Underhill
Webquest Research Assignment
Name:___________________________________
Webquest Directions: Today you will be doing
research on the web. Your directions are to read
the following passages and answer the six
questions that follow. If there is a hyperlink below
the question, you should use it to discover the
answers.
Making Laws!
Read: Who gets this important job of making laws? Congress! This is the
legislature (or lawmaking group) for our country.
Congress is divided into two parts, the Senate and the House of
Representatives. When the Constitution was written, this was the topic of a
huge fight! The large states wanted a
legislature where representation
was based on a state's population;
the more people, the power the state
would have. Guess who disagreed?
The small states! They wanted a
legislature where each state had an
equal say. How was this
resolved? By creating a Congress
with two houses. Let's see how this
actually works!
Congress includes the U.S. House of Representatives, which is based on
population. The more people a state has, the more votes it has in the
House of Representatives. Each House member represents a district. The
map to the right uses color to show the House districts in each state. The
more colors, the more districts and people a state has.
How many House members does your state have? Click on the link, and
then go to the 2nd drop down menu that allows you to see members by
state. Find your state and click "View." How does your state compare with
its closest neighbors? Click on those states to see who has more votes in
the House!
Question #1: How many representatives does your state have? There are
435 members of the House of Representatives. What percent are from
your state? Pick a neighboring state, record the number of representatives
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Underhill
Webquest Research Assignment
Name:___________________________________
from that state, and calculate what percentage of the House of
Representatives are from that state. Click the link below to find the answer!
http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/
Read: Your House member cares what you and the other people in your
district think. Why? Because you
vote for him or her every two years!
You can choose to re-elect that
person or you can vote for
someone else. Even though you
may not actually vote yet, this
person still represents you!
Who is your House member? Click
on the link, and look in the top right
corner where it says, "Find Your
Represenatives by ZIP." Enter your zip code. NOTE: If the +4 digits of your
zip code are needed, the website will redirect you to the U.S. Postal
Services website to find it.
Question #2: Who is your Representative in the House of
Representatives? Describe one thing you would like your Representative
to do.
http://www.house.gov
Read: Remember, we said there were two
houses in Congress? The U.S. Senate is the
place where each state gets the same
number of votes. In fact, each state gets two
Senators, which means two votes! The
smaller states really like this because it gives
them equal power with the large states.
Just like in the House of Representatives, a Senator's job is to look out for
people's interests. But this time, they must think about more than just the
people in a town or city. They are responsible for an entire state! Click on
the link to see who your two Senators are! Select your state, and then click
on the links to see your Senators' webpages.
Credited to icivics.org
Underhill
Webquest Research Assignment
Name:___________________________________
Question #3: What are the names of your senators? Are they Republicans
or Democrats?
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Read: House and Senate members have a really, really important job.
They are in charge of making the laws that run this country!
How is a law made? It starts with having an idea on how to deal with a
problem facing the country. House members and Senators are called
legislators because they have the unique ability to write bills or legislation
that could become laws. Watch the video clip to
see how this happens!
Question #4: Describe how a bill is proposed in
the U.S. Congress.
http://ourcourts.law.asu.edu/legisvid/legis4.html
Read: Remember that large and small
states wanted to make sure they each
had a voice when laws were made? Well,
the law making process guarantees this!
HOW is this guaranteed, you may ask?
It's guaranteed because the SAME bill
must pass the House of Representatives
AND the Senate to become a law. You can imagine that with 435 House
members and 100 Senators, there are a lot of different opinions on how
problems should be solved. That's why COMPROMISE is a key ingredient
in bills becoming law.
Question #5: Give an example of how you think senators and
representatives might compromise to reach agreement to pass a bill.
There is no link. Come up with the answer on your own!
Read: Congratulations! The House of Representatives and Senate have
done the difficult job of creating a
compromise bill and getting it
passed through both houses. It's
a law now, right?
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Underhill
Webquest Research Assignment
Name:___________________________________
Not so fast! The Constitution also guarantees "checks and balances." The
President, a member of the executive branch, gets to decide whether to
sign the bill into law or veto it. If he signs it, then the bill is law. If he vetoes
it, then the Congress can override the veto with a two-thirds majority and
the bill will become law. Time for congratulations! Watch the video clip to
see how this works.
Question #6: If the President vetoes a bill and more than one-third of the
Congress does not support the bill as it is currently written, what can be
done to turn the bill into law?
http://ourcourts.law.asu.edu/legisvid/legis6.html
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