US History learning module on the post revolutionary period discussing the fundamentals of writing the Constitution and a new form of government.

The Library of Congress provides several hundred documents relating to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. Content includes drafts of the Constitution, journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee...

Ben's Guide is a fun way to present US laws to school aged children. This site presents a thorough investigation into ways to amend the Constitution. Links to related sites are available.

The Constitution can be broken down into 6 main themes: Limited Government, Federalism, Republicanism, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, and Popular Sovereignty. Young scholars will study background on the Founding Fathers and...

See transcripts of the debates of the Federal Convention of 1787, the draft of the Constitution, or see the facsimiles of the original documents. Trace the progress of the Constitution using the historical documents themselves.

The issue of slavery was a contentious one during debates in the Constitutional Convention. Read about the various issues, the quotes of several of the delegates, and see how the word "slave" is not even mentioned in the Constitution....

After reading this section of the chapter on "Creating Republican Governments", students will be able to identify the central issues of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and their solutions and also describe the conflicts over the...

A game where the player must sort items into whether they belong in the body of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Amendments, the Articles, or not at all. There are two rounds to the game.

Information about Connecticut's delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Includes information on Oliver Ellsworth, a key supporter of the Great Compromise, as well as William Samuel Johnson and Roger Sherman.

This site from the United States Senate provides information about the evolution of the Senate as the Constitution was being written by the Constitutional Congress.

Explains why the Articles of Confederation were not strong enough to hold the country together. One result was a farmers' rebellion in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays, which was precipitated by a debt crisis that caused many farmers to...

Read about Checks and Balances, Balance of Power, the Electoral College, and much more in this informative lesson about the making of the Constitution.

Information about a group of nine delegates to the Constitutional Convention, all of whom had attended Princeton University. Explains Princeton's role in the convention, with longer biographical entries for three Princeton-education...

The Constitution can be amended, but it is tough to do. Read about the routes that can be taken to add amendments and look at some of the amendments that have succeeded.

View George Washington's annotated draft of the Constitution while discussing the ratification process. Specifically, the students will analyze changes to the Preamble of the Constitution. Critical thinking questions are provided.

Read the speech given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 17, 1937, honoring the Constitution and applying the tenets of the Constitution to contemporary issues in the 1930s.

Allow students opportunity to evaluate the constitutionality of the TSA full body airport scanners with this lesson plan.

An overview of the order in which the states ratified the Constitution. Find an assortment of newspaper clippings recognizing the ratification process across the states.

Primary source document includes handwritten drafts of what would become the first ammendment to the Constitution along with informational text and painting of a ca. 1890 colored engraving, "In the Reading Room of an 18th Century New...

Article describes how the written constitutions adopted by each of the 13 colonies were the seeds of the U.S. Constitution including the Bill of Rights. Includes questions for discussion and small group activity.

In this tutorial, students look at how the Civil War ended and the impact on the North and the South and on the future of the United States. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution are also examined for how they came...

These step-by-step lesson plans help students understand the historical background to the U.S. Constitution. Students simulate a hypothetical situation where they must create their own rules and figure out how to work together. Links to...

This article contains information about the principles used to create the Constitution of the United States.

This article contains the history, meaning, and words to the Preamble to the Constitution which encompassed the reasons why the thirteen original colonies separated from Great Britain to become an independent nation.