Resources

Student Resources:

• Limiting Government Through the Bill of Rights Primary Source

Facilitation Notes

• This lesson is meant to be completed after students have become familiar with the Bill of Rights amendments. Before beginning this lesson, be sure your students have a solid understanding of the Bill of Rights with the Grouping Rights Lesson Plan.

Engage

Option 1

• Ask students to define “Limited Government” without using any form of the words limited or government.
  • Sample answers could include “setting boundaries on the authority” or “a system where those in power are restricted by laws”.
• Tell students “Today we will look at four amendments in the Bill of Rights to see how the government is limited by those amendments. Then we will apply the amendments to scenarios.”

Option 2

• Begin class by asking for a few volunteers to act out a scenario. Secretly tell the volunteers to come up with a skit that represents “limited government” without saying the words “limited” or “government.”
• The rest of the class tries to guess the concept based on the skit.
• After the correct answer is revealed, ask the class to define “limited government” in their own words. Guide them toward answers like:
  • “Setting boundaries on authority”
  • “A system where those in power are restricted by laws”
  • “Rules that prevent leaders from having too much control”

Explore

• Distribute the Limiting Government Through the Bill of Rights Primary Source handout.
• Read through the background information as a whole group.
• Next, read the First Amendment in the “text” column as a class by reading the text of the amendment aloud, modeling use of the vocabulary and context column to assist student understanding.
• Read both the scenario and follow-up-question. Give students 2-3 minutes to write their answer to the scenario question before calling on volunteers to share their answers.
  • For example: This protest is protected under the First Amendment, as long as the park is open for operating hours.
• Follow the same process to complete the handout, gradually releasing responsibility to students as needed.
• Optional Activity: Divide students into small groups, assigning each group one of the amendments not covered on the handout to analyze, define vocabulary and create a scenario and question, in the style of the primary source handout. After reviewing for accuracy, share the groups’ work with the class and have students complete the scenario questions.

Assess & Reflect

• Reflection Questions:
  • How would you explain “limited government” to someone with no experience with the phrase?
  • Why do you think the Founders believed it was important to limit the power of government?
  • How does a limited government protect individual freedoms? Can you think of an example?
  • What are some dangers of a government that is too powerful? What about a government that is too weak?

Scaffolding note: Use the reflection questions as prompts for a think-pair-share, writing activity, group activity, or journal entry. Assign one or more students as needed to scale the difficulty and topic focus for your classroom.