"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,...

Why did the Founders make it so challenging to amend the US Constitution? To gain an understanding of why the process is so difficult, class members engage in a Constitutional Convention simulation. Groups draft, propose, and debate...

Students study the United States Constitution and create a year-long cumulative activity for social studies. In this social studies lesson, students complete activities throughout the year to learn the 5Ws for the United States...

Students explore the life and the contributions of five people from U.S. history in the five lessons of this unit. james Madison, Dolly Madison, Sequoyah, Harriet Tubman, and Clara Barton are presented to students for exploration and...

Using Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, guide your class in the process of identifying unknown terms using context clues and formulating text-based answers. The lesson plan includes a useful worksheet incorporating scaffolding questions on an...

Students are introduced to the lives and contributions of the first seven presidents of the United States. They, in groups, conduct further research on one of these president and his political platform and design a presentation for the...

Students investigate early presidents of the United States. Students complete a series of lessons in which they research the contributions and political climate during the terms of U.S. presidents from George Washington to Andrew Jackson.

Bring history to life for your young scholars with a Fourth of July lesson series. After a class reading of the Declaration of Independence, students translate this pivotal document into layman's terms before working in small...

Students utilize knowledge and understandings of the Civil War to look at the reconstructive era that followed. In this reconstructive era lesson, Students gain understanding of the definition of reconstruction by building, taking apart...

Feeling stuck? Want to energize the class? Use activities such as quizzes and fill-in-the-blank worksheets to get class members' attention with a year's worth of holiday celebrations. From Mother's Day to Robert Burns's birthday,...

Over 100 choices of project-based learning activities are provided to enhance teaching U.S. Constitution and civics topics in the classroom.

A comprehensive unit of the colonies gaining their independence from and trying to create an effective constitution establishing a new government. Find lessons, videos, and primary sources.

A set of lessons that can be used to commemorate the anniversaries of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787. They help students to reflect on the...

Explore why the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution and its enduring impact on defining our rights. In this interactive lesson from WGBH, students develop a written argument in response to the question "How does the Bill of...

Lesson plans, activities, and resources for learning about George Mason and his contributions to Virginia statehood and in forging the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

A brief video providing background information on the Constitutional Convention. [3:58] The video is followed by a quiz and a list of additional resources.

Learning module with multi-media resources helps students understand the constitutional basis and history of the State of the Union Address, identifying important historic themes and significant topics. Includes video, graphic...

This Khan Academy resource provides video lessons, detailed notes, and practice questions for the AP U.S. History Exam. The years 1754-1800 are covered.

Learning module and lesson plan in which students will deliberate in the classroom on the topic of Affirmative Action. Lesson provides students with the history of affirmative action policies and practices in the U.S. and opposing...