Freedom Project Lesson Plan
Course/Grade Level: U.S. History/7th Grade (1800-1900)
Lesson Title: Understanding the Bill of Rights
Teacher: Pam Brooks
1. Set Induction:
 How do the rights outlined in the Constitution affect your lives today? One of
the strongest criticisms of the initial Constitution was it lacked the Bill of
Rights to protect individual freedoms. Several state conventions stated they
would not ratify the constitution without the addition of the Bill of Rights.
Federalist feared chaos without a strong central government and AntiFederalist feared oppression of the individual with power concentrated in a
central government. In 1791 the Bill of Rights became part of the U.S.
Constitution. These first 10 constitutional amendments protect the basic
liberties and rights that you may have taken for granted- including freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and
the right to a trial by jury.
2. Aims/Objectives and Standards:

The objective of this lesson is to demonstrate how primary documents need to
be researched to understand the meaning and effort utilized to create the Bill
of Rights.

SS7-01: Demonstrate knowledge of the principles, structure and function of
the Constitution and its amendments, and their impact on the political system
of the United States.
3. Procedures:
 In large group students will read and discuss the Bill of Rights. Inclusive in
the discussion will be the viewpoint of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist and
how the impact of these two viewpoints played a role in the outcome of the
constitution concerning individual rights and how the rights of citizens, such
as African Americans and women were viewed.
 Students will divide up into groups and each group will interpret the Bill of
Rights in their own words on large Post- It paper- to be shared with the class
and displayed.
 Students will create a poster showing the 10 constitutional amendments that
make up the Bill of Rights. Students will include examples on their posters
of how each of the 10 amendments affects the daily lives of Americans.
Students will include a visual of each amendment on their posters.
 The concluding activity/lesson wrap-up will be 1 large group contribution by
students of what they learned from the activity. This will be recorded on
large Post- It paper and displayed.
3. Materials Required:
 The teacher will print a copy of the Bill of Rights. These should be included
in the student’s poster.
 Primary documents will be given to students to review. The links to these
documents can be found under the “Section 4: Resources and Scholarship.”
Copies of these documents are attached.
 James Madison: African Colony for Freed Slaves, October 20, 1789
 Thomas Jefferson: Women’s Rights, May 11, 1788
 Thomas Jefferson to James Madison: Absence of Bill of Rights in
Constitution Seen as Problem, December 17,1787
 Jonathan Swift, Bill of Rights Seen as a Diversion, From A Tale of a Tub,
1739
 Discussion notes recorded on:
 the reading strategy Constitution Handbook, pg. 214
 Graphic Organizer w/ 3 broad categories of the rights of Americans, pg.
222
 Comparing and Contrasting chart of the differences between freedom,
right and responsiblity
 Poster board or large paper.
 Markers, Colored Pencils, Post-It Paper
4. Resources and Scholarship:
 Bill of Rights/U.S. Archives:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights.html
 American Journey, Glencoe Text. 2009 Edition
 Creating the Bill of Rights:
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/BillofRights/Pages/default.aspx
 Primary Documents impacting on the formation of the Bill of Rights:
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/Pages/Default.aspx
 Interactive of the Bill of Rights, Library of Congress
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/creatingtheus/Pages/Interactives.aspx
5. Conclusion:
 Discussion and investigation into the meaning of the Bill of Rights should
lead students to answer the question: How do the rights outlined in the
Constitution affect your lives today?
 Lesson Wrap-Up: Students as a large group will record on large “Post-it”
paper what they learned. The “Post-It” will be posted with the display of the
student work. The “Post-it” will be kept for the school year with the goal of
creating a “learning timeline” from activities completed during the year.