Government is News: Studying the Constitution

Why is the Bill of Rights so important to American's civil liberties? An important resource helps scholars find these answers and more by reading through state and federal constitutions to discover their own civil liberties. The activity...

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...

A good handout is a great find. Print this resource and hand out a simplified version of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights to your US government or US history class. The powers of the president, Congress, and the Senate are...

Explore the Bill of Rights in-depth with this resource packet that includes the complete text of the document, scenarios and discussion questions for each amendment, role-playing activities, exercises, questions for a Socratic seminar, a...

Explore the structure and content of the US Constitution in the second lesson plan of this five-part social studies series. A collection of activities, games, and videos complement a class reading of a document summarizing the US...

It's 1943, and Jewish people in Denmark are in hiding from the Nazis. What protection can the United States offer them? By examining the Constitution, specifically the Bill of Rights, scholars consider the protections afforded to those...

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....

Why was the Bill of Rights necessary after the Founding Fathers spent so much time drafting the Constitution? Watch an informative video that explains what the Bill of Rights is and why it is important. 

If aliens invaders nearly destroy the world in the distant future and leaders must decide on a pamphlet of protections to preserve individual rights, what should they include? Introduce the Bill of Rights and the struggle between the...

The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The lesson plan explains what the Bill of Rights is and how it applies to everyday life, like freedom of speech or the right to a jury trial. Young historians complete hands-on...