bill of rights assignment 8th grade

You've Got Rights!

Learning objectives.

The student will be able to…

• Describe the circumstances and debate that led to the Bill of Rights.
• Compare and contrast the positions of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists as to the Bill of Rights.
• Identify the rights granted by the Bill of Rights and key later amendments.
• Describe how the protection of rights has expanded over time.
• Categorize rights in the Bill of Rights as individual freedoms, protection from government power, or rights of the accused.
• Predict what might happen if key rights were missing from the Constitution.
• Related Resources

(This lesson was formerly "Bill of Rights: You Mean I've Got Rights?") Students learn about the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and other important constitutional amendments. First they consider what rights they believe are important, then they read and analyze the real text of each amendment. This lesson also helps students analyze the impact that the Bill of Rights has on their daily lives. Completing this lesson prepares students to play the game Do I Have a Right?

iCivics en español! Student and class materials for this lesson are available in Spanish.

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More resources in the unit 'the constitution', amendment mini-lesson.

This mini-lesson highlights some of the most critical additions to our Constitution and how those additions guarantee students' rights.

America's Founding Preambles

Task students with digging into the preambles and introductory text of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution.

Anatomy of the Constitution

Help students learn about the duties and powers of the three branches, the amendment process, and the role of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

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History Resources

Our Constitution: The Bill of Rights (Grades 7–9)

By tim bailey, view the constitution in the gilder lehrman collection by clicking here and here . for a resource on the variations between a draft and the final version of the constitution of the united state, click here ..

Unit Objective

These lessons on the Bill of Rights are part of Gilder Lehrman’s series of Common Core–based units. These units were written to enable students to understand, summarize, and analyze original texts of historical significance. Students will demonstrate this knowledge by writing summaries of selections from the original document and, by the end of the unit, articulating their understanding of the complete document by answering questions in an argumentative writing style to fulfill the Common Core Standards. Through this step-by-step process, students will acquire the skills to analyze any primary or secondary source material.

Students will understand the rights and restrictions that are defined by the first five amendments of the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution. They will demonstrate that understanding by restating those ideals in their own words.

Introduction

On September 17, 1787, in the city of Philadelphia, 39 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the newly negotiated United States Constitution. Many of those who did not sign refused to do so because the document did not include a “Bill of Rights” that would both secure basic civil rights for its citizens and define the limits of the federal government’s power. Much of the later state ratification debates raged over this lack of a Bill of Rights. In the solution known as the Massachusetts Compromise, four states agreed to ratify the document if their recommendations would be sent to Congress for consideration. Subsequently, Congress approved twelve of those amendments to the Constitution in 1789. Ten of these were ratified by the states and became the Bill of Rights. The responsibility for the interpretation of those amendments is given to the US Supreme Court.

In this unit the students will analyze the original text of these amendments through careful reading. They will study the exact language of the amendments in order to understand not only the intent of the Founding Fathers, but also the way these words have since been interpreted. This will be done as both individual and group work. Finally, in Lesson 3, the students will be able to experience how the Supreme Court operates by analyzing a mock case brought before the Court and then deciding the constitutional issues that the case presents. The students will then write either a minority or a majority opinion based on the textual evidence as presented in the case brief.

• The Bill of Rights (PDF)
• The Bill of Rights (Full Text) (PDF)
• Graphic Organizer (Amendments 1–5) (PDF)

Note: You may choose to have the students do this lesson individually, as partners, or in small groups of no more than three or four students.

