Conquer It
In this activity, you will use what you have learned about informative/explanatory writing to write an informative/explanatory essay explaining the political process used to guarantee the standard
"one man, one vote." This phrase was used in the 1964 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Reynolds v. Sims. The ruling required redistricting by state legislatures to make sure that congressional districts keep represented populations equal. In other words, each representative represents the same number of citizens. This case also required the state legislative districts to have roughly equal populations per state representative.
Use your textbook and the following websites to conduct your research.
Congressional Apportionmentopens in new window
The United States of America: Reapportionment and Redistricting opens in new window
Maryland Department of Planning: Redistricting opens in new window
Write an essay that explains the political process used to guarantee the standard “one man, one vote.” Your essay needs to include an introductory paragraph, at least one paragraph providing support for your main idea, and a concluding paragraph.
Questions you will need to address in your essay include the following:
- What political process ensures the standard of one-man, one-vote?
- Why is the one-man, one-vote standard important?
- What is the census and what role does it play?
- What is congressional apportionment?
- What is redistricting?
You may use the Explanatory Writing Diagram and Graphic Organizer to guide your writing, or use a graphic organizer of your choice through the link to additional graphic organizers.
Explanatory Writing Diagram and Graphic Organizer
Additional graphic organizers for writing explanatory text
When you have written your informative/explanatory draft essay explaining “one man, one vote,” use the following writer’s checklist to review your work. Use your checklist as a guide to revise your draft and submit your final copy to your teacher.
