The U.S. Constitution
On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine of the fifty-five delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the Constitution of the United States of America. Since 2005, Constitution Day has been officially celebrated every September 17. This collection of resources offers many different ways to teach about the Constitution and its impact on students' lives.
Songsheet of “The Constitution!” from the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress.
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Related pages
- The Bill of Rights and the U.S. Supreme Court: In this lesson, students work in groups and individually to understand how the Constitution/Bill of Rights is a living document and how Supreme Court decisions protect the rights of all Americans.
- "We the People": Students will gain a better understanding of the U.S. Constitution by exploring the language of the Constitution.
- Change in a democratic society (Lesson 1 of 3): This lesson will demonstrate how art can imitate society. Students will learn about democracy in America through an examination of and a Paideia seminar on "The Sword of Damocles," an oil painting by British painter Richard Westall. This lesson should be used after a study of colonial times in America and through the American Revolution.
Related topics
- Learn more about American government, American history, Bill of Rights, Constitution, history, and social studies.
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On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine of the fifty-five delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the Constitution of the United States of America, a document that established the framework of the United States government. Still a living document, the Constitution encompasses the primary law of the federal government and spells out the basic rights of all U.S. citizens.
There are many ways to teach about the Constitution and its impact on students’ lives, whether you’re celebrating Constitution Day (every September 17) or teaching a basic civics lesson. LEARN NC has compiled these websites and lesson plans from our collections to help you find the perfect resource.
Lesson plans
- Goodbye Bill of Rights!
- Students will enact a scene demonstrating life without one of the first ten amendments. Students will be put into groups of three or four and assigned a specific amendment to research. (Grade 10)
- The First Amendment: What’s fair in a free country?
- Students consider the limitations that have been placed on the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech by subsequent U.S. Supreme Court rulings. (Grade 5)
- Preamble to the Constitution: How do you make a more perfect union?
- Students investigate the purposes of the U.S. Constitution and study fundamental values and principles as they are expressed in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. (Grade 5)
- Balancing three branches at once: Our system of checks and balances
- Students use primary source documents to investigate how the three branches of the American government can check each other. (Grade 5)
- Teaching with Documents
- History lesson from the National Archives with reproducible copies of primary source documents. In particular you will want to take a look at Observing Constitution Day and U.S. Constitution Workshop
Websites
- National Constitution Center
- Explore the Constitution and the basic governing principles, founding fathers and documents essential to the formation of the United States government.
- Our Documents
- An online collection of 100 American milestone documents including the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the patent for the cotton gin, the Louisiana Purchase treaty, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Homestead Act, and dozens more. Each document page is complete with a digital image, a hi-resolution image for download, a transcript, and historical context. Teaching ideas are also available.
- Justice Learning
- Start with current issues that directly effect student’s lives and work toward historical context and civic competence using the materials from NPR and the New York Times.
- Teaching with Documents: Observing Constitution Day
- A series of activities that use primary sources to teach about the constitution and its adoption.
- Primary Source Set: The Constitution
- Includes images, documents, maps, sound files and analysis tools to help teach about the United States Constitution. From the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress.
- Constitution Day Resources
- Find condensed versions of both the United States Constitution and North Carolia Constitution as well as other resources like teaching strategies, key terms, and guiding questions. The North Carolina Civic Education Consortium offers these resources as well as a collection of lesson plans on civics and economics.
- Celebrating Constitution Day: CQ Press in Context
- A free, nonpartisan resource for information on pivotal events and issues shaping today’s world of government and politics. Provides a free ready-to-use lesson and background information on the Constitution and government powers.
- We the People: Behind the Scenes with Benjamin Franklin
- Cyberbee has lesson plan ideas, primary sources, and Quicktime interviews with Ben Franklin as well as a video tour of the National Park Service’s Indendence Hall.
More ideas
Browse our collection for additional resources on the constitution or find websites with resources on civics and government.
