Unit 1: The Community and the Citizen

What does it mean to be a part of a community? What does it mean to be a citizen? This unit explores what it means to live with others in a community and the role of governments within our communities.

Who are you?

Who are we as individuals? What does it mean to have natural rights? Given who we are as human beings, how should we structure our governments?

Educator Resource

Principles and Virtues

How do We the People are better able to protect and advance freedom and opportunity for all?

Lesson

Frederick Douglass and Identity: Resurrection to the Heaven of Freedom

2 Activities45 Min

Examine key events in the life of Frederick Douglass and the turning point when he determined not to remain a slave.

The Informal Constitution: What does it mean to be a part of a community?

Human beings have both formal, or legal, and informal, or organic, connections. Our governments exist as part of our communities, but only one part. This lesson explores what it means to be a part of a community and how we maintain them.

Lesson

Communities

1 Activities55 Min

Though not always in the media spotlight, the communities with which a person interacts on a daily basis are important political units. It is citizens’ interaction with their communities that largely determines their happiness and safety.

Lesson

Civic Virtue and Our Constitutional Republic

9 Activities50 Min

The United States Founders believed that certain civic virtues were required of citizens in order for the Constitution to work. Numerous primary sources—notably the Federalist Papers and the Autobiography of Ben Franklin—point us to the “Founders’ Virtues.” Before exploring the Documents of Freedom, it is important to understand civic virtue as an essential element of self-government.

Activity

What is Virtue? Historical and Philosophical Context

Activity

What is Virtue? Defining the Term

Activity

Primary Source Activity: Benjamin Franklin and Civic Virtue

The Formal Constitution: What is Government?

Formal governments help protect our rights and liberties and support our communities. This lesson explores how the American government is structured given who we are as human beings.

Activity

Primary Source: Federalist No. 51 Excerpts Annotated

Essay

Essay: The Role of Government

1353 Words

The Framers of the U.S. Constitution knew that the new government they crafted must be more powerful and effective than the government under the Articles of Confederation. They studied history and human nature to create a government strong enough to promote the public good, but not so strong that it would become a threat to individual liberties.

What is "Civics"?

What does it mean to study "Civics"? This lesson examines what we owe to each other and our communities and how these responsibilities help shape and support our lives as citizens.

Lesson

Responsibilities of Citizenship

3 Activities55 Min

This lesson provides activities that help students analyze characteristics of good citizenship.

The Challenges We Face

How can one individual's responsibility influence a community? This lesson explores the life of Frederick Douglass and how his example can teach us to help ourselves and others overcome the challenges we face.