Students will learn about the executive branch, including the unique role and powers of the president and the function of executive departments and agencies. They will explore key facets of foreign policy and the president’s role in it.

From the first years of the republic under the Constitution through the 1850s, America experienced rapid growth and expansion, opening new lands and opportunities for its people, and experiencing a variety of growing pains in the process. Political, social, and economic challenges confronted American political leaders, in some cases threatening the union. This toolkit provides guiding questions and links to essential documents, resources, and lesson plans related to expansion and sectionalism.

Explore the evolving division of duties and powers between the federal and state governments throughout the eras of federalism using an interactive timeline and associated resources.

As a part of the Federalist Papers, James Madison wrote Federalist No. 10 in 1787. In this essay, Madison defended the republican form of government created by the Constitution. He discussed the concepts of majority rule and minority rights and the factions in preventing tyranny. Clips from Journalist George Will and Senators James Lankford and Ted Cruz are included along with guiding questions about specific ideas found in Federalist 10.

As students read have them note the ways in which Hamilton says the judiciary's power will be limited.

In this lesson, students will gain an understanding of how the Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendment changed in light of the Fourteenth Amendment. They will also analyze Thomas Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, evaluate the Supreme Court's application of Jefferson's metaphor about the wall of separation between church and state, and assess how much weight should be given to Jefferson's letter in determining the constitutionality of state action with respect to religion.

Students will examine the purpose, forms, and limitations on government. They will learn about key philosophers like John Locke and explore practical examples of government functions. Students will complete this unit with an understanding of different forms of government, key influences on American democratic principles, and distinguishing features of governments around the world.

In this lesson, based on the Annenberg Classroom video âA Conversation on the Constitution: Freedom of Speech,â students gain insight into the many challenges involved in defining and protecting free speech. They also learn about principles that come from Supreme Court decisions and case law that are applied to define the limits for us today.

The Supreme Court determined that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution grants the federal government the power to determine how interstate commerce is conducted. This resource includes teacher materials, guides, and activities for teaching about this Supreme Court case.

The Court unanimously ruled in Gideon’s favor, stating that the Sixth Amendment requires state courts to provide attorneys for criminal defendants facing felony charges who cannot otherwise afford counsel. This resource includes teacher materials, guides, and activities for teaching about this Supreme Court case.

This lesson can be used to reinforce and review the key events of the American Revolution. Can also be used as a DBQ for APUSH This activity will also introduce students to the effects the Revolution had on the world stage in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Americans and the American system of government were faced with two existential challenges, overlapping, in the form of the Great Depression and the Second World War. The Great Depression, lasting more than a decade, created economic, social, and political challenges the country had never before experienced to such extents, and resulted in political and legal activity that had never before been considered. FDR’s expansion of the federal government was not only one of scope, but also reach, acting directly on individual Americans’ lives in ways it had never before. Adding to the challenges of the 1930s was the rise of expansionistic and belligerent dictatorships in Germany, Italy, and Japan, and the world war they caused. This toolkit provides guiding questions and links to essential documents, resources, and lesson plans related to the the Great Depression and World War II.

Case background and primary source documents concerning the Supreme Court case of Griswold v. Connecticut. Dealing with whether or not a citizen has a natural right to privacy, this lesson asks students to support or refute the Supreme Court's ruling in Griswold that the Constitution protects a right to privacy within marriage that includes the decision to use artificial birth control.

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.

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.