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Social Studies 4: Expanding the Power of the National Government 7 Views


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Description:

Today's lesson is all about government superpowers. You know, like the power to be super...executive. Or super judgey. Okay, so it's not exactly a Marvel movie, but at least this stuff really happened. 

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:12

Look, up in the sky! It's a bird…it's a plane, it's… [People flying with capes]

00:15

It's the super team of our three branches of government.

00:18

Not quite as impressive as Superman, sure, but still pretty dang powerful.

00:21

But the distribution of power that's in place right now wasn't quite how the Constitution

00:26

originally set things up.

00:27

Yup.

00:28

Like every good superhero tale, this one has quite the origin story. [Superheroes appear]

00:32

Y’see, it all started back in 1803 with a pretty famous court case, Marbury v. Madison.

00:36

But before we dive into that, let’s skip back just a little further to 1800. [Dinosuar appears in 1800's]

00:41

There we go.

00:41

It’s 1800, and John Adams is the president.

00:44

But his presidency is coming to an end and Thomas Jefferson is eager to replace him. [Adams sitting in President's office and Jefferson appears at the window]

00:48

Johnny boy knows that as soon as Tommy's in office, it'll also mean that a new political party

00:54

will have control over the national government.

00:56

So before he packs up and leaves, John decides to make a series of “midnight appointments” [John working at midnight in the office]

01:01

––a desperate, last minute attempt to fill as many government offices as possible

01:05

with people who shared Adams’ political beliefs.

01:08

Adams, you sly dog, you.

01:10

Now remember: this was before email, texting, or snapchat.

01:14

These appointments had to be delivered the old-fashioned way: In person.

01:17

So Adams wakes up his Secretary of State, John Marshall, who is pretty grumpy about [Adams knocks on John Marshalls door and John appears]

01:21

having his beauty sleep interrupted, and tells him to go and deliver the appointments.

01:25

Then Adams toodles off to get his beauty rest.

01:28

Sly dog…

01:29

Marshall does his best, but he's not able to deliver all the appointments before Adams’ [Marshall delivering appointments]

01:33

term expires.

01:34

Give the guy a break, he's half asleep!

01:36

Marshall leaves the final appointments in the hands of the new Secretary of State, James

01:40

Madison.

01:41

Except new President Thomas Jefferson isn’t having it.

01:44

After all, Jefferson's President now, so he gets to make the rules, right?

01:47

Well, not everybody agrees with Jefferson’s decision.

01:49

Someone who really doesn't agree?

01:51

This guy, William Marbury…. [Marbury stood by a mail box]

01:53

…who just happens to be one of the people Marshall failed to deliver an appointment to.

01:57

So Marbury sues Madison, and tries to get the Supreme Court of the United States to

02:01

force Madison to hand over the paper with the appointment.

02:04

Yeah, that’s right: just the paper showing he’d been offered it, not the actual position.

02:08

Maybe he wanted to show off at parties?

02:10

But here's where the plot thickens…

02:12

Chief Justice John Marshall – uh-huh, the same John Marshall who failed to deliver the [John Marshall in court bangs gavel]

02:17

appointment in the first place is now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

02:20

And guess what?

02:21

He doesn’t rule in Marbury’s favor –

02:23

-- and he also rules that the law which Marbury used to sue Madison with was unconstitutional, [Marbury crying in court]

02:28

no take-backsies.

02:28

Guess he was still grumpy over the whole "no sleep" thing.

02:31

So with this ruling, Chief Justice Marshall established what we now call “judicial review,”

02:35

which is the power of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional.

02:38

Some historians and political scientists claim this move expanded the Supreme Court’s power

02:43

so immensely that it upset the balance between the three branches of government. [Branches of government on a scale]

02:47

Others recognize Marshall’s act of judicial review as a necessary and proper change that

02:51

brought about justice in cases like Brown v. Board of Education, where the Supreme Court

02:56

ruled segregation in schools unconstitutional by using…you guessed it….judicial review!

03:01

So there ya have it.

03:02

Marbury v. Madison forever changed the way the Supreme Court – and the national government [Marbury and Madison bickering either side of judicial review man]

03:05

as a whole – works.

03:07

Y’know, when they decide to work at all…

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