Essential Questions Journal CH 10 - Congress LESSON Objectives for 01/26/16 Students will: 1.IDENTIFY and EXPLAIN how representation is accomplished within the House and the Senate and why. 2.IDENTIFY and EXPLAIN the role redistricting and gerrymandering plays in congressional elections and representation in Congress. 4.2Examine: Legislative make-up, organization, functions, authority 4.2.bEvaluate: Extent branches reflect popular sovereignty, including term limits/redistricting

Essential Questions about Representation How does democracy work in a republic? (AKA a representative democracy) Why do we have legislative districts? How many U.S. congressional districts does Oklahoma have? Why does it matter how many members of a district belong to a particular political party? For example, why does it matter how many voters in a district are members of the Republican Party and how many are members of the Democratic Party? What is the fairest way to determine legislative districts? Should legislative districts be drawn specifically to give one political party or racial group an advantage or disadvantage during an election?

III. Reapportionment VIDEO - Gerrymandering VIDEOReapportionment VIDEOGerrymandering VIDEO A. Key Terms Reapportionment: Reapportionment is the redistribution of seats in the House of Representatives to the various 50 States based on changes in population every 10 years following the census required by Article 1 in the Constitution. Gerrymandering: House districts that are drawn so as to give the political party the controls the State Legislature an advantage during the national and State elections. B. Timeline 1792—1790 census House grew from 41 seats to —House grew to 182 seats 1912—House reached 425 seats 1920—The House didn’t want to add more seats or have States loose seats so nothing was done 1929—Congress passed the Reapportionment Act of 1929 that set the size of the House at 435 seats and set up a system of automatic reapportionment based on nationwide population changes. C. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Oklahoma Congressional Districts 2016

Did Gerrymandering Cost Dems the House? Did Gerrymandering Cost Dems the House? A 34-State Look at Alternative Nonpartisan Maps Suggests Yes In the wake of the 2012 House of Representatives election, we were left with a situation where Democrats won the House popular vote yet failed to regain the House.

Senator James M. Inhofe (R- OK) Senator James Lankford (R- OK) Representative Jim Bridenstine (R - 01) Representative Markwayne Mullin (R - 02) Representative Frank Lucas (R - 03) Representative Tom Cole (R - 04) Representative Steve Russell (R - 05)

Senate District 13

Redraw Oklahoma’s 5 Congressional Districts to illustrate the practice of Gerrymandering-- Gerrymander them

Ticket Out the Door 1.What happens to the 435 seats in the House of Representatives when Congress is reapportioned? 2.How often does Congress reapportion the seats in the House of Representatives? 3.How often does Congress reapportion the seats in the Senate? 4.How many congressional districts are there in Oklahoma? 5.What is gerrymandering? (Define this term) 6.Should gerrymandering be constitutional? Explain.