Fifth graders explain the purpose of the government by examining the Preamble to the Constitution. They identify ways in which the government is preserving those rights today. They discover one of the fundamental principles of...

"How did the slavery system undermine the United States' democratic principles?" This question launches a study of how the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and Article IV,...

Students work in groups to research and examine Constitutions from various countries. In this government and public interests lesson, students analyze primary and secondary documents to make a comparison between constitutional documents...

Students explore the process of writing our Constitution through an interactive program. They are to put themselves in the place of the statesmen and predict how they felt at the time. They compare the founding fathers.

Use this U.S. History unit plan as a template for creating your own! Simply download the resource and edit the text fields with your own customized unit plan. This is a great jumping-off step, especially for newer teachers. 

Students work together to write a Constitution for their classroom. As a class, they discuss the need for laws and how the concept of compromise is important. In groups, they compare the process they used for writing the Constitution...

Madison was there! Scholars go on a journey to discover the person behind the founding father label as they explore James Madison's role in the formation of the United States government. The culmination is a writing assignment and...

Students compare and contrast the United States and Alaska Constitution. After reading each preamble, they identify the reasons for each constitution to be drafted and discuss what they reveal about citizens responsiblity in government....

Students discuss the purpose of the Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution. In groups, they write about the ten amendments and their purpose. They re-word the Amendments in their own way and answer discussion questions to end...