Created by Bard College Institute for Writing & Thinking
NYS Common Core Grades 11 & 12:
United States History and Government
Participation in Government and Civics
Justice and the New York Courts is a professional development workshop produced in partnership with the Society and Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking. The workshop is geared to middle and high school teachers of Social Studies and English Language Arts, and aims to bring writing-rich pedagogical strategies into the classroom through the teaching of primary historical legal sources.
The workshops revolved around the question: What is the nature of an independent judiciary and what is its critical importance to our Federalist system of checks and balances? Texts used among others are Alexander Hamilton’s famous dissertation on the federal judiciary in The Federalist Papers (Federalist #78); the Preamble to the United States Constitution; the seminal New York 1860 slave case State of New York v. Lemmon; a contemporaneous journalistic response to this case; and recent articles addressing current debates and considerations surrounding the proper role of the judiciary.
Also included here as a PDF are the 5-12 (2016) grade common core requirements for literacy in History and Social Studies. While these requirements may evolve over time, they provide a general and helpful rubric for evaluating pedagogical strategies that promote discerning comprehension and effective communication.
This lesson plan meets the following guidelines of New York State’s Common Core Social Studies Framework (2017):
- Constitutional Foundations: 11.2c
- Expansion, Nationalism and Sectionalism: 11.3b
- Foundations of American Democracy: 12.G1a, 12.G1b, 12.G1c, 12.G1d, 12.G1e
- Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: 12.G2a, 12.G2c, 12.G2d
Introduction to IWT Practices PDF
Workshop Materials PDF
Common Core Requirements PDF
Teacher Activities PDF
Student Activities PDF
The Historical Society’s website contains a wealth of related resources, including mini-biographies of the lawyers and judges included in the lesson.
Constitutional Foundations
The Federalist Papers
Written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay
Alexander Hamilton
Author of The Federalist Papers
John Jay
Author of The Federalist Papers
NY Ratification of the US Constitution
Transcript
The Lemmon Slave Case
The Lemmon Slave Case
Judicial Notice Article
Louis Napoleon
Conductor on the Underground Railroad
Chester Arthur
Lawyer for the Slaves
John Jay
Lawyer for the Slaves
Erastus Culver
Lawyer for the Slaves
Henry Lapaugh
Lawyer for the Lemmons
Elijah Paine
Superior Court Judge
William Evarts
Lawyer for New York
Charles O’Conor
Lawyer for the Lemmons
Samuel Foot
Former Court of Appeals Judge
William Wright
Court of Appeals Judge, Affirmed
Hiram Denio
Court of Appeals Judge, Affirmed
Thomas Clerke
Court of Appeals Judge, Dissented
George Comstock
Court of Appeals Judge, Dissented
Samuel Selden
Court of Appeals Judge, Dissented
Image citation: Collection of the New York Court of Appeals.