congress intersect with the president’s role as Commander-in-Chief?
- How does the role of Commander-in-Chief connect to the president’s constitutional role as chief executive?
Student Handouts
Next Lesson