• Discuss the information in the introduction.
• Hand out the graphic organizer "Analyzing the First Five Amendments."
• "Share read" the first five amendments with the students. This is done by having the students follow along silently while you begins reading aloud, modeling prosody, inflection, and punctuation. Then ask the class to join in with the reading after a few sentences while you continues to read along with the students, still serving as the model for the class. This technique will support struggling readers as well as English Language Learners (ELL).
• The task for the students is to be able to put the first five amendments into their own words. Model how this is done by putting the graphic organizer on an overhead or Elmo projector so that all students can see the form. Then, as a whole group, go through the process of writing a paraphrasing of the First Amendment. In order to accomplish this the students are going to do a careful reading as they analyze the text and then restate the various parts of the amendment so it makes sense to them. For instance, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .” could be restated by the students as “The government can’t start religions or stop people from practicing their own.” The students should follow through the process and write the new paraphrasing in the box next to the original text.
• Ask the students to continue with the rest of the amendments on the sheet. As they complete the amendments you can share out some of the best results so the students know if they are on the right track and to acknowledge them for their critical-thinking skills.

Students will understand the rights and restrictions that are defined by the second five amendments of the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution. They will demonstrate that understanding by restating those ideals in their own words.

In this lesson the students will analyze the original text of amendments 6–10 just as they did amendments 1–5 in the last lesson, through careful reading. They will study the exact language of the amendments in order to understand not only the intent of the Founding Fathers but the way that these words have since been interpreted. At your discretion this will be done either individually, as partners, or in small groups of three or four students.

• Graphic Organizer (Amendments 6-10) (PDF)
• Review the information from Lesson 1 in the introduction as well as the procedures.
• Hand out the graphic organizer “Analyzing Amendments 6–10.”
• “Share read” these amendments with the students. This is done by having the students follow along silently while you begin reading aloud, modeling prosody, inflection, and punctuation. Then ask the class to join in with the reading after a few sentences while you continues to read along with the students, still serving as the model. This technique will support struggling readers as well as English Language Learners (ELL).
• The task for the students is to be able to put these next five amendments into their own words. If you think the students need to review the process, model how this is done by putting the graphic organizer on an overhead or Elmo so that all students can see the form. Then, as a whole group, write a paraphrasing of the first part of the Sixth Amendment. In order to accomplish this the students are going to do a careful reading as they analyze the text and then restate the various parts of the amendment so it makes sense to them.
• Ask the students to continue with the rest of the amendments for today’s lesson. As they complete the amendments you can share out some of the best results so that the students know if they are on the right track and to acknowledge them for their critical-thinking skills.
• Depending on the class you may choose to move forward with Lesson 3, or it can be very effective to partner this lesson with short video clips that show the impact of the Bill of Rights. The following Gilder Lehrman videos may be helpful:
• Madison’s Influence on the US Constitution, Jack Rakove
• Teaching the Constitution, Larry Kramer
• Defining the Constitution, Larry Kramer

Students will understand how decisions made by the Supreme Court are based on what is written in the Constitution and in the Bill of Rights. They will become aware of the influence these decisions, based on the Court’s interpretations of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, have on American society.

The judicial branch of the United States government has one primary responsibility as written in the Constitution. The US Supreme Court, as the highest court of our country, is to be the guardian and interpreter of the United States Constitution.

The judicial branch of our government consists of the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts. The judicial branch hears cases that challenge or require interpretation of the bills passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. The President nominates the judges and justices for the courts and the Senate either ratifies or rejects those nominees. If approved to serve by the Senate, the appointees to the federal bench serve for life or until they retire, resign, or are impeached. The average term for a justice in the Supreme Court is fifteen years. The longest serving justice was Justice Douglas who retired in 1975 after serving on the court for thirty-six years and six months. Although the Supreme Court has been in existence for over 200 years there have been only 112 justices in the Supreme Court as of 2012.

The most influential court in the judicial branch is the Supreme Court. As its name implies the Supreme Court’s decisions are final and can only be overturned by a constitutional amendment or a later decision by the Supreme Court.

“Equal Justice Under Law” is the engraving written above the entrance to the Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC, and these words show the deep commitment that the Court has to the Rule of Law, democracy, and a constitutional republic. The Court is dedicated to maintaining a balance between society’s need for order and the individual’s right to freedom.

The Supreme Court has changed very little in the more than 200 years since it was created; although, now there are eight associate justices and one chief justice instead of five associates and a chief justice when the Court was created in 1790. The justices still wear black robes and quill pens are still placed on the counsel tables. And before every session of the Court the justices all shake hands in a tradition called "The Conference Handshake" that symbolizes that although they may not all agree on cases, they are united in their purpose to ensure the common good.

