Free Lesson Plans
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Our free Constitution Courier newsletter helps teachers connect America’s Founding principles to students’ lives. Delivered directly to your inbox, each Courier includes historical content, connections to real life, classroom activities, downloadable PDFs, answer keys, discussion questions, and/or suggestions for further reading. Our 2 newsletter themes each come out once a month and cover a variety of topic areas to engage today’s students. Sign up for the Courier today, or read more about the most recent lessons below!
Current Events and the Constitution
There are many opportunities to analyze and discuss current events in light of our Founding documents. Current Events and the Constitution provides a framework for discussing current events in context with history. Each month, students will analyze how the Constitution applies to a specific issue and can be adapted to discuss events on the local, state, or national level. View past lessons.
College Bill of Rights eLesson
The American commitment to free speech has long been celebrated, and our First Amendment is rightly considered to be a crucial part of the Bill of Rights. However the right to free speech is not unlimited, and exceptions do exist. Certain college campuses restrict specific types of speech. It’s important that you and your students learn how the First Amendment applies on college campuses. Read and download the entire lesson.
Bill of Rights in the News
The Bill of Rights in the News Constitution Courier focuses on issues making headlines that directly relate to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. With current online news articles, discussion questions, and related links and resources, Bill of Rights in the News is a valuable teaching asset for government, history, or civics teachers. View past lessons.
George Mason: In His Own Words
George Mason’s ideas helped to shape the Founding documents of the United States, but few Americans remember him today. The words he used when writing the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Virginia Constitution of 1776 inspired the nation’s Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. Mason was an associate of fellow Virginians George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson, the last of whom called Mason “a man of the first order of greatness.” View and download the entire lesson plan.