Bill of Rights for Real Life: The Founders The curriculum, The Bill of Rights for Real Life,

was made possible by a generous grant from the Cortopassi Institute.

The Bill of Rights for Real Life

Designed for less academicallyinclined high school students

21 core lesson plans 8th Grade Reading Level

Strong literacy/media literacy component Research-based best teaching practices

Unit Introduction Essay Lesson 8th grade level Overview Standards Objectives Materials Lesson Plan Handouts DVD Introduction Reinforcement Review Extension Options Homework Extensions Real Life Portal Back of the Book Resources Answer Key (pgs. 205-218) Reading Quizzes (pgs. 221-241) Landmark Sup. Court Cases (pgs. 245-257) DVD Guides (pgs. 261-266) Glossary (pgs. 269-273) Educational Resources (pgs. 277-280) Legal Experts & Scholars (pgs 283-289) Parent Letter (p. 290)

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies 8. Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses). 9. Analyze seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenthcentury foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincolns Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features.

Which of these documents did NOT influence the Founders ideas about natural rights? 1. Magna Carta 2. John Lockes Two Treatises of Government 3. English Declaration of Rights 4. Frances Declaration of the Rights of Man 5. Not sure

Primary Source Activity: Rights Attitude Inventory

What rights are most important to you?
Select your personal top 5, starting with the most important.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Freedom of speech Freedom of religion Right to a jury trial Freedom of the press Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment Right to keep and bear arms Right to control ones own property Freedom of assembly Freedom from quartering troops in ones home Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure

Primary Source Activity: Rights Attitude Inventory

Step 1: Using the Rights Attitude Inventory, get into groups of 6. Your group must come to a consensus, ranking rights from MOST (1) important to LEAST (10) important.

Consensus: shared decisionmaking not simply based on majority rule. Everyone in the group gets a fair hearing.

Primary Source Activity: Rights Attitude Inventory

What rights are most important to your group? Select your groups top 5, starting with the most important.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Freedom of speech Freedom of religion Right to a jury trial Freedom of the press Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment Right to keep and bear arms Right to control ones own property Freedom of assembly Freedom from quartering troops in ones home Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure

Debrief Rights Attitude Inventory

You undoubtedly encountered disputes. What does this tell us about the challenges the Founders faced in the decision to include a Bill of Rights? Did YOUR individual opinion as to the right(s) you most value change as you listened to others arguments?

How has the importance of various individual rights changed over time? How has it stayed the same?

Step 2: Re-rank the rights as though you were all Founders.

Primary Source Activity: Rights Attitude Inventory

Founders Unit Lesson 1, BRRL p. 10 Rights Attitude Inventory: List the following rights in order of importance to you. Number 1 will be the most important; Number 10 the least important:

Primary Source Activity: Rights Attitude Inventory

Prioritizing our rights helps highlight the connections and interdependence among the liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights. An extension for this activity is to have students make a table showing a civic responsibility that corresponds to each liberty. For example:

Right

Responsibility

Speech

Listening thoughtfully Fair jury trial Serving on a jury Religion Press

Assembly

What are the Origins of the Bill of Rights?

See BRRL page 4 for Lesson Plan 1. Background/Homework: Students read the background essay, p. 7,8,9. Color code Documents written in England: yellow Documents written in Thomas Jefferson, America: green Rembrandt Peale, 1800 Violations of rights: red

John Locke, Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1697

What are the Origins of the Bill of Rights? 2. Rights Attitude Inventory 3. Student Handout B Foundations of Our Rightsp.11: Summarizes documents that guaranteed rights.

Magna Carta 1215

Petition of Right 1628

Declaration of Right (English Bill of Rights) 1689

Using the Background Essay and your discussions as your guide, discuss Handout Bp. 11.
Right
US Bill of Rights (1791) First: freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition

Origins of the Bill of Rights

Right
Second: right to keep and bear arms

Right
Third: freedom from quartering troops

Right
Fourth: search and seizure rights

Right
Fifth: due process rights

Right
Sixth: fair trial rights

Right
Eighth: freedom from excessive fines, cruel and unusual punishment

Magna Carta (1215) Petition of Right (1628) Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641) Declaration of Rights and Toleration Acts (1689) Right violated in the colonies? (1763-1776)

What are the Origins of the Bill of Rights? 4. Student Handout C Founding Documents and Philosophiesp. 12: Compare & contrast documents.

Enrichment Activities, p. 5
James Madison: If men were angels, no government would be necessary. (Federalist #51, 1788)
Pastor Martin Niemoller: --First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. --Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. --Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. --And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. --Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.

Which of these documents did NOT influence the Founders ideas about natural rights? 1. Magna Carta 2. John Lockes Two Treatises of Government 3. English Declaration of Rights 4. Frances Declaration of the Rights of Man 5. Not sure

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