The chief justice and the other eight justices begin their session on the first Monday in October and hear cases until June or July. Approximately 10,000 civil and criminal cases are filed with the Court each year; of those, oral arguments are heard for seventy-five to eighty cases. The lawyers for each side in a case have thirty minutes to make their arguments. There is no jury, and no witnesses are summoned, although the Court has extensive background information about all of the previous decisions that have been made concerning the case being argued.

In addition, the Court can invalidate legislation from Congress and even overturn executive decisions made by the President when the Court feels that they conflict with the Constitution.

The judicial branch, and specifically the Supreme Court, is the “watch dog” of our government. It is responsible for making sure that the oldest written constitution still in force on Earth is not abused or misused by the other two branches of our government.

In this lesson the students will be working in groups in order to read, analyze, discuss, and write about a fictional Supreme Court case called Ricks v. Willaterra County . They will be drawing their own conclusions as to the constitutional issues, based on their study of the Bill of Rights, and then offering either a majority or minority opinion on the case.

• Fictional Supreme Court Case: Ricks v. Willaterra County (PDF)
• Graphic Organizer: Opinion of the Court (PDF)
• Read or make copies of the introduction in order to inform students of the workings of the Supreme Court. Organize the students into odd-numbered groups of five to nine.
• Explain to the students that they will be role-playing the part of Supreme Court justices. They will be hearing a case on which they have been asked to offer a writ of certiorari (an opinion to be followed by the lower courts).
• Hand out the fictional Supreme Court case Ricks v. Willaterra County .
• You may share read with the students as in the last two lessons or the students can read it individually.
• Pose the following questions: “Were the petitioner’s constitutional rights violated by the county?” and “Is the law in question constitutional?”
• Hand out the graphic organizer “Opinion of the Court.” The group of students must debate, discuss, and decide on the constitutional question raised by this case. The students must base their opinion on their analysis of the Bill of Rights in the previous lessons. The members of the group must vote on the two preceding questions. They will write the answers to those questions as voted on by the group in the top section of the organizers.
• Let the students discuss their various views on the constitutional issues raised by this case.
• The students will then individually complete the bottom section of the organizer and express a minority opinion (if they disagreed with how most of those in their group voted) or majority opinion (if they were in agreement with the outcome of the vote) in the form of a short essay. The student must use exact text from both the case brief and the Constitution to support the arguments.
• You may want to have the students examine actual Supreme Court case majority and minority opinions. Landmark opinions can be found at the following sites:
• Legal Information Institute, Cornell University
• Street Law Inc. and the Supreme Court Historical Society

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Free Bill of Rights Worksheet Bundle

Constitutional knowledge made easy.

Learning about the Bill of Rights is an important part of civic education, shaping students into informed, responsible, and active participants in a democratic society. Our free Bill of Rights worksheet bundle includes five printable pages of student handouts and activities to help you teach this topic. This bundle pairs perfectly with our free Bill of Rights Google Slides .

What’s included in the Bill of Rights worksheet bundle?

Our Bill of Rights worksheet bundle includes five printable pages of student reading materials and activities that make teaching this topic easy and fun.

Bill of Rights Student Handout

Start by having your students read the Bill of Rights handout, which includes kid-friendly explanations of the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution.

The 10 Amendments Student Handouts

Then have them read the two-page student handouts with information about the 10 Amendments. It even highlights and defines the tricky vocabulary words!

Bill of Rights Reading Comprehension Quiz

Once your students read the handouts, it’s time to pass out the Bill of Rights reading comprehension worksheet to test their knowledge.

The 10 Amendments Scenarios Matching Activity

If you’re looking for a fun and interactive extension activity, have students work individually or in small groups to match the amendments to their corresponding student scenarios. Students can cut and glue them in pairs on a blank page or in their notebooks. Hide them around the classroom and have students work together to find and match them in a pocket chart. Or try a guessing game where students read or act out each scenario and their peers guess the related amendment. Students can even write their own examples of other situations that apply to each amendment.

