What did the Founding Fathers mean by the importance of continually returning to fundamental principles? Your young historians will analyze a series of quotations illustrating the fundamental ideals and principles of the...

Travel back to 1787 as young scholars investigate the creation of the US Constitution. After first working in small groups to create sets of classroom rules, students go on to read a summary of the Constitution and watch a short video...

Supreme Court justices debate the meaning of the US Constitution, but we expect teachers to explain it to scholars with far less training and experience. A daunting task for sure, but it's not insurmountable with resources that simplify...

Ratifying the Constitution was no simple task. Using primary sources, such as classic writings from the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, young scholars examine the arguments for and against the Constitution. They then decide: Would they...

September 17, Constitution Day so named because that was the day in 1787, that 39 men signed the Constitution, is the focus of a series of activities designed to simulate a Constitutional convention and open a study of the US Constitution.

September 17 is a great day to focus on the US Constitution for on this day in 1787, the Constitution was signed. Through a series of activities, high schoolers get a chance to look closely at this famous document and the rights and...

"We, the People of the State of Alabama. . ." Did you know that the Alabama State Constitution has 357,157 words while the US Constitution has only 4,400? And that it has 798 amendments while the US Constitution has...

Three branches of government help create a system of checks and balances. A helpful resource provides a series of articles regarding the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of government. Historians answer...

Here's a must-have resource for anyone reading To Kill A Mockingbird or using Harper Lee's award-winning novel in a classroom. The packet contains Miss Hollace Ransdall's first-hand, factual account of the trials of the Scottsboro Boys,...

Who does what? To develop an understanding of the balance of power between the US federal and state governments, class members research responsibilities in terms of legal systems, security issues, economic activities, lawmaking, and...

The Election of 1912: an election with four competitive opponents. Pupils get to know the candidates with informative reading passages that provide context to the election. Then, the class engages in a debate and answers questions as one...

Europe was changing in the early nineteenth century, and the Congress of Vienna largely sought to slow and contain those sweeping changes. A slideshow presentation illustrates the details of the Congress of Vienna, including its three...

Take classes on an in-depth tour of the Declaration of Independence. An informative resource effectively scaffolds learning by providing warm-up and wrap-up activities. It also includes a variety of handouts for individuals to complete,...

To understand the controversy surrounding the US 2000 presidential election, class members investigate the rationale behind the Electoral Collage, the intimidation involved in the election of 1876, and the 2004 American League...

Should democracies include hate speech as a protected right? Scholars analyze the rights found under the First Amendment to the Constitution through researching evidence. Freedom of expression becomes the focal point of the...

Should the United States Supreme Court have the power of judicial review? Instructors guide class members through a review of Marbury v. Madison and assist class members in writing a brief of the case. As independent practice,...

"Without concerned citizen action to uphold them (human rights) close to home; we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. . ." Eleanor Roosevelt's comment is used to set the stage for the conclusion of a five-lesson unit...

Considering the expressed and implied powers of Congress, was it constitutional for the United States to establish the Second National Bank in the early nineteenth century? What is the constitutionality of the Federal Reserve...

"How did the slavery system undermine the United States' democratic principles?" This question launches a study of how the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and Article IV,...

Most people support the idea of an independent judiciary in theory until they hear about a court case that violates their principles. An informative resource explains why the concept is important. It also provides scholars of criminology...

As part of a study of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, class members examine four Supreme Court decisions—Gitlow v. New York, Mapp v. Ohio, Gideon v. Wainwright, and Griswold v. Connecticut—that incorporated the due...

Class members continue their investigation of the factors that influence migration with a lesson on human rights. As they examine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and selected US Constitutional Amendments, learners compare the...

What's the difference between civil and criminal law? How do the court proceedings differ in these two types of trials? How do the standards of proof differ? Why do these differences exist? As part of their examination of the...

As part of their study of the 1963 March on Washington, class members do a side-by-side comparison of the original text of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" with a transcript of the speech he delivered. The take away from the...