America's constitutional government has changed over time as a result of amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Supreme Court decisions, legislation, and other practices. Students will use the seven basic principles found in our government...

As new free and slave states were admitted to the Union prior to the Civil War, political divisions kept growing, despite attempts to balance the numbers of each. The South pushed for slavery to expand westward, while anti-slavery...

A complete unit on constitutional law that uses the court case of Texas vs. Johnson, in which Gregory Lee Johnson was convicted of desecration of a venerated object after lighting an American flag on fire. The case became an argument...

Students learn what Congress is, what the Constitution says about the legislative branch, and how a bill becomes law. They analyze some actual language from the Constitution, compare the House and the Senate, and simulate the lawmaking...

This lesson plan will help students understand that the legislative process of enacting federal income tax laws involves formal procedures based on the Constitution and informal procedures that blend and balance various interests.

A lesson plan that includes a handout and various follow-up activities for middle schoolers. The lesson is described here and a link is provided for downloading the lesson plan and handout.

This site contains a list of 50 words from the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. Teachers can digitally assign this list to their students to reinforce the spellings, pronunciations, and meanings of these words.

This website provides several links and introductory information on the Constitution, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, expression in special places, freedom of religion, due process, the right to privacy, discrimination, and...

This lesson explores the structure of Congress and the legislative process. There is an introduction, a research activity, an assessment, and a role play activity.

This mini-lesson covers the basics of the Supreme Court's decision that then-sitting President Nixon had to turn over some recordings of his presidential communications to a court of law. Students learn about the Watergate break-in, the...