Get Your Free Worksheet Bundle

Are you ready to save and print your free Bill of Rights worksheet bundle? All you need to do is click the button to fill out the form at the top of this page.

Plus, be sure to check out our Bill of Rights for Kids resource page . It includes free Google Slides to use in the classroom, videos, activities, and more.

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Lesson Plan The Bill of Rights: Debating the Amendments

In this lesson, students will examine a copy of twelve possible amendments to the United States Constitution as originally sent to the states for their ratification in September of 1789. Students will debate and vote on which of these amendments they would ratify and compare their resulting “Bill of Rights” to the ten amendments ratified by ten states that have since been known by this name.

Students will:

• Analyze a document as a primary source;
• Develop persuasive arguments;
• Gain insight into the process by which the Bill of Rights came to be.

Time Required

One to two classes

Lesson Preparation

This lesson is meant to be an introduction to primary source analysis, but is best used with students who have a basic understanding of the Bill of Rights and the amendment process.

Have the requisite materials ready before the activity:

• John Beckley’s copy of the Bill of Rights, 1789 as sent to the states (PDF, 9.54 MB) (one assembled copy per student or per group)
• The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, later known as the Bill of Rights (PDF, 245 KB) (one copy per student or per group)

Brief background to the lesson:

In September 1789, under the direction of John James Beckley, clerk of the United States House of Representatives and the first Librarian of Congress, twelve possible amendments to the Constitution were sent to the states for their ratification. By December 15, 1791, ten of these amendments were ratified by ten states and have since been known as the Bill of Rights. ( Note: Do not share this information with students until after lesson step 3. )

Before leading students through the exploration process, teachers should make themselves familiar with the drafting and ratification of the Bill of Rights by reading the following Library of Congress resources:

• Primary Documents in American History: The Bill of Rights

Lesson Procedure

Activity one: introduction.

• What is a document? (e.g., a record of information)
• What are examples of common documents? (e.g., letter, diploma, passport, driver’s license)
• Where does your eye go first?
• How would you describe what you’re seeing? What do you notice about the physical condition?
• Which words or phrases can you read? Has the document been altered in any way?
• Are there any indications (e.g., names, dates) of ownership or time period?
• Who do you think wrote this?
• What do you think this document is about? What words or phrases give clues?
• What about language, its tone and style? Type of print?
• Do you think this is a public or private document? What might have been the author’s purpose in writing this?
• Who might have been the intended readers?
• Do you think this is the complete document or are pages missing?
• What surprises you about what you’re seeing?
• What do you want to know about this document?
• Why do you think Congress felt the need for specific rights to be clearly articulated?
• Why attach these rights as appendages rather than incorporate them into the body of the Constitution?
• How many amendments did the states ratify of these twelve sent to them in 1789? How many amendments to the Constitution do we have now?
• How might states have determined which amendments to ratify?
• What debates might have taken place regarding each amendment?
• Ask students how they would select which amendments to ratify. Discuss how an analysis and debate of each amendment should inform their decisions.
• Model the analysis process using one of the twelve amendments from John Beckley’s copy of the Bill of Rights 1789 as sent to the states. (See step five below for process.)
• Ask students to first identify unfamiliar vocabulary.
• Encourage students to analyze the amendment’s wording by making notes on a separate piece of paper.
• What is the specific right articulated in this amendment in your own words?
• Do you think this amendment should be included in the Bill of Rights? Why or why not?
• Working with the entire class, have students present and debate their analyses, by amendment, to the questions above. Conclude by holding a secret ballot on which of the twelve amendments should be ratified. Compare the students’ “Bill of Rights” to the Bill of Rights.
• Review Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to James Madison for Jefferson's concern regarding the failure to include a Bill of Rights. Have students write a letter in response that explains how the adopted Bill of Rights addresses Jefferson’s specific concerns.
• Examine the seventeen amendments in the House of Representatives' Resolution and Articles of Amendment passed on August 24, 1789. How do these seventeen amendments differ from the twelve approved by the Senate on September 14, 1789?

