Architecture of Grace
Social Studies · A More Perfect Union

The Interior — Social Studies

A More Perfect Union · Activity 15 — The Illinois Constitution. The state plan, studied beside the national one — or print it and use a pencil, both count.

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Social Studies · Activity 15

The Illinois Constitution

You already hold the national plan — this is the one that runs your school day, your county courthouse, and someday your driver's license. Same shape, five different bets. Three sets: the state plan and its shape, the offices and how they differ from Washington, and the rights and the doors for change.

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No score is kept. No points, no streak, no ranking — the only number anyone writes down is the one your teacher writes down, standing next to you.

Show me one first

This one is nobody's answer — it is only here to show the moves before you touch yours. Watching it is instruction, never a trial, and it counts toward nothing.

Your driver's license, your school, the judge at the county courthouse — which constitution governs these, the U.S. one or the Illinois one?
Sort by layer first. War, money, mail, treaties — national jobs, the plan from Philadelphia. Licenses, schools, county courts — state jobs.
All three of these live on the STATE side — which means the plan that governs them is the one written in Springfield in 1970, standing under the national frame.
The Illinois Constitution — under the U.S. one. Ask every question on this page the same first question: which capital is talking?

Now number 1 is yours. The hint button is there the whole time, and using it is part of the lesson.

Answer in your own words — and when a question has a federal twin, write the state answer AND the federal one beside it. At the bottom, list the five places Illinois bets differently.

  1. 1What is the Illinois Constitution?
  2. 2Illinois's current constitution was adopted in 1970. What is true about it?
  3. 3Who writes Illinois's laws?
  4. 4Who leads Illinois's executive branch — the job of carrying out the state's laws?
  5. 5What sits at the top of Illinois's judicial branch?
  6. 6An Illinois law conflicts with the U.S. Constitution. Which wins?
  7. 7Springfield mirrors Washington: state jobs match national jobs. Which line matches them correctly?
  8. 8When did Illinois become a state — and what is its capital?
How confident are you with this skill?

There is no right answer here. It only tells your teacher where to start next time.

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One probe row, built from what happened on this screen. Nothing is sent anywhere — copy it into the Goal Builder yourself, or print this page. Independent means answered with no hints; supported means answered after a hint. Both are real evidence and neither is a grade.

Date
—
Skill
Explain the Illinois Constitution and how it mirrors — and differs from — the U.S. Constitution
Measure
Trials (x of y)
Independent
0 of 8
Supported
0 of 8
Hints used
0
Confidence
—

Built as the mirror companion to h12–h14, because Illinois seventh graders take BOTH constitution tests and the state one is best taught as a diff against the national one. Set 1 is the state plan and its shape (what it is, 1970-as-fourth, the General Assembly 59+118, the governor, the seven justices, supremacy, the three-jobs mirror, 1818/Springfield). Set 2 is the offices and the differences (the six elected executive officers vs. an appointed cabinet, the 3/5 override vs. 2/3, ELECTED judges on ten-year terms vs. life appointments, the education article, voting at 18/30-days, the secretary-of-state license window, the two-judges comparison). Set 3 is rights and change (Article I FIRST vs. amendments-later, the 1970 anti-discrimination additions, 3/5-proposes-VOTERS-ratify vs. Article V, the 1970 convention, the 20-year question, the housing scenario). Nearly every wrong option is the right fact from the WRONG constitution, and every say-line names which capital it belongs to — the miss is the review of the other test. Built from standard IL-test content; if the class's own Illinois packet surfaces, align items to it the way h12–h14 were aligned to the federal packet.

Three doors on this page: Show me one first is a worked example and counts toward nothing; the eight items are the walk; and a finished set opens One more, if you want it — a stretch with two tries and the thinking shown warmly either way. Whether each door was used rides along when a probe row is copied or sent — as information, never as a score.

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