With Liberty and Justice for All The Story of the Bill of Rights

This curriculum is designed to introduce secondary students to the ideas behind the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution and the experiences of the Founders that led to the creation of this document. Its intent is to provide young people with a knowledge of how the Bill of Rights came into existence, why it took the form it did, and how it has been interpreted and applied over the past 200 years. By gaining a better understanding of their rights, it is hoped that students will become better prepared for their responsibilities as citizens. The curriculum helps students learn to apply their knowledge to contemporary issues as well as to a variety of political questions. In so doing, it is hoped that students will develop many useful skills of citizenship such as researching an issue, thinking critically about a problem, concisely summarizing their thinking, and expressing and justifying their reasoned opinions in both written and spoken forms. The curriculum contains 31 lessons that are organized into six units. The six units are entitled: (1) What did the Founders learn about rights from history and their own experience? (2) How was the Bill of Rights created? (3) How were the protections of the Bill of Rights expanded? (4) What rights are protected by the First Amendment? (5) What rights are protected by procedural due process of law? and (6) Who should be responsible for preserving and extending our heritage of individual rights? Each of the lessons contains the purpose of the lesson and how to use the lesson statements, as well as critical thinking exercises. An appendix features the texts of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A glossary of major terms and concepts also is included. (DB)