Lesson Evaluation

• Teacher observation of collaborative work.
• Teacher observation of critical thinking.
• Evaluate the written and oral presentation of amendments.

U.S. Constitution.net

The constitution for kids (8th-12th grade) – the u.s. constitution online – usconstitution.net.

This file is intended for students in grades 8 through 12. Other versions of this page are available:

• The Constitution for Kids: Kindergarten through 3rd Grade
• The Constitution for Kids: 4th through 7th Grade
• Pictures of the Constitution
• The main site

Want to change this page’s colors? Choose a new skin!

The impetus for this page was my daughter — in fourth grade, she was doing a research project on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. A chip off the old block… but I realized that a lot of the information on the USConstitution.net web site was of a far too high level for her, or someone like her. I created this and the other related “Kids” pages to make this information more accessible to kids.

If there is anything that this page could use to improve its mission, to serve children in search of information about the Constitution, please let the Webmaster know !

Basically, the Constitution is the highest law in the United States. All other laws come from the Constitution in some way. The Constitution also provides the framework for the government of the United States. It creates things like the Presidency, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. Each state has its own constitution that is the highest law for the state — but even then, the United States Constitution is higher.

Over time, some things have been added to the Constitution. Called “amendments,” these add-ons list some of the rights of the people. By listing these rights, they are made special, and it is illegal for the government to violate those rights. As of 2006, there are 27 amendments to the Constitution. Not all of them involve rights, but many do. The first ten amendments, in particular, have the special name of the Bill of Rights.

To start, the Constitution is a document written by a group of men in 1787. Yes, it is over 200 years old. We actually have old copies of the document they created. The master copies are stored at the National Archives in Washington D.C. In 2003, the Rotunda, where the Constitution is displayed, was rebuilt, and anyone can go and see the actual Constitution. We also have pictures of the Constitution on this site.

From May to September 1787, the men, known as the Framers, met in Philadelphia and discussed what should be in the Constitution. The United States was a brand new country at the time, and had a government that many felt was not as good as it could be. They were meeting to come up with a new way of running the country. Some of the people at this meeting, called the Convention, are famous to us today, including James Madison, Ben Franklin, and George Washington.

The men came from all over the country, which at the time was made up of only 13 states. The different states had different ideas of what the new government should do, and they had many debates and discussions to come up with a plan that everyone could agree with. It is said that the Constitution was born in compromise, because only by compromising could all the disagreements be resolved. Ben Franklin said the he was not sure if the plan was perfect, but that it was probably as perfect as it could be.

After the Convention ended, the Constitution had to be approved by the 13 states. The Constitution actually said that only nine states had to agree to the Constitution, but everyone wanted all of the states to agree. Two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, took a long time to decide to agree to the Constitution, but in the end, they did. When the Constitution was accepted by these first nine states, we say that it was “ratified.” New Hampshire was the ninth state to ratify.

When the Constitution was written, the Framers knew their creation was not perfect. They knew that other people would have good ideas for the Constitution, that future generations would want to make changes. They wanted to make it possible to change the Constitution without needing to resort to revolution. They wanted to be sure that it wasn’t too hard to make changes, but they also wanted to be sure that it wasn’t too easy.

The Framers added an amendment process. An amendment to the Constitution is a change that can add to the Constitution or change an older part of it. An amendment can even overturn a previous amendment, as the 21st did to the 18th. There are a few methods to amend the Constitution, but the most common is to pass an amendment through the Congress, on a two-thirds vote. After that, the amendment goes to the states, and if three-quarters of the states pass the amendment, it is considered a part of the Constitution — it has been ratified.

