Tracey,
I've recently received the 4th edition of BJU stuff. oldest just read this assignment.. it's not in 3rd edition.
My oldest is trying to explain the whole thing to me.....
I'm glad you and your daughter got it figured out..
I'm glad I'm not in high school...
I'll agree with Bret that one aspect of confusion in the assignment is that the page didn't make it clear on "the eventual solution", article 10 of bill of rights is also known as 10th amendment. In fact, I kinda missed the "eventual solution" meant it was a compromise about the 2 major arguments presented above the page....
But given how my daughter and I are reading this for the first time, I think that's a minor issue in the confusion.

This specific assignment is an advanced critical thinking essay. My oldest just said (with tongue in cheek) "I'm glad I get to be 3rd edition slacker." for benefit of others... I wonder if these things would help to guide a high school student on this. I can see why this would be really hard for an 11th grader, and I can see why most students might approach parent teacher for help.... this needs some prompts and life experiences. They don't quite have life experiences yet to form opinion for the essay....
1. have them retell to you what Madison is saying (federal gov't has to have states... etc..)
2. have them retell what Bryan is saying (a large gov't like this will be despotism... make sure student knows what that means)
3. look for something out there that shows that states still have rights..... but have federal influence? or the other way around.. are states really not having rights?
If student does not have the life experiences to know where to begin to look....
*does your state have the same hunting and fishing laws as other states? (we live in the south and our state constitution gives us a right to hunting and fishing. just saying....) where is it federal gun laws versus state hunting laws? (I'm in south)
*alcohol drinking ages (find out how the federal gov't influenced 21 as the drinking age.. but is that a federal thing, or state? hmmm.. ) that might not be a thing in your family, so I understand.... but the way the federal gov't influenced it could be interesting... (it had to do with federal money for interstate highways.... ) even if the adults in your family do not drink at all, the point is more of that federal over state, but it was state's that had to do it.
*driving laws.... again, this might be something closer to the 11th grader's life experience... state laws on driver's license and graduated restricted license.. look at what went into that.
*or car seat laws.....
*or.... history of daylight savings time... who controls that?
I think those are things that might help an 11th grader to have a starting point to do a quick quick quick research time to develop an opinion one way or other. don't get bogged down in the research. pick 2 of those.... look up something on it.... form an opinion quickly. and take 30 minutes to write essay. consider this a practice on SAT essay or something, but mixed with history class research.
To "grade" the daily assignment... teacher can look to see if student understands Madison's words, Bryan's words.. and form an opinion one way or other on one of those examples in real life. There may also be ideas more local in your area that make sense.
but I know my child doesn't have the life experiences to have formed opinion without it sounding like she was just foaming at the mouth.
This is one of those "grade on effort" kind of assignments and make sure they spell things correctly.
-crystal