This lesson assumes students have an understanding of the electoral college. Help prepare students with the background information needed with the following resources:
Display this scenario on the board: Imagine you accidentally woke up a half an hour later than normal on a school day. What effects would that have on the rest of your morning? On your day?
Have students discuss their ideas in pairs and share with the class. Encourage them to identify at least 3 effects that occur because they woke up late.
Tell students “Cause and effect relationships happen in history too. Sometimes events that happen can lead to effects as big as amendments to the Constitution.”
Engage
Ask students to define “revolution” in their own words.
Think-pair-share answers then ask, “What common themes do we see in the answers?”
In think-pair-share, students consider a question, find a partner, then share their answer. Partners can be assigned or chosen by students, depending on your group of learners.
As a class, come up with one definition for “revolution” and write it on the board to be referenced later.
Tell students: “Today we will be looking at an election that some historians call a revolution. We are going to look at a series of cause-and-effect relationships to determine if we think the election was revolutionary.”
Explore
Distribute and read the appropriate reading based on the level.
As students read, ask them to record 3 cause and effect relationships from the essay on their paper.
Give students key words to include, such as Electoral College, Election of 1796, Political Parties, president and vice president, Election of 1800, or the Twelfth Amendment.
Examples of cause and effect may include:
There was debate over how to elect the president, so the electoral college was a compromise.
First and second place in the electoral college votes became president and vice president so P and VP ended up being members from different political parties in 1796.
In 1800 there was a tie in the Electoral College vote, the election went to the House of Representatives where eventually they picked Thomas Jefferson.
The Twelfth Amendment was ratified, changing the way the Electoral College votes for president and vice president.
Call on several students to share their cause-and-effect relationships.
While sharing, review the Twelfth Amendment with students.
The Twelfth Amendment ensures each elector in the Electoral College casts a vote for the president and vice president, instead of first place vote getter becoming president and the second-place vote getter becoming vice president.
Have students select their most significant cause and effect relationship from the essay.
Optional Activity- Using two different color highlighters, one for cause and one for effect, students could highlight on their essay where they find the cause-and-effect relationships.
Assess & Reflect
Return to the class created “revolution” definition, and ask students “Would you consider the Election of 1800 to be a revolution based on our definition? Explain.” Ask students to write a thesis and give context to support their answer.
Though it took a long time to settle the election of 1800, the electoral process did ultimately produce a winner. Do you think it was really necessary to pass the Twelfth Amendment? Why or why not?
