Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness



|Lesson Synopsis: |

Students consider more deeply the Founding Fathers, the concept of consent of the governed, and the terms life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as they study the Founding Documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

TEKS:

|3.1 |The student understands how individuals, events, and ideas have influenced the history of various communities. The student is expected |

| |to: |

|3.1C |Describe how individuals, including Daniel Boone, Christopher Columbus, the Founding Fathers, and Juan de Oñate, have contributed to the|

| |expansion of existing communities or to the creation of new communities. |

|3.10 |The student understands important ideas in historical documents at various levels of government. The student is expected to: |

|3.10A |Identify the purposes of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights. |

Social Studies Skills TEKS:

|3.17 |Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of valid |

| |sources, including electronic technology. The student is expected to: |

|3.17E |Interpret and create visuals including graphs, charts, tables, timelines, illustrations, and maps. |

|3.18 |Social studies skills. The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms. The student is expected to: |

|3.18C |Use standard grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation. |

|Getting Ready for Instruction |

|Performance Indicator(s): |

• Create a collage using words and pictures that illustrate what life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness means. Explain in writing the reason the pictures and words were chosen. (3.10A; 3.17E; 3.18C)

[pic] 1E; 4J; 5B

|Key Understandings and Guiding Questions: |

• En una república constitucional, las leyes garantizan y protegen los derechos de las personas.

— ¿Cómo contribuyeron las personas, los acontecimientos y las ideas a la expansión de las comunidades existentes o a la creación de nuevas comunidades?

— ¿Cuáles son los propósitos de la Declaración de Independencia, de la Constitución de Estados Unidos y de la Declaración de Derechos?

|Vocabulary of Instruction: |

• libertad

• libertad

• búsqueda de la felicidad

• república constitucional

•

|Materials: |

• Refer to the Notes for Teacher section for materials.

Attachments:

• Handout: Preamble 2-column Notes (1 per student)

• Handout: Bill of Rights (1 per student and 1 to display)

|Resources and References: |

| |

• Internet sources such as Library of Congress and National Archives.

|Advance Preparation: |

1. Become familiar with content and procedures for the lesson.

2. Refer to the Instructional Focus Document for specific content to include in the lesson.

3. Select appropriate sections of the textbook and other classroom materials that support the learning for this lesson.

4. Preview available resources and websites according to district guidelines.

5. Prepare materials and handouts as needed.

|Background Information: |

Because we participate in government by choosing our leaders to represent us, the United States of America is a constitutional republic as established by the U.S. Constitution. Participating in the election process by becoming educated about the issues and the candidates, participating in respectful dialogue with the candidates and then making an informed vote for the candidate with whom we most closely agree, we are giving our consent, or participating in consent of the governed. The Constitution is our basic set of rules and laws. The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution by the Founding Fathers to ensure the rights of individual citizens and to make sure the government did not become abusive, like they thought King George’s monarchy was. Until the United States, most governments in the history of the world were unlimited governments ruled by one individual. (There were exceptions.)

|Getting Ready for Instruction Supplemental Planning Document |

Instructors are encouraged to supplement and substitute resources, materials, and activities to differentiate instruction to address the needs of learners. The Exemplar Lessons are one approach to teaching and reaching the Performance Indicators and Specificity in the Instructional Focus Document for this unit. Instructors are encouraged to create original lessons using the Content Creator in the Tools Tab located at the top of the page. All originally authored lessons can be saved in the “My CSCOPE” Tab within the “My Content” area.

