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...

An excerpt from Montesquieu's "The Spirit of Laws" on his philosophy on democratic government and trade.

Identify the considerations of the government when it comes to using military force in a situation that constitutes vital national interest.

This website, a unit introducing the law and legal system, is organized into six chapters where you can learn about laws, lawmaking, citizen advocacy, dispute settlements, the court system, and lawyers.

Does innocence matter in our criminal justice system? Don't the DNA cases show that we are not getting the right outcome in more cases than we previously thought?

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.

n this lesson, students learn what factors members of Congress consider when deciding whether to vote for a bill, including the powers given to Congress by the Constitution, what a member's constituents want, his or her political party's...

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...

Explore the five basic limits on government through the true story of Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, and other fictional cases of government power gone wild.