One of the biggest reasons a lot of people opposed the original Constitution was because it lacked a bill of rights. A bill of rights is a list of rights that belong to the people that the government is not allowed to break. Some of these rights might sound familiar: the right of free speech, the right to practice your own religion, and the right to be silent if the police accuse you of a crime. The original Constitution had no bill of rights. Many of the Framers did not think it was necessary. But to get the Constitution to pass in some of the states, promises were made to add a bill of rights once the new government was up and running.

After the new government started to meet, Congress proposed the Bill of Rights. A list of twelve changes was sent to the states, and a few years later, in 1791, ten of those changes were accepted by enough of the states that they were added to the Constitution. These ten changes are called the “Bill of Rights.”

Other changes to the Constitution are discussed below. The last change to the Constitution was made in 1992. The 27th Amendment is acutally one of the two left-over amendments from 1791. It is very unusual for an amdendment to take that long to be accepted, but it is possible. Some, like the 26th Amendment, are accepted very quickly, in just 100 days. Most, though, take a little over a year to be ratified.

When the United States first created the Constitution, most of the black people in America were actually slaves. A slave is someone who is owned by someone else. Today, there are no legal slaves in America, but legal slavery was very common in 1787. As time went by, more and more people thought that slavery was wrong. Most of the people who wanted to end slavery, called abolitionists, were from the states in the north. Most of the people who wanted to keep slavery were from the states in the south. The Southern states wanted to keep slavery because a lot of their economy, how they made money and did business, was tied up with slaves. Slaves were worth money, and slaves picked their crops, like cotton and tobacco.

The people in the North said that ending slavery was an important step for the nation to take. The people of the South were afraid of losing their economy, and saw the ability to have slavery as an important issue for each state to decide on its own. When President Lincoln was elected, the South got very angry. His election was seen as a strike against slavery because Lincoln had said he didn’t like slavery. Most of the Southern states decided to break away from the United States to create their own country, the Confederate States of America. The USA did not agree that the states of the CSA could break away. The Civil War followed. The USA won that war, but it was a terrible war — one of the worst the United States has ever had in terms of death and destruction.

One very positive thing emerged from the Civil War, though: the end of slavery. In the 13th Amendment, slavery was forever abolished in the Constitution. The 14th Amendment said that every person born in the United States was a full citizen of the United States, even if that person was a former slave. The 15th Amendment made sure that black people could vote. Many people felt that even if black people were not slaves, they were still inferior to white people, and for 100 years, some laws were passed to keep black people from being equal to whites. Though we still live with the legacy of slavery today, the election of President Barack Obama, in 2008, was one further step on the way to our fulfillment of the dream of equality.

At the beginning, we talked about the men who were the Framers. For most of the history of the United States, the most important people who have shaped the country have been men. This is not because women were not willing or able to be a part of the United States. Instead, because men held all the positions of power, from Presidents to members of Congress, right down to mayors and owners of companies. Women had very little chance to advance in life. Though many women today like being home all day taking care of the house and kids, until only very recently, this was the only option for a woman.

Since women had no role in government, politics, or society other than as homemakers and supporters for their husbands or fathers, most did not feel that they should have the ability to vote. For over 100 years after the Constitution was ratified, women had no way to vote. In some places, it was actually illegal for women to vote. In 1920, the 19th Amendment, which said that women could vote in all elections, was ratified.

Today, women play a very large role in government and politics. Being able to vote is a big part of that, because without the ability to vote, there is no reason for politicians to care what women think or to care about issues that are important to women. Once women were able to vote, some got very interested in politics, and went on to run for office. Though by 2004, there have not been any woman Presidents, it is only a matter of time before the first woman President is elected.

• The Bill of Rights

We already talked about why the Bill of Rights was passed: some people were afraid that the government, or the police, would be able to keep people from doing some very important things simply by passing laws against those things. For example, you can say whatever you want about the President — you can say that you don’t like his hair, or you don’t like his voice, or you don’t like the war in Iraq, or you don’t like his tax program. It seems natural to us to be able to criticize the President or a member of Congress or a mayor, over things they do that we don’t like. But the only reason that is possible is because of the Right of Free Speech that the Bill of Rights guarantees.