|Instructional Procedures |

|Instructional Procedures |Notes for Teacher |

|ENGAGE – Founding Documents |NOTE: 1 Day = 50 minutes |

| |Suggested Day 1 – 10 minutes |

|Read again the excerpt from the Declaration of Independence: |Materials: |

|“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their |Declaration of Independence |

|Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” |Drawing paper |

| | |

|Students recall what they learned about consent of the governed in Lesson 1. If desired, show the |Instructional Note: |

|Declaration of Independence. | |

| | |

|Review the vocabulary in the excerpt (for example, truth, self-evident, equal, unalienable, rights, life, | |

|liberty, pursuit). | |

| | |

|Review the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, the beliefs at its core, and the reason the Founders| |

|wrote it. Facilitate a brief discussion using questions such as: | |

|What does self-evident mean? | |

|What do you think the Founders meant when they said that Life is an “unalienable right”? (discuss) | |

|What does Liberty mean? (discuss) | |

|What do you think the Founders meant when they said the Pursuit of Happiness is an “unalienable right | |

|endowed by [the] Creator? (discuss) | |

|Are all men created equal? | |

| | |

|Distribute drawing paper to students, on which they will create a timeline that will be added to throughout| |

|the lesson. | |

| | |

|On a piece of butcher paper hung landscape, create a class version of the timeline students are creating. | |

|Write the date July 4, 1776, on the left side. Write Declaration of Independence under it. (This will | |

|become a timeline of the Founding Documents.) | |

| | |

|Students add the same information to their drawing paper so they will create their own timeline during the | |

|lesson. At the bottom of the paper students write the purpose of the Declaration and draw a picture | |

|meaningful to the student about the Declaration of Independence. | |

|EXPLORE/EXPLAIN – American Revolution |Suggested Day 1 (cont’d) – 10 minutes |

|Fill in the next step of story: Britain and the newly-independent colonies went to war, the American |Materials: |

|Revolution. The Revolutionary War lasted from 1775 (Lexington and Concord) until 1783 (Treaty of Paris). |Timeline begun during the Engage section |

|(If desired, read part of Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.”) | |

| | |

|Add the American Revolution to the class timeline while students add the information and the picture to | |

|their own timeline. | |

|EXPLORE – Constitution |Suggested Day 1 (cont’d) – 20 minutes |

|Add to the story using words such as: |Materials: |

|When the war was over and the treaty signed, what had been 13 British colonies was now an independent group|Constitution of the United States |

|of former colonies. |Mural of the Constitution by Barry Faulkner in the |

|Do you remember why people form communities? (TEKS 3.2A: reasons people have formed communities, including |National Archives |

|a need for security, religious freedom, law, and material well-being). | |

|Did any of these reasons exist at the time? (yes) |Attachments |

|The people needed to form a community. One thing needed when forming a community is an agreement about |Handout: Preamble 2-column Notes (1 per student) |

|rules. The people had several common beliefs to guide them, and they had strong leaders who worked | |

|together. | |

|The people of the former colonies sent these leaders to a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in | |

|1787. | |

| | |

|Show the mural Constitution (by Barry Faulkner) in the National Archives and discuss some of the people | |

|shown. | |

|These leaders were to be the representatives of the people of the colonies. There were to meet and figure | |

|out how this new group of former colonies could work together to form a nation. | |

|Let’s look at something they wrote that conveys these ideas. | |

| | |

|Distribute the Handout: Preamble 2-column Notes. | |

| | |

|Show and read the Preamble to the Constitution while student follow along: | |

|We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure | |

|domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings| |

|of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States | |

|of America. | |

| | |

|Explain where this quote is from (the Preamble to the United States Constitution). | |

| | |

|Students, in pairs or small groups, read the preamble and discuss, in their groups and with the class, the | |

|meaning of each line/phrase and “translate” the words into words they understand. | |

| | |

|Facilitate a discussion where students share their ideas and then take what they have learned about the | |

|Constitution and discern what the Founders believed. (justice, peace, security, common good, liberty) | |

| | |

|Teacher and students add information about the Constitution to their timelines: Date the Constitution was | |

|signed (September 17, 1787, which we now celebrate as Constitution Day during this Celebrate Freedom Week);| |

|the date the Constitution went into effect (March 4, 1789, after the people of the colonies voted for it; | |

|this is an example of consent of the governed); the purpose of the Constitution (set up the rules for the | |

