Prerequisite: Students need to know the function of each of the branches of government. In this activity, students examine documents from U.S. history to examples of specific "checks and balances."

In this lesson students will examine the concept of "citizen" from a definitional perspective of what a citizen is and from the perspective of how citizenship is conferred in the United States. Students will discuss the rights and responsibilities of citizens and non-citizens and review the changing history of citizenship from colonial times to the present.

For many students, a trip to Washington, D.C. is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that opens their eyes to an exciting world beyond their classrooms. Discovery Education and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden welcome students to a behind-the-scenes Virtual Field Trip to experience the history and beauty of our nation’s capital.

Designed for students in grades 4-8, this action-packed tour features remarkable special guests and give viewers an inside look at six landmark locations:

The White House
The U.S. Capitol Building
The Supreme Court
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

The purpose of this lesson is to engage students in a discussion of the Constitutional Convention.Students will explore the key disputes that arose during the convention, including most prominently how power would be divided between the federal and state governments and the various branches of government. Furthermore, students with understand the importance of compromise during the Constitutional Convention. They will then apply these observations to other historical examples of debate and compromise to understand the nature of decision-making and civic discourse--discussion rooted in mutual respect for differences and desires for understanding--in the United States.

The United States Founders believed that certain civic virtues were required of citizens in order for the Constitution to work. Numerous primary sources—notably the Federalist Papers and the Autobiography of Ben Franklin—point us to the "Foundersâ" Virtues." Before exploring the Documents of Freedom, it is important to understand civic virtue as an essential element of self-government.

Engaging, teacher-created lesson plans on the Constitutional Convention, Freedom of Speech, 4th Amendment, Electoral College, Federalist and Federalism, more.

Explores the rights guaranteed to Americans as well as the attendant responsibilities that come with those rights...The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Presidential Learning Center at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation utilizes a project based approach to civic education while advocating for the comprehensive exploration of primary sources to meet this objective.

This lesson will focus on the case Korematsu v. U.S. in comparison with other times in U.S. history when the government was faced with the challenge of how to protect the country during war and, at the same time, protect individual freedoms. Using primary sources, students will examine five events in which U.S. citizens were forced to give up their civil liberties in times of war, highlighting the tension between liberty and security. Students will analyze these events to determine what groups were affected and the reasoning for and against the government action to decide if the government action was justified. Students will be able to form an opinion on the essential question: Is our government ever justified in restricting civil liberties for the security of the nation?

In this lesson, developed by and included with the permission the LBJ Presidential Library, students will use primary source documents to investigate the disappearance of three civil rights workers during the Freedom Summer of 1964.

This 2 min video examines the 13, 14, and 15th amendments to the constitution within 5 years. They discuss what they did and how they helped to ensure freedoms for all Americans.

The purpose of this lesson to assist student understanding of why the American Constitution places ultimate authority of the military in the hands of civilians rather than military leaders. Students should appreciate the historical uniqueness of the American military as an extension of constitutional principles in which the people always have the last word.

This set of lessons extends over several days and focuses on "The Crisis, No. 1" by Thomas Paine. Students closely read and annotate the text. Students identify and evaluate claims and evidence in the text. Students present their findings to the class. Finally, students collaboratively write short arguments identifying claims and evidence in "The Crisis, No. 1." Students present their arguments to the class, and the class discusses and assesses the arguments.

This set of lessons extends over several days. Students watch a Prezi and take notes about the classical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos). Students then read and annotate (focusing on the classical appeals) Winston Churchill's "Be Ye Men of Valour" and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation." Students work in groups to complete a graphic organizer which helps them analyze the classical appeals in the speeches. Finally, students write an analysis of ethos, pathos, and logos in one of the speeches.

This lesson plan outlines a way that students can have a mock Constitutional convention. They will read and discuss the four plans of government proposed at the convention and discuss the points that were compromised to create the U.S. Constitution.

September 17th is Constitution Day, commemorating the day in 1787 when, at the end of a long hot summer of discussion, debate and deliberation, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed America's most important document.

Committees improve the organization of the Senate and House of Representatives. Members of Congress cannot be experts on all issues. For this reason, the Senate and House of Representatives developed committees that focus on particular subjects.

Thomas Paine published Common Sense in January 1776 support of the Patriot cause. Using clear, plain language, Paine rallied the colonists to support the break from Britain. He explained, "I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to espouse the doctrine of separation and independence; I am clearly, positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true interest of this continent to be so."

In small groups, students analyze the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th amendment, and General Order #3 in terms of tone, audience, and message, focusing on similarities and differences.

This activity is designed to help students understand the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that shaped America’s legislative branch of government. The primary goal of this activity is for students to discover how a compromise balanced the needs of large states and small states and how this led to the creation of the current House of Representatives and Senate.

The Sixth Amendment's confrontation clause gives the accused the right âto be confronted with the witnesses against himâ at a criminal trial. This film uses the U.S. Supreme Court case Crawford v. Washington to help explain the history and importance of the confrontation clause and why the framers knew it would be crucial to an effective system of justice.â