Educating for American Democracy
9 items
State and Local Government
Lesson - 7 Activities
Lesson
7 Activities
90 Min
From the Founding generation to the present day, controversy continues regarding the proper division of power between state and national government. What the Founders did not find debatable was the wisdom of dividing power both among and within governments. In short, they considered the federal system to be a critical part of the American constitutional order.
90 Min
Unit 6 Civics Connection: The Role of Government According to the Founders and the Progressives
Lesson
Lesson
60 Min
This lesson is best used at the end of the unit as a review of key events of the period and how they connect to Founding principles.
Unit 4 Civics Connection: Equality, the Civil War, and Reconstruction
Lesson
Lesson
80 Min
This lesson should be used at the end of the unit to review key events and ideas from the Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
Unit 2 Civics Connection: An Apple of Gold in a Frame of Silver
Lesson
Lesson
80 Min
Use this Lesson as a unit summary activity to have students evaluate the link between constitutional principles and the content from Unit 2.
National Government, Crisis, and Civil Liberties
Lesson - 8 Activities
Lesson
8 Activities
135 Min
What is the balance of civil liberties and security during a time of crisis? Students read and discuss President Lincoln’s proclamation suspending habeas corpus. Working in cooperative groups students hold a simulated trial in the case of Ex parte Milligan (1866). Following the simulation students debrief the case and compare their verdict with the actual verdict. Students reflect on President Lincoln’s attempt to balance the strength of the government with protection of individual civil liberties.
135 Min
Popular Sovereignty and the Consent of the Governed
Lesson - 3 Activities
Lesson
3 Activities
The Founders believed that the government’s authority needed to come from the people. Under the reign of King George III, the colonists believed that they were deprived of their opportunity to consent to be governed by Parliament through representatives, and, therefore, the British could not force their laws upon the colonies. The Founders made sure to uphold this right in the American Constitution. The people, through their representatives at state ratification conventions, had to ratify the document in order for it to become law.
John Brown and Self-Deception
Lesson - 3 Activities
Lesson
3 Activities
60 Min
What is the vice of self-deception? Examine whether John Brown deceived himself with self-righteousness by thinking that he could end slavery in the antebellum United States by freeing and arming slaves to launch a racial war in the South.
60 Min
Unit 3 Civics Connection: Liberty and Union
Lesson
Lesson
115 Min
Use this lesson at the end of Unit 3 to discuss the different ways that the Founding principles were interpreted during the nation's first fifty years.
Unit 8 Civics Connection: Civil Discourse and Contentious Issues
Lesson
Lesson
65 Min
This lesson is best used at the end of the unit as a review of key events of the period and how they connect to Founding principles.