J. Robert Osborne
The curriculum is designed for high school sophomores taking United States History 1 in an urban setting and its format is based on seventy-five minute classes in a block schedule and to last two weeks. There is an assumption that the range of skills is very broad and that some of the students are operating with dissimilar skill sets. Most of the students are relatively unfamiliar with the origins of the rights of individuals. When appropriate there will be more challenging assignments for honors sections.
The five individual lessons will be presented in two parts that reflect the prescribed curriculum of the New Haven School District in United States History I. Unit Six; The Origins of American Government will start with two lessons on the importance of the writ of habeas corpus in English Common Law and its importance in the philosophies of our founders. That will be both the introduction of the writ of habeas corpus and the beginning of the study of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Then the second part of the curriculum will be a part of Unit Nine in the New Haven School District, the Civil War.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The concept of the writ of habeas corpus will be a bridge between the study of the Constitutional beginnings of America and the Civil War. The study of Lincoln and habeas corpus during the Civil War will also be linked to the present by examining the recent
Boumediene v. Bush
, Supreme Court case. Lincoln and habeas corpus will be the fulcrum for a preceding study during the beginnings of this nation and an examination of habeas corpus in the present.
____
LESSON ONE: (Part of Unit Six)
SUBJECT: The Introduction of what Habeas Corpus Means and Its Role in the development of English Common Law.
Habeas Corpus means, “You have the body” in Latin. The writ of habeas corpus is what a lawyer can seek from a judge that will require the person served the writ to produce the subject of the writ in court. If the writ is granted by judicial authority then the authority imprisoning an individual must produce the prisoner or be held in contempt of court.
NOTE: This is a difficult concept to understand and situational modeling may be the best teaching strategy to convey its meaning. I will ask each member of the class to write in their history journal their response to the following exercise of authority. The teacher will not let the students leave at the end of class and locks the door to prevent their exit. The teacher refuses to respond to any request to leave and there are security guards in the classroom to prevent any physical response by the imprisoned students. Who will the students turn to for relief and what will they ask them to do?
The college class sections will receive a detailed explanation on what habeas corpus means and they will take turns reading the material and asking questions as we go along. The honors sections will read the explanation of habeas corpus’ role in English Common law as sited by Justice Kennedy in the Supreme Court decision in the Boumediene v Bush case.
There will be a list of key words and terms that the students will have to research and learn before the end of the second lesson. Library time for this research will be part of a more detailed lesson plan. The students will retain their definition sheets for the second part of the curriculum unit to be presented during the study of the Civil War.
LESSON TWO: (Part of Unit Six)
SUBJECT: The importance of the writ of habeas corpus as a fundamental protection of the individual and its incorporation into the United States Constitution.
The importance of the writ of habeas corpus under American law will be the focus of the second class. There will be specific examples of the use of the writ of habeas corpus during the colonial period. There will also be original materials that will read in class that will speak to the importance of the writ to James Madison and why it was included as an important individual right in the Constitution itself before other individual rights were addressed in the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
The debate over the inclusion of the writ in the Constitutional Convention and then the subsequent state ratification conventions will also demonstrate the process of ratification and the variance in the perspectives of different states.
|
|
|
|
|
NOTE: The class will be asked to debate the issue of the ratification of a document that includes the writ of habeas corpus. There will be four different groups that will prepare for the debate and present their arguments. (One group will be for inclusion, another group will be against inclusion on the grounds that it grants the individual too much power, another group will be against inclusion because it restricts the right of the executive authority in times of crisis and the fourth group will argue that it seems odd that only Congress (of the three branches of government) was granted the right to suspend the writ in times of national emergency.)
LESSON THREE: (Part of Unit Nine)
SUBJECT: The challenges that President Lincoln faced as the chief executive in wartime and his willingness to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. What it would mean to lose the legal right to ask for a writ of habeas corpus. Part One.
The initial activity will require that each student formulate their own list of the challenges they believe President Lincoln faced at the beginning of the Civil War. The general circumstances will be presented as follows: Between his election in November 1860 and his inauguration in March of 1861 seven states had seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. There was good reason to think that more states would follow. What did he face and what could he do? There will be a class discussion to construct one overall assessment of the situation Lincoln faced.
There will be a review of the writ of habeas corpus and the definitions and terms that each student prepared as part of the first part of the curriculum unit.
President Lincoln’s assumption of the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus will be studied in the details of the most significant exercises of suspension. There will also be a careful examination of the opposition President Lincoln encountered from Chief Justice Roger Taney.
The students will then select a topic for a three-page paper from a list provided by the teacher. The paper will be due at the end of the fifth and final lesson. There will be research time built into the more detailed lesson plan.
LESSON FOUR: (Part of Unit Nine)
SUBJECT: The challenges that President Lincoln faced as the chief executive in wartime and his willingness to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. What it would mean to lose the legal right to ask for a writ of habeas corpus. Part Two.
|
|
The course of the war and the responses by different governmental bodies to President Lincoln’s will be the initial focus. There will be specific focus on the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and the establishment of military tribunals.
|
NOTE: The students will then be asked to write in their journals in response to the following statement. “The President should have the unlimited right to use whatever authority necessary in times of war, regardless of the effects on the rights of the individual under Constitutional law.” Do you agree or disagree?
The class will end with a discussion about the writ of habeas corpus and the controversies surrounding the actions of President Abraham Lincoln suspending it without Congress exercising its Constitutional authority to suspend the writ. The students will prepare for the fifth lesson by reading excerpts from the majority and minority opinions from
Boumediene v. Bush.
LESSON FIVE: (Part of Unit Nine)
SUBJECT: The writ of habeas corpus today while the United States is at war with terrorism and the
Boumediene v. Bush
decision. What does it mean for the future?
There are a number of key questions that will be discussed in class:
____
____
1. What is the War on Terror and will it ever end or will the United States always be at war?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. What is the difference, if any, between the right of citizens and non-citizens to protection by the writ of habeas corpus?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. Are there places under American law where the writ of habeas corpus is not recognized as a legal right?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. What is an “enemy combatant”?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-
5. Do President Lincoln’s suspensions of habeas corpus without Congressional approval establish a legal precedent for a future chief executive to refer to in restricting access to the protection of the writ of habeas corpus in future wars?
The students will also present their papers to the class with an oral summary of what they learned in the process.