Alabama Social Studies SS24.AS.18
The Standard
Summarize the creation and composition of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 and formulate an argument for constitutional reform in Alabama.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why white leaders called the 1901 convention and who controlled it. They identify the document's rights, branches of government, voting rules, and local provisions. They argue for a specific reform using historical evidence.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain how the convention's voting rules kept many Black Alabamians and poor white voters from voting. They can describe how the document organizes state government. They can defend one proposed change with evidence and answer an objection.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think Black Alabamians had a voice at the convention or that poll taxes still govern Alabama elections. They may also mistake the 2022 recompilation for a wholly new constitution.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Who controlled the 1901 convention, and what did one voting rule do? Name two parts of the constitution, then propose one reform and support it with a fact.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs printed cards for convention delegates, voting rules, government branches, and local provisions; have them sort the cards and label who gained power.
Ask students to write a four-sentence reform pitch that cites a 1901 provision and answers one possible objection.
Play a matching round with short constitution excerpts, article headings, and cards describing each provision's effect.
Read a sample Alabama county tax amendment ballot summary and ask whether local tax details belong in a state constitution.
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Printable SS24.AS.18 Worksheet
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Related Standards
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Analyze how Dillon's Rule and Home Rule provisions in Alabama's 1901 Constitution affect local funding procedures and regulations.
- SS24.AS.15
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- SS24.US1.19b
Summarize political and social motives that influenced the writing of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, and explain its effect on politics and economics in A...
- SS24.5.2b
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