Imagine if there was no right to free speech in the Bill of Rights. A law could be passed that says that any criticism of the President’s hair is punishable by a day in jail. Or worse, any criticism of the President’s tax policies is punishable by a year in jail. These are the kinds of laws that the Framers were afraid of. Fortunately, we do have these freedoms in the Bill of Rights, and we cannot be put in jail because of the opinions we hold.

The Bill of Rights protects a lot of other important freedoms. For example, you can hold any religious beliefs you want, and the government cannot force you to believe in something you don’t. You cannot be forced to house soldiers in your home. The police cannot come into your home without a valid reason, and may not take your papers without permission from a judge. The police cannot force you testify against yourself in court; in fact, the police cannot force you to tell them anything at all (you may have heard of the “right to remain silent”). And the government cannot give you unusual punishments, such as twenty years in jail for speeding.

How it all works

The Constitution sets up three main branches of government. These are called the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judiciary. Each one has its own role in how the law is made and used.

The role of the Legislature is to make the law. The legislature is called the Congress, and is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each Representative comes from a district in one of the states. That person’s job is to represent the people in that district. The people elect the Representative and have the right to tell him or her how they feel about issues. There are 435 Representatives. Bigger states have more Representatives and every state has at least one. The Senate is made up of 100 Senators, two from each state. Senators are elected by the people of the state and should represent the interests of all of the people. When the Congress wants to pass a law, both the House and the Senate must agree to the exact same law. If they cannot agree, then the law cannot pass.

The role of the Executive is mainly to make sure the law is carried out. The Executive is headed by the President, and includes the Vice President and the Secretaries of all the national departments, like the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Education. But before a bill becomes a law, it is sent to the President. The President has three choices. He can sign the bill, in which case it becomes a law. He can veto the bill, which then gets sent back to Congress, and which can then override the veto if two-thirds of both houses of Congress vote to do so. Or he can refuse to sign the bill, but not veto it; in this case, the bill will become law after ten days. This process is one example of the system of checks and balances in the United States government. The Congress must pass laws the President agrees with, but the President can’t refuse to sign a law without taking a stand on it.

The last branch is the Judiciary. This includes all the federal courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court. States have their own court systems that fall underneath the national court system. The role of the Judiciary is to interpret the law.

The law might say, “It is illegal to break into someone’s home.” If someone is caught breaking into someone’s home, the courts will ask several questions. First, can the government make this illegal? If it cannot, the law is called “unconstitutional” and the courts will say it is invalid. Next, the court will ask if the person is actually guilty of the crime. Usually, a jury will find someone guilty or not guilty, but sometimes just a judge makes this finding. A trial by jury is a constitutional right — it means that other people from your community will decide if you broke the law. Because juries, and courts, can make mistakes, people can “appeal” convictions, and there is a set of special courts set up to handle appeals. The last court of appeal is the Supreme Court. Whatever the Supreme Court says is the end, because there is no appeals court higher.

This page is a very basic introduction to the Constitution and some of the topics that surround it. There are lots of good books in your school and town or city library that get into a lot more detail. This site also has a lot of good pages that have more information. See the list of links below for some of these pages.

• The Constitution
• The Constitution (in sections)
• The Constitution Explained
• Amending the Constitution
• The Declaration of Independence
• The Articles of Confederation
• The Constitutional Convention
• The Framers
• Information about the Framers
• Ben Franklin’s Speech
• List of ratification documents
• Federalists and Anti-Federalists
• Confederate Constitution
• 13th Amendment
• 14th Amendment
• 15th Amendment
• Declaration of Sentiments
• 19th Amendment
• 1st Amendment
• 2nd Amendment
• Students’ Rights
• The Miranda Warning
• Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities
• The Government
• Separation of Powers
• Checks and Balances
• How a bill becomes a law
• The Cabinet

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Last Modified: 6 Aug 2010

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8th Grade U.S. History: Constitution & Bill of Rights COMPLETE Lesson Plan Unit!

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Article II of the Constitution: Executive Branch

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