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Celebrating the freedom to read

Banned Books Week teaches the importance of our First Amendment rights and draws attention to the danger of restricting information in a free society.

By Melissa Thibault.

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.

Format: bibliography/help

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.

Format: lesson plan (grade 10 Social Studies)

By Greg Simmons.

Paving the road to the Constitution

Students will be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation as related to the United States and North Carolina. Students will be able to demonstrate an argument for or against ratification of the United States Constitution.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Kim Bennett.

"We the People"

Students will gain a better understanding of the U.S. Constitution by exploring the language of the Constitution.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Karen Creech, Terri Hodges, Megan Lawson, and Mary Ostwalt.

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.

Format: lesson plan (grade 10 Social Studies)

By Grace Wasserman.

"I Declare, I believe this document May Flower!"

The learner will apply ideas of self-government as expressed in America's founding documents. To be used with/for SLD and other exceptional students.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Social Studies)

By Gary Peterson.

The five parts of the Fifth

This lesson will focus on the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution and its intent to provide due process to citizens. Students will engage in writing, discussion, cooperative learning, art, and theatrical activities in gaining an understanding of the Amendment and its concepts.

Format: lesson plan (grade 10 Social Studies)

By Keith Leary.

Bill of Rights

Format: image/constitution

Revolutionary North Carolina

Primary sources and readings explore North Carolina in the era of the American Revolution. Topics include the Regulators, the resistance to Great Britain, the War for Indpendence, and the creation of new governments.

Format: book (multiple pages)

The Regulators organize

In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 1.3

Subscription to an organization of Regulators, January 1768. The subscribers agreed to resist paying taxes and fees they considred unlawful and to petition their representatives to change laws they considered unfair. Primary source includes historical commentary.

Format: declaration

A Pledge to Violate the Stamp Act

In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 2.5

In 1766, during the colonial protests of the Stamp Act, some residents of eastern North Carolina, including many colonial leaders, signed this pledge to refuse to pay the tax. Primary source includes historical commentary.

Format: newspaper

North Carolina demands a declaration of rights

In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 6.6

North Carolina initially rejected the United States Constitution, insisting that it be amended and that a Declaration of Rights be added. The text of the proposed declaration and amendments is provided here with historical commentary noting which provisions found their way into the Bill of Rights.

Format: document

The Bill of Rights

In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 6.7

The text of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, with historical commentary.

Format: constitution

The Constitutional Convention

In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 6.3

The Articles of Confederation proved too weak to govern the new United States effectively, and in 1787, Congress authorized a convention to revise the document. Instead, the convention wrote an entirely new constitution for the United States.

Format: article

The North Carolina Constitution and Declaration of Rights

In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 3.14

Full text of the 1776 state constitution of North Carolina, with historical commentary.

Format: constitution

The First Provincial Congress

In Revolutionary North Carolina, page 2.6

After the Boston Tea Party in December 1773, Britain retaliated with a series of punitive measures that colonists called the "intolerable acts." In August 1774, North Carolina's colonial leaders met at New Bern to set out their princples, to plan further opposition to Britain, and to choose delegates to a Continental Congress. This excerpt from the proceedings of that First Provincial Congress includes historical commentary.

Format: document

Honor Guard protecting the North Carolina Bill of Rights

A Honor Guard protects the North Carolina Bill of Rights. They are wearing colonial-style uniforms. For a few weeks, the document was displayed in various places throughout North Carolina, including here, at the historic Chowan County Courthouse in Edenton,...

Format: image/photograph

The Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights as approved by Congress in 1789, including two amendments not in the first ten ratified by the states.

Format: image/constitution

Resources on the web

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... (Learn more)

Format: website/general

Provided by: National Archives and Records Administration NARA