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| AmendmentsThe United States has the most difficult to amend constitution in the entire world. People might remember that it takes two-thirds of each house of Congress and three-quarters of the states. This means that in order to win what I call the amendment game, you have to get 67 votes in the Senate, whatever two-thirds of 435 is in the House plus a minimum of 75 state legislative houses. That’s if you want to change the Constitution.Grades 3-5 | 6-8 | 9-12 History-Social Science |
| Prior to the ConstitutionPrior to the Constitution, the newly free colonies were a country in disarray. Foreign predators were hanging out, waiting for the new country to fall apart: France, England, Spain. It was insanity. Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson all bemoaned the possibility of maintaining a nation.Grades 3-5 | 6-8 | 9-12 History-Social Science |
| Constitutional LawThe delegates of Philadelphia were statesmen. They understood the needs of the nation. But they also had to take the package back to their respective states and sell it.Grades 3-5 | 6-8 | 9-12 History-Social Science |
| Civil Rights Movement"We are disinherited of this land. We who have been oppressed so long, are tired of going through the long night of captivity. Now we are reaching out for the daybreak of freedom and justice and equality." - Martin Luther King Jr.Grades 3-5 | 6-8 | 9-12 History-Social Science |
| Meaning of the ConstitutionThe Constitution, in a sense, provides the conscience of America. And what that means is that the Constitution has these values about how to live together as Americans and respect its institutions.Grades 3-5 | 6-8 | 9-12 History-Social Science |
| An Instrument of FreedomIt’s almost by divine providence, that these men gathered together in that hot Constitutional Convention, and worked on it those periods of time. Ben Franklin said when he walked out after a press person asked him, “What have you wrought?” And he said, a document, a republic, if you can keep it. And that’s been tested many times and we’ve kept it.Grades 3-5 | 6-8 | 9-12 History-Social Science |
