Constitutional Theme Guides
Constitutional Theme guides are tools for educators and members of the general public interested in exploring the history of the Constitution or particular Constitutional sections, themes and topics through primary source documents.
Description |
Download |
United States Constitution for Kids |
pdf |
Primary Sources: Alexander Hamilton and the American Founding |
pdf | docx |
Primary Sources: Judicial Appointments and the Constitution |
pdf | docx |
Primary Sources: Reconstruction and the American Founding |
pdf | docx |
Primary Sources: Slavery and the Constitution |
pdf | docx |
War Powers Timeline |
pdf |
Choosing to Make a Nation: Interactive Lessons on the Revolution, Constitution, and Bill of Rights
The Choosing to Make a Nation Curriculum Project developed by award-winning author Ray Raphael is a student-centered, primary source-rich approach to teaching about American history and our nation‘s founding documents. The lesson plans in this curriculum are premised on the idea that history is the chronicle of choices made by actors/agents/protagonists in specific contexts. Students understand choices – they make them all the time. These lessons involve students by placing them in the shoes of historical people and asking: “What might you do in such instances?”
For these exercises to be historical (more than affirmations of individual whims), we needed to provide context: what was the issue, the problem to be solved? What were the existing realities/constraints that limited possibilities? With those in mind, what were the available options? For each option, how did people view the possibilities for a desired outcome? What were the potential dangers? When studying battles, we see how generals evaluate troop strengths, positioning, logistics, morale, and so on. In fact, all historical actors do this—not just leading political figures, but ordinary people and collective bodies. In Revolutionary times, people often made decisions in groups, both indoors (town meetings, caucuses, conventions, congresses) and “out-of-doors,” as they said at the times, informal gatherings that protested authority or enforced popular will. Individuals, forced to navigate the troubled waters of those days, also faced momentous decisions.
Our task is to introduce students to historical protagonists who confronted such choices. Points of decision create teachable moments. We help students imagine, from a distant time, the hopes of these people, but also their constraints. With these protagonists, students explore the available options. Having skin in the game, they will better understand why people acted as they did. They will think more deeply about the paths actually taken — how events ensued, the consequences of decisions, and the subsequent issues these created. By exercising individual and group decision-making skills within political contexts, they prepare for civic life.
The Revolutionary War
Description |
Download |
All files in a single .zip |
zip |
Below are the files contained in the .zip above |
Revolutionary War Unit Guide |
Guide |
General Washington's War Council |
1 class |
Starving Soldiers: Joseph Plumb Martin |
1 class |
A Farm Wife's Struggles: Sarah Hodgkins |
1 class |
Iroquois Council: Choosing Sides |
1 class |
Enslaved Americans: Seeking Freedom |
1 class |
Black Refugees: David George |
1 class |
Wartime Pacifists: Quakers |
1 class |
Oaths of Allegiance: Moravians and Andrew Giering |
1 class |
Retribution and a Civil War in the South: Thomas Brown |
1 class |
Retribution at the Highest Level: George Washington and Charles Asgill |
1 class |
Parliament: Will Britain Continue the War after Yorktown |
1 class | 2 classes |
The Declaration of Independence Unit
Description |
Download |
All files in a single .zip |
zip |
Below are the files contained in the .zip above |
Independence in 1774? The Suffolk Resolves |
1 class |
Independence in 1776? |
1 class |
Writing the Declaration of Independence |
1 class |
The Articles of Confederation Unit
Description |
Download |
All files in a single .zip |
zip |
Below are the files contained in the .zip above |
Articles of Confederation: Franklin's Initial Draft |
1 class |
Articles of Confederation: Deliberations in Congress |
1 class |
Articles of Confederation: Ratification and Attempts to Amend |
1 class |
The Constitutional Convention Unit
The Constitution in Action: The Early Republic Unit
Description |
Download |
All files in a single .zip |
zip |
Below are the files contained in the .zip above |
Unit Introduction |
Intro |
Origin of the Bill of Rights: State Amendments |
1 class |
Origin of the Bill of Rights: Madison's Amendments |
1 class |
Republic or Democracy? |
1 class |
Strict vs. Loose Construction |
1 class | 2 classes |
Who Shapes Foreign Policy? |
1 or 2 classes |
State Challenges to Federal Authority: The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions |
1 or 2 classes |
Political Parties and Presidential Electors: The Election of 1800 |
1 or 2 classes |
Lesson Plans by Grade
These lesson plans have been developed by ConSource staff members and/or teacher content partners.
Grade |
Description |
Download |
3-5 |
The Supreme Court |
pdf |
4 |
Ratification of the Constitution |
pdf | docx |
6 |
Declaration of Independence |
pdf | docx |
6-8 |
Article III - The Supreme Court |
pdf | docx |
6-8 |
Give and Take at the Constitutional Convention |
pdf | docx |
6-8 |
An Energetic Executive |
pdf | docx |
6-8 |
Freedom and Equality |
pdf | docx |
6-8 |
Judiciary Act of 1789 |
pdf | docx |
8 |
An Anti-Federalist Perspective |
pdf | docx |
8 |
The Bill of Rights and Me |
pdf | docx |
8 |
Second Amendment and Primary Sources |
pdf | docx |
9-10 |
Declaration of Independence |
pdf | docx |
9-12 |
Civic Discourse at the Constitutional Convention |
pdf | docx |
9-12 |
Civilian Led Military |
pdf | docx |
9-12 |
Dynamics of War Powers |
pdf | docx |
9-12 |
The Executive Branch |
pdf | docx |
9-12 |
Interpreting the Constitution |
pdf | docx |
9-12 |
The Judiciary Act of 1789 |
pdf | docx |
11-12 |
The Bill of Rights |
pdf | docx |
11-12 |
Second Amendment and Primary Sources |
pdf | docx |