Understanding the Patriot attitude toward the British monarchy is helpful in understanding the Founders' reluctance to have a strong executive under the Articles of Confederation as well as their desire to build in checks of executive power under the Constitution.

Learn about the checks and balances system of the three branches of the U.S. government.

Online OER text created for U.S. History to 1865 by Dr. June Klees for Bay College.

© 2017 Bay College and Content Creators. Except where otherwise noted this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Online OER text created for U.S. History 1865 to Present by Dr. June Klees for Bay College.

© 2017 Bay College and Content Creators. Except where otherwise noted this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

In this curriculum unit, students look at the role of President as defined in the Constitution and consider the precedent-setting accomplishments of George Washington.

In this webinar by iCivics and the Center for Civic Education, Henry L. Chambers, Jr., Emma Humphries, and Mike Fassold explain the long and troubled history of voting rights in the United States and share tips for teaching representation and the expansion of suffrage.

Mike Fassold, an educator from Fishers Junior High School in Indiana, explains how he teaches the expansion of voting rights using the We the People middle school curriculum. Fassold is followed by Professor Henry Chambers, the Austin E. Owen Research Scholar & Professor of Law at the University of Richmond, who discusses the 2020 Census, apportionment, and gerrymandering. Finally, Emma Humphries, the Chief Education Officer at iCivics, explores compelling new infographics and Web activities on the census, gerrymandering, and voting that will engage your students.

In this activity students will identify and define seven key ideas contained in the U.S. Constitution by making matches from the grid. They will then analyze documents that demonstrate each big idea in action.

This activity is designed to prepare students for the Constitution-in-Action Learning Lab at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It is a part of a package of pre-visit activities associated with the lab experience.

The Constitution might never have been ratified if the framers hadn't promised to add a Bill of Rights. The first ten amendments to the Constitution gave citizens more confidence in the new government and contain many of today's Americans' most valued freedoms.

Students will investigate one of the amendments to the Constitution to find out how it was important for the time, how it protects citizens and how it applies to our current needs.Enduring Understanding:The U.S. Constitution reflects our national beliefs about people, rights, and government.

The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. James Madison wrote the amendments, which list specific prohibitions on governmental power, in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties. For example, the Founders saw the ability to speak and worship freely as a natural right protected by the First Amendment. Congress is prohibited from making laws establishing religion or abridging freedom of speech. The Fourth Amendment safeguards citizensâ" right to be free from unreasonable government intrusion in their homes through the requirement of a warrant.

This document includes images of the 1791 Bill of Rights. Although 12 amendments were originally proposed, the 10 that were ratified became the Bill of Rights in 1791. They defined citizens' rights in relation to the newly established government under the Constitution.

This lesson builds upon prior knowledge of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights by asking students to think critically about the issues and philosophies central to both. Through investigation and debate, students are asked to question why certain rights were added to the Constitution and why others were not. Such a discussion will encourage students to synthesize multiple historical and contemporary perspectives about their rights to decide if, in today’s world, we need different rights, if our rights are complete the way they are, or if the existing ones need change.

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, adopted through ratification, are collectively referred to as the Bill of Rights. As the first nine outline fundamental guarantees to the citizenry and the tenth reserves some governmental powers to the state governments, the Bill of Rights establishes limitations on the scope of the federal government. In this lesson, students will explore the history of the Bill of Rights and the meaning of the amendments included in the document through videos and activities.

In this lesson, students will examine a copy of twelve possible amendments to the United States Constitution as originally sent to the states for their ratification in September of 1789. Students will debate and vote on which of these amendments they would ratify and compare their resulting “Bill of Rights” to the ten amendments ratified by ten states that have since been known by this name.

Rap song on the Bill of Rights, hosted by Smart Songs, an educational music group, creating songs about history, social studies, geography, and science---providing kids and teachers with content that makes learning fun. ABC News Los Angeles and The Boston Globe have described the group as the current version of Schoolhouse Rock.

In this lesson, students will learn about the individual rights that are included in the Bill of Rights and current issues relating to them. Students will use C-SPAN Classroom's Constitution Clips to explore what each of these rights mean and determine how these rights apply to current events in America. This lesson works well with classes with one-to-one devices or in flipped classrooms.

Join an American Indian Interpreter as they share how the founding fathers looked to native governments when establishing their new republic.

The Swedish Academy awarded Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." In this lesson, students consider the role Dylan has played in both literature and the American song tradition, and debate whether his work indeed constitutes "new poetic expressions" worthy of the prestigious award.

In this set of lessons which extend over several days, students read excerpts from "The Death of Benny Paret" by Norman Mailer and "The Fight" by William Hazlitt. Students annotate the text, specifically looking for metaphor and simile, tone, and syntax. Working with a partner, students write three paragraphs, analyzing metaphor or simile, tone, and syntax in "The Death of Benny Paret." Working independently, students write one paragraph, choosing to analyze metaphor or simile, tone, or syntax in "The Fight."

In this game, test your knowledge of the branches of the U.S. government!