Marbury v. Madison is arguably the most important landmark case in the history of the Supreme Court. A fact-filled lesson provides background information about the case and two others related to the concept of judicial review. Scholars...

Unless you are a lawyer, you might not understand just how unrealistic Law and Order and other legal dramas actually are. Here's a great resource to help scholars of criminology gain a more realistic perspective. The lesson outlines the...

Did you know there are seven Articles and 27 Amendments to the US Constitution? Explore each and every one of them, including the Bill of Rights and other rights around the world, in a super neat US Constitution interactive. 

Almost every American is familiar with the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education. Far fewer understand the constitutional reasoning or the wide-ranging consequences of the ruling in the field of criminology. The interesting...

Why should classes care about the First Amendment? An engaging lesson serves as a powerful tool for answering just that. As all four cases in the lesson relate directly to freedom of expression in schools, young scholars explore the...

Americans love to learn about their rights, especially those that protect them from the government's power to invade their privacy. Young people are especially engaged by this topic. An informative lesson explores four Supreme Court...

Churches have been tax-exempt since the founding of America, but should they be? Pupils ponder the question as they browse the website in preparation for a class debate or discussion. They research the history of tax-exemption for...

The first legal gay marriage in the United States occurred in Massachusetts in 2004. Since then, countless others have tied the knot. Scholars decide whether gay marriage should be legal by reading a history of the issue, analyzing the...

Ben's Guide is a fun way to present U.S. Government to students grades K-12. This site presents a brief history of the Constitution. Links to related sites are available.

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.

Has the U.S. Constitution survived partly because it is so brief? See how the Constitution has changed through judicial interpretation, but stays remarkably the same.

Dive into the times following the Constitutional Convention when the people and the leaders carried on in-depth conversations about the proposed constitution for the new nation. There were debates between Federalists and Antifederalists...

An overview of the process of ratification which occurred following the Constitutional Convention proposed the first version of the Constitution. Meet the primary contributors and understand the six stages of the ratification.

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....

Overview of the history and structure of the U.S. Constitution as the "supreme law" of the land of which state and federal laws may not conflict and can only be changed by the American people.

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.

Essay covers from the Articles of Confederation and the problems of disunity of the new states after the Revolutionary War, internally as well as externally, to the Constitutional Convention, an attempt to address the Articles' problems....

Imagine a boat still existing today from 1797 that actually fought in the War of 1812! That's the USS Constitution that is now a museum in Boston Harbor. Here's a bit about Old Ironsides and what it was like to be "at sea" back in those...

Find details of the Federalists and Antifederalists views of the proposed U.S. Constitution. Peruse the activists and legacies representing both sides of the debates.

After the Constitution was written, debated, and finally adopted by the Constitutional Convention, it was sent to the states to ratify. Read about the fears of those who did not want to ratify it and see how their fears were addressed.

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.

Those writing the Constitution had many issues to deal with in forming a document to govern the country. One thorny issue was the status of the states in regard to representation in the federal legislature. Read about the Virginia Plan...

Find the delegates of the Constitutional Convention listed both alphabetically and by the state they represented. Check out the biographical information for each one.

Read about the woeful lack of understanding Americans have of their own guding document, the Constitution.