Curated OER
Court Cases Testing the Establishment of Religion
Although the PowerPoint this lesson plan calls for is unavailable, you could easily create a presentation to fulfill its purpose. Learners listen to a presentation and keep track of the information with a graphic organizer that looks at...
Close Up Foundation
Rights Auction
In an engaging activity on universal and unalienable rights, learners work in groups to establish a democratic nation and determine what principles they want to protect to ensure a democratic society. They conduct a "rights auction" in...
Foreign Policy Association
U.S. and Europe Online Lesson Plan
Class groups investigate the economic and political implications of a country's policies on genetically modified foods, craft a position paper detailing that policy, and share their findings with the class. Armed with this...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Volume 1 - A History of the United States: Precolonial to the 1800s
Volume One of the 299-page Core Knowledge History of the United States covers events from the Precolonial Period to the 1800s.
Curated OER
Understanding The Preamble
Students explore the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution. In this government lesson plan, students write a preamble to encourage cooperation in their classroom as they study the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution.
Curated OER
Citizenship
Fifth graders read the preamble of the U.S. and Florida Constitutions. They discuss vocabulary definitions surrounding the concept of citizenship. They discuss and write about the rights and responsibilities of citizens and apply their...
Curated OER
Latinos and the Fourteenth Amendment: A Primary Source Document Activity
Eighth graders explore the effect of the Fourteenth Amendment. In this US History lesson, 8th graders read and analyze primary source documents. Students write a three minute paper demonstrating their understanding of the...
Curated OER
What Makes Us Free?: Maine's Declaration of Rights
Students analyze Maine's Declaration of Rights. They review state constitutions and declaration of rights and their importance. They analyze a section of Maine's Declaration of Rights and crete their own declarations of rights. They...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
The Articles of Confederation
Have you ever started a project only to realize you need to scrap it and start over? Scholars analyze the issues leading to the fall of the Articles of Confederation. A group investigation into Articles II, III, and VIII unveil the...
College Board
Balance of Power Between Congress and the President
Three branches of government help create a system of checks and balances. A helpful resource provides a series of articles regarding the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of government. Historians answer...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Conservation, Preservation, and the National Parks
Going green? Scholars investigate the creation of the US National Park program. Through diary entries as well as expert testimony, they synthesize information and analyze the need for conservation and preservation. Finally, they display...
Anti-Defamation League
Women's Suffrage, Racism, and Intersectionality
The Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote—as long as they were white. High schoolers read articles and essays about racism in the suffrage movement and consider how intersectionality played a role in the movement. Scholars...
Ashbrook Center at Ashland University
Federalist - Antifederalist Debates
Who should have the power—individual states or the federal government? Scholars research the arguments of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists during the formation of the United States Constitution. Online resources, including a vast...
Curated OER
Role Playing Free Speech
Learners conduct research into looking at a free-speech issue. They role play the events surrounding a court case. The lesson includes guiding questions to help create context and determine areas of further study. The presentation...
Curated OER
Citizen Juries: Zacarias Moussaoui - May 1, 2006
Students consider deliberations by juries. In this citizen jury lesson, students complete readings regarding the constitutional right to a trial by jury as well as on the civic responsibility to serve on a jury.
Curated OER
War Making: Executive and Legislative Powers
Students examine Constitution and what it says about war-making power, contrast roles and responsibilities of executive and legislative branches of government when it comes to making war, become familiar with important 20th and 21st...
Curated OER
The Taliban Meets the Bill of Rights
Students contrast the Taliban and the Constitution. They read through "What the Taliban Banned" and identify "rights." They determine if rights in the United States are in danger and if the Taliban violate the first ten amendments to...
Curated OER
Supreme Court June 2010 Decisions Wrap-Up
Learners consider constitutional rights. In this Bill of Rights instructional activity, students complete an activity guide that requires learners to examine Bill of Rights-related cases of 2010. Students respond to discussion questions...
Curated OER
Launching the New U.S. Navy
Students analyze the U.S. Constitution for references to the creation and management of the U.S. Navy. They discuss their research and complete a worksheet and then research how the current Navy is organized.
Curated OER
The Alien and Sedition Acts
Students discover the conflicts that arose between the political parties over issues of foreign policy and economics. Using the Internet, they research the Alien and Sedition Acts and how they relate to the U.S. Constitution. They...
Curated OER
The Election Is in the House: The Denouement
High schoolers research the US Presidential election of 1824. They explain why the election of 1824 was decided in the House of Representatives. They summarize relevant portions of the Constitution on presidential election procedures.
Bill of Rights Institute
Preserving the Bill of Rights
Consider how America's founding fathers and their experiences contributed to the rights we all enjoy today. A collection of reading, writing, and collaborative exercises prompt high schoolers to think about the ways their current lives...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Dramatic and Theatrical Aspects in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”: A Common Core Exemplar
“So I’m going to have a copy of this play put in the cornerstone and the people a thousand years from now’ll know a few simple facts about us.” Our Town is used as the text in a Common Core exemplar that examines the dramatic and...
Curated OER
What Is the Role of the President in the American Constitutional Government?
Students read about the role of the president. In this US government lesson, students read about the role of the president as stated in the US Constitution. Students examine issues of presidential power and identify various checks and...