|new government), and a relevant picture for each entry. | |

|EXPLAIN – Purpose of Constitution |Suggested Day 1 (cont’d) – 10 minutes |

|At the bottom of their Handout: Preamble 2-column Notes, students write a summary of the purpose of the |Materials: |

|Constitution (to write the rules for a government of the United States that: “form a more perfect Union, |Timeline begun during the Engage section |

|establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general |Handout: Preamble 2-column Notes begun in the Explore |

|Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”) |section |

|EXPLORE – Bill of Rights |Suggested Day 2 – 15 minutes |

|Distribute the Handout: Bill of Rights and introduce a third important Founding Document, The Bill of |Materials: |

|Rights, using words such as: |Bill of Rights |

|The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. Even though the leaders had been very |Timeline begun during the Engage section |

|careful when they wrote the Constitution to make sure they designed a government that supported their core | |

|beliefs, they wanted to be even more sure that people’s individual rights were protected - that the |Attachments |

|government could not become too powerful or treat the citizens unfairly. So they wrote down exactly the |Handout: Bill of Rights (1 per student and 1 to |

|things they wanted specifically protected and they became the Bill of Rights, part of our country’s |display) |

|Constitution. | |

| | |

|Read aloud the opening statement of the Bill of Rights, which is on the top of the Handout: Bill of Rights,| |

|while students follow along. | |

|“The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, | |

|expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory | |

|and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the | |

|Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.” | |

|“Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress | |

|assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the | |

|Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of | |

|which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and | |

|purposes, as part of the said Constitution;” | |

| | |

|Facilitate a discussion where students recognize that the first sentence says that several of the states | |

|wanted there to be additional restrictive clauses added to prevent abuse of power. (Students find the | |

|statement and underline or highlight it.) | |

| | |

|Ensure that students recognize that the second part talks about how the people’s representatives have to | |

|approve them (2/3 of both houses) and the people have to approve them (3/4 of the state legislatures). This| |

|is an example of consent of the governed. | |

| | |

|Lead students through a list of the amendments (at the bottom of the Handout: Bill of Rights). Students | |

|should recognize some of the amendments as response to the grievances listed in the Declaration of | |

|Independence. | |

| | |

|Students also recognize that the Constitution and Bill of Rights were written to ensure that people’s | |

|unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” were recognized and protected by | |

|specifically addressing them in law – law that is put in place and upheld with the consent of the governed.| |

|EXPLAIN – Bill of Rights |Suggested Day 2 (cont’d) – 10 minutes |

|Students add information on the Bill of Rights to the timeline from Day 1 as Teacher adds information to |Materials: |

|the class timeline. |Timeline begun during the Engage section |

|On December 15, 1791, three-fourths of the states had ratified the amendments of the Bill of Rights. | |

|The purpose was to spell out and ensure individual rights “in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of | |

|[government] powers.” | |

|A picture relevant to the student | |

|ELABORATE – Founding Documents |Suggested Day 2 (cont’d) – 10 minutes |

|Facilitate a discussion where students share what they have learned about the founding documents by using | |

|academic language to answer the guiding questions, make connections between the documents, and support the | |

|Key Understanding | |

|In a constitutional republic, laws guarantee and protect the rights of the people. | |

|How have individuals, events, and ideas contributed to the expansion of existing communities or to the | |

|creation of new communities? | |

|What are the purposes of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights | |

|EVALUATE – Collage |Suggested Day 2 (cont’d) – 15 minutes |

|Create a collage using words and pictures that illustrate what life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness |Materials: |

|means. Explain in writing the reason the pictures and words were chosen. (3.10A; 3.17E; 3.18C) |drawing paper |

|1E; 4J; 5B |magazines/newspapers |

| |scissors |

|Students can use words and pictures they write/draw in addition to words and pictures from magazines and |glue sticks |

|newspapers. |markers or colored pencils |

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July 4, 1776

Declaration of Independence

Colonies declare

independence from

Great Britain

[pic]

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