This graphic organizer shows 4 earlier historical documents that influenced the creation of the Constitution of the United States. They are the Magna Carta, the Charters of the Virginia Company of London, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence,
This is a graphic organizer of 2 of the earlier historical documents that influenced the creation of the Constitution of the United States. They are the Articles of Confederation and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. All 6 documents influenced the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights.
This lesson, and the graphic organizers that go with it, willexplain to the student the influence that earlier historical documents had onthe Constitution of the United States. The student will learn how America'sconstitutional government is founded on concepts from theMagna Carta, the Charters of the Virginia Company of London, theVirginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Articlesof Confederation,andthe Virginia Statute ofReligious Freedom.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be ableto:
- understand thefoundations of American constitutional government.
- examine and evaluate theimpact of earlier historical documents on the Constitution of the UnitedStates.
- describe how some ofthese earlier documents particularly had an influence on the creation of theBill of Rights.
Essential Question
How do earlier documents support the rightsAmericans have today?
Procedure:
1. Introduction
This lesson describes the 6 historical documentsthat influenced the creation of the Constitution of the United States,including the Bill of Rights, to students.The students will study the 2 graphic organizers that show what thedocuments are and the specific concepts that were used in theConstitution. Students will understand the context of the documents andwhy they were so important to the Constitution of the United States and itsBill of Rights.
2. Explore
Students shoulduse their device to research the background of the 6 documents, theircontext with the times they were written, and the concepts that can be appliedto the Constitution. After theirresearch, the students should be prepared to explain to their class what theyfound out. Another resource for students to use are short videos that giveconcise explanations of the documents. Thelinks to those videos are:
- The Magna Carta
- The Charters of the Virginia Company ofLondon
- The Virginia Declaration of Rights
- The Declaration of Independence
- The Articles of Confederation
- The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
3. Explain
Tell the students they will be able tounderstand and describe the meaning and background of the six historical documentsthat had an influence on the creation of the Constitution of the United States.They will demonstrate this by doing the following:
- Research the backgroundof the 6 historical documents:The Magna Carta, The Charters ofthe Virginia Company of London, The Virginia Declaration of Rights, The Declarationof Independence, The Articles of Confederation, and The Virginia Statute forReligious Freedom.
- Using the GraphicOrganizers as backdrops, the students will create a presentation of the historicalcontext of the 6 documents and the concepts from those 6 documents that can beapplied to the Constitution.
Directions: Tell the students that based on theirresearch, they are to create a way to present to their class how the 6 earlierhistorical documents had an influence on the creation of the Constitution ofthe United States.Examples of how the student can make apresentation can be a poster, slide presentation (i.e. PowerPoint), flip chart,or video.
4. Assess
Driving Question:
How does theConstitution of the United States of America reflect previous documents, including the Magna Carta, the Charters of the Virginia Company of London, the Virginia Declaration of Rights,the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and theVirginia Statute for Religious Freedom?
Writing assignment:Have students explainin their own words the answer to the driving question in an essay.
Extending the lesson: Have the students selectone of the historical documents and explain how the concepts from that documentdirectly or indirectly affects them.
