Bill of Rights Institute
Freedom for All?
What did abolitionists have in common with those working for women's rights? How has the Native American struggle for voting rights differed from the struggles of other groups? Class members examine the 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, and 26th...
University of California
The Civil War: Emancipation
Investigate and analyze Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation using primary and secondary sources. The sixth installment of an eight-part series analyzes the meaning of Lincoln's document in relation to its impact on the Civil...
Curated OER
"Father" of Our Country vs. "Father" of the Bill of Rights
Students examine the relevance of the Bill of Rights. In this Bill of Rights activity, students study the parts of the Constitution and the ten amendments. They investigate the rights and responsibilities that accompany being an...
Judicial Learning Center
Do You Know Your Bill of Rights?
The Bill of Rights is much more than an important piece of paper! The rights cover everything from freedom of speech to the right to remain silent if arrested. Scholars find out their own rights by answering the questions in the form of...
Curated OER
Perseverance and the First Amendment
Students investigate the right to petition and assemble. In this Bill of Rights instructional activity, students read the First Amendment and discuss the rights guaranteed by the amendment. Students research selected groups and...
State Bar of Texas
Baker v. Carr
Can the federal government override the state government to protect the citizens of the United States? The 1962 Supreme Court case Baker v. Carr outlines the issue of equal protection under the law. Scholars investigate with a short...
Ashbrook Center at Ashland University
Bill of Rights
Do citizens need protection from the federal government? Scholars investigate why the framers of the Constitution created the first 10 amendments and what these amendments mean to citizens of the United States more than 200 years later....
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Creation of the Bill of Rights: “Retouching the Canvas”
While the Constitutional Convention lay the foundation of the new government for the United States, the protections given under the Bill of Rights were controversial. Using documents, such as James Madison's and Thomas Jefferson's...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama's 1901 Constitution
"We, the People of the State of Alabama. . ." Did you know that the Alabama State Constitution has 357,157 words while the US Constitution has only 4,400? And that it has 798 amendments while the US Constitution has...
Channel Islands Film
Eminent Domain
After viewing the documentary The Last Roundup, a documentary about the transitioning of Santa Rosa from a privately own island to a National Park, class members debate the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment that permits the...
Facing History and Ourselves
Interracial Democracy
Radical Reconstruction, the 10-year period referred to after Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, saw the establishment of manhood suffrage, men voting without any racial qualifications. Southern states also rewrote their...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Plyler v. Doe: Can States Deny Public Benefits to Illegal Immigrants?
Illegal immigration is an ever-changing source of consistent controversy. A reading passage about the rights of undocumented workers and illegal immigrants—and the lack thereof—guides high schoolers into a mock trial activity. Three...
Curated OER
U.S. History Worksheet #73
Explore how the 14th Amendment changed the way the United States operated, both politicallay and socially. In this United States history worksheet, learners utilize a word bank of 10 terms or phrases to answer 10 fill in the blank...
K20 LEARN
Bill of Rights: Do I Have a Right?
Aliens have taken over the United States! Citizens can only keep two rights laid out in the first 10 amendments of the Constitution and must figure out which ones are best. Young scholars research the importance of each amendment and key...
Newseum
Is This Story Share-Worthy?
Young journalists use a "Is This Story Share-Worthy?" flowchart graphic to decide whether a story is worth sharing online. Instructors provide groups with fake news, poor quality stories, opinion pieces, biased news, and high-quality...
Newseum
Free Press Challenges Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
The debate over the integrity of stories in media is not new. Young journalists analyze historical sources that reveal freedom of the press controversies and draw parallels to challenges freedom of the press faces today.
Curated OER
The Bill of Rights and Your Life
High schoolers review the contents of the Constitution by taking a trivia quiz and brainstorm the rights contained in the Bill of Rights. After discussing the Bill of Rights, students categorize and outline its content. Given a...
Curated OER
How was the Constitution Used to Organize the New Government?
How did the United States Congress determine how the new president and vice president would be named when the nation was first established? Who would provide money for the government, and how would the executive branch be organized?
Online Publications
Become a Journalist
Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...
Curated OER
The Kite Runner: Citizenship Test
Could you pass a citizenship test? As part of their study of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and the immigrant experience, class members are presented with a sample citizenship test.
Curated OER
Formally Amending the Constitution
How easy is it to amend the U.S. Constitution? As your students will learn in this government worksheet, not very. Five true/false questions and five multiple choice questions quiz students on the process of amending the Constitution, as...
School Improvement in Maryland
Are These Human Right Violations?
Using the Declaration of Human Rights and the United States Constitution as reference tools, class members examine 14 scenarios to decide if the situation represents a violation of human rights, and if these same rights...
City University of New York
Jim Crow and Voting Rights
Class groups examine primary source documents to determine how the voting rights of African Americans were restricted after the failure of Reconstruction, and how African American participation in World War II lead to change.
Curated OER
The Bill of Rights Is in the News!
Students determine currency of the Bill of Rights by locating current newspaper articles or editorials that support or refute each of the 1st Ten Amendments.