Educator Resources

Constitution Workshop

What does the light bulb have to do with the U.S. Constitution? Or the board game "Monopoly"? How about the letter you wrote to the President when you were in elementary school? The answer to all three questions is: Plenty! – if you know your Constitution.

Our Constitution workshop is available as an online or on-paper activity. In both versions, students will analyze primary source documents, then establish each document's constitutional relevance.

 

"The Constitution at Work" Online Activity

Constitution At Work activity

In this online activity students will analyze primary source documents that span the course of American history to determine their connection to the U.S. Constitution. Students will then make connections between the primary sources they have examined and sections of the Constitution, and determine the big idea(s) found in the Constitution exemplified by each.

This activity is available on DocsTeach.org, the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives. A print version is available on the website as well.

 

Constitution Workshop for Print

The Constitution Workshop is a two-part group activity: Part one requires students to analyze primary source documents. Part two asks them to establish each document’s constitutional relevance.

Details

  • Suitable for grades 4 through 12
  • Time needed: in-class review of the Federal period, plus 1 hour for the workshop (or more, depending on documents selected and grade level)

Vocabulary List

Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, Judicial Branch, Enumeration, Subsequent, Patent, Ratify, Amendment, Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, Bill of Rights, Balance of Powers

 

Instructions

Prior to conducting this activity with your students, introduce them to the Constitution, and share or display the four pages of the Constitution for students to examine in advance of the workshop. Review the Federal period and the vocabulary list provided.

Divide the class into four groups (corresponding to the four pages of the Constitution), and distribute the following to each group:

  • a copy of one of the four pages of the Constitution
  • the corresponding transcription of their page of the Constitution
  • corresponding documents (The number of documents you distribute to each group is up to you. When deciding, consider how much class time you have as well as your students’ reading abilities.)
  • document analysis worksheets

Provide student groups with approximately 20 minutes to read their page of the Constitution and analyze their primary source documents (using the aid of their document analysis worksheets). Ask group members to discuss with one another how their document relates to particular article(s) and section(s) of their page of the Constitution. During this activity, circulate among your students, encouraging them to question their documents thoroughly, and provide assistance in interpreting the Constitution, where needed.

Next, invite one or two representatives from each group to describe their documents to the rest of the class, and then quote from the particular articles and sections of the Constitution that relate to the documents.

For example, group one might be given page 1 of the Constitution and a census schedule. After describing the types of information the schedule records, they should conclude that the census schedule relates to Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution because it is a method for obtaining an "actual enumeration" of the population.

Documents and Transcriptions

Accordion
refer to caption

Constitution of the United States

Page 1

View on DocsTeach

Article I, Sections 1-6:

Legislative Branch: Congress, the House of Representatives, The Senate, Congressional Elections and Meetings, Organization and Rules, Privileges and Restrictions

 

Download Page 1 as .jpg or PDF
Download Page 1 Transcript as PDF or .doc


Corresponding Documents:

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Credentials of Hiram Revels, 1869

[Article I, Section 3]

View on DocsTeach

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Population Schedule for the 1930 census

[Article I, Section 2]

View on DocsTeach

refer to caption

John F. Kennedy's Notification on his Election to Congress, 1946

[Article I, Section 2]

View on DocsTeach

refer to caption

Constitution of the United States

Page 2

View on DocsTeach

Article I, Sections 7-10, & Article II, Section 1:

Legislative Branch: Method of Passing Laws, Powers Granted to Congress, Powers Denied to the Federal Government, Powers Denied to the States

Executive Branch: President and Vice President, cont’d...

 

Download Page 2 as .jpg or PDF
Download Page 2 Transcript as PDF or .doc


Corresponding Documents:

refer to caption

Patent Drawing for a Game Board, 1904

[Article I, Section 8]

View on DocsTeach

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Albert Einstein’s Naturalization Application, 1940

[Article I, Section 8]

View on DocsTeach

refer to caption

Constitution of the United States

Page 3

View on DocsTeach

Article II, Sections 2-4, & Article III, Sections 1-2:

Executive Branch: Powers of the President, Duties of the President, Impeachment

Judicial Branch: The Federal Courts, Federal Court Jurisdiction, cont’d...

 

Download Page 3 as .jpg or PDF
Download Page 3 Transcript as PDF or .doc


Corresponding Documents:

refer to caption

John Marshall’s Supreme Court Nomination, 1801

[Article II, Section 2]

View on DocsTeach

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Electoral College tally sheet, 1824

[Article II, Section 1]

View on DocsTeach

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Telegram from Lincoln to Grant at City Point, Virginia, 1864

[Article II, Section 2]

View on DocsTeach

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LBJ Taking the Presidential Oath, 1963 [Article II, Section 1 (2 places)]

View on DocsTeach

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Letter from a Third Grader about the Nixon Pardon, 1974

[Article II, Section 2]

View on DocsTeach

refer to caption

Supreme Court Building

[Article III, Section 1]

View on DocsTeach

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Constitution of the United States - Page 4

View on DocsTeach

Article 3, Section 3, Article IV, Sections 1-4, & Articles V-VII:

Judicial Branch: Treason

The States and The Federal Government: State Records, Rights of Citizens, New States and Territories, Federal Duties to the States

Amending The Constitution

Supremacy of National Law

Ratification of The Constitution

 

Download Page 3 as .jpg or PDF
Download Page 3 Transcript as PDF or .doc


Corresponding Documents:

refer to caption

Proclamation to the People of New Orleans, 1803

[Article IV, Section 3]

View on DocsTeach

refer to caption

Map of the Louisiana Purchase Territory, created in 1903

[Article IV, Sections 3 & 4]

View on DocsTeach

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Resolution Proposing the 19th Amendment, 1919

[Article V]

View on DocsTeach

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Letter to President Eisenhower with New Flag Suggestion, 1958

[Article IV, Section 3]

View on DocsTeach

 

 

CC0 Materials created by the National Archives and Records Administration are in the public domain.

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