A Short Activity for Fifth Grade
Question: How does the U.S. Constitution organize the government?
Note: The "Guidance on Government: Federal Edition" lesson plan, also available in eMedia, was created to accompany this PowerPoint.

A Short Activity for Fourth Grade
Question: How does the Florida Constitution organize the government?
Note: The "Guidance on Government: State Edition" Powerpoint, also available in eMedia, was created to accompany this lesson plan.

A Short Activity for Fourth Grade
Question: How does the Florida Constitution organize the government?
Note: The "Guidance on Government: State Edition" lesson plan, also available in eMedia, was created to accompany this PowerPoint.

This lesson provides students with information about the main events and key players involved in Utah women’s suffrage over the course of several key periods: 1) enfranchisement (1870), 2) disfranchisement (1871-1887), 3) re-enfranchisement with statehood (1888-1896), and 4) the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920). Students will read an informational text to learn about the early struggle for Utah women’s voting rights. They will then develop a plan for a memorial honoring women’s suffrage in Utah.

One of our oldest human rights, habeas corpus safeguards individual freedom by preventing unlawful or arbitrary imprisonment. This documentary examines habeas corpus and the separation of powers in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks as the Supreme Court tried to strike a balance between the president's duty to protect the nation and the constitutional protection of civil liberties in four major Guantanamo Bay cases: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Rasul v. Bush, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Boumediene v. Bush.

Closed captions available in English and Spanish.

Primary sources are a main focus throughout Documents of Freedom. Here we offer many of the most important primary sources from American history that include annotations to help you understand the purposes of each document.

Using the Case Method Project from Harvard, students read various case material and then are led through a socratic style seminar to discuss a specific issue/historical decision in American history/politics. In order to access their materials you will need to participate in professional development sessions hosted by Harvard. The sessions are free and done online a various times in the school year.

Case background and primary source documents concerning the Supreme Court case of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Dealing with the extent of students' First Amendment rights, this lesson asks students to argue whether or not the First Amendment should protect student speech in public school-sponsored newspapers.

The Supreme Court decided that Principal Reynolds had the right to such editorial decisions, as he had “legitimate pedagogical concerns.” This resource includes teacher materials, guides, and activities for teaching about this Supreme Court case.

In this lesson, students examine one of six key amendments to the Constitution while considering their historical context. Students create timelines for each amendment that are later combined to fully evaluate and interpret how the Constitution has evolved within its historical context.

Thomas Jefferson explains the importance of the Bill of Rights.
Colonial Williamsburg's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Leadership provides American history and civics materials nationwide. For more great videos, lesson plans, interactive games and more, create a free account on the Colonial Williamsburg Education Resource Library: resourcelibrary.history.org.

Citizens of the United States have celebrated Independence Day and Presidents' Day since the 1870s, and in 2005, the nation began to celebrate Constitution Day. Also know as Citizenship Day, Constitution Day is an American holiday honoring the day 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the United States Constitution. This historic date was September 17, 1787.

When the Founding Fathers weren't out fighting wars, drafting important documents like the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, or helping to found a country, they were at home with their families and businesses. Here are the places the Founding Fathers called "home," and some interesting facts about each man's personal estate.

The United States Congress consists of two legislative bodies, the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are many similarities between these institutions, so what are the differences?

This resource is a Private i History Detectives unit from iCivics, consisting of three lessons. Description: Everyone deserves to be treated equally. But how can people make sure that happens? In this inquiry-based unit, students will explain how Amendments to the Constitution attempted to address slavery’s wrongs. They will learn how the courts are used to challenge unfair laws and research how individuals and groups fought for civil rights throughout the 1800s.

The Founders paid close attention to the rights of the accused because they realized that the government had the power both to prosecute and convict. Protections were needed to guard against the government's abuse of these powers. Understanding how the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments operate to guarantee such protection and how they work to ensure both individual liberty and limit government is vital to maintaining free citizenship. This lesson explores these amendments and the protections they provide.

This discussion guide is for use with the video âHow Do Judges Decide Cases?â which features the Hon. Anthony J. Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Stephen Burbank, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, at the Fair and Impartial Judiciary Symposium on October 26, 2019, at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

The Founders listed several rights guaranteed to the people in the first eight amendments of the Bill of Rights. They did not believe that this list was all encompassing, so they included the Ninth Amendment as a way to protect the rights of the people that were not listed in the first Eight. This lesson explores the nature of these unnamed rights and examines the arguments around who should interpret them, judges or the people.

The Founders believed that property is among the natural rights governments exist to protect. One of the ways the Founders protected property rights was in the Fifth Amendment. This amendment restricts the government's ability to take property and ensures that when it does take property, it must pay for it. This lesson explores the Fifth Amendment and its applications.