Students will explore the Age of Enlightenment through a Power Point presentation and class discussion. Students will then further explore this period of history and its prominent figures by designing a dinner party for 12 Enlightenment thinkers. This project will encourage students to learn more about the period and the philosophers associated with it, as well as synthesize what they have learned while utilizing higher order thinking, group work skills, and creativity.

Students will explore the Age of Enlightenment. Students will then further explore this period of history and its prominent figures by designing a dinner party for 12 Enlightenment thinkers. This lesson will encourage students to learn more about the period and the philosophers associated with it, as well as synthesize what they have learned while utilizing higher order thinking, group work skills, and creativity.

In this lesson, students will explore the movement of the colonies towards self-government by examining the choices made by the Second Continental Congress, noting how American delegates were influenced by philosophers such as John Locke. Students will participate in an activity in which they assume the role of a Congressional member in the year 1775 and devise a plan for America after the onset of war. This lesson can optionally end with a Socratic Seminar or translation activity on the Declaration of Independence.

Students will learn of the differing perspectives of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Thomas Jefferson and the right of government to rule.

Students will learn about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War and develop an understanding of the causes of Patriot resentment of the British. Students will experience emotions similar to those felt by colonists by participating in an experiential activity and represent various opinions of the time by creating a political cartoon focused on a particular event, tax, act, or law.

Student learner teams will create and record mock live newscasts, presented as if broadcast live from the signing of the United States Constitution.

Students will discuss how different societies answer the same fundamental economic questions by comparing various economic systems. Resources are provided for direction instruction and independent practice. In mixed ability groups, students design role-plays to exemplify each type of economy. Finally, students write a letter to the editor at the Wall Street Journal arguing whether a mixed economy is the economic system that should be used in the United States.

This lesson plan looks at the major ideas in the Declaration of Independence, their origins, the Americans' key grievances against the King and Parliament, their assertion of sovereignty, and the Declaration's process of revision.

In this lesson, students read about how Thomas Jefferson, drawing on the current thinking of his time, used natural rights to justify declaring independence from England. A set of discussion questions is provided. In an associated activity, students further discuss some of the ideals in the Declaration of Independence.

In this activity, students learn about the steps to independence and the ideals stated in the Declaration that influenced the development of the United States as we know it today.

In this lesson, students will use primary sources from late 18th century and early 19th century American history to judge how well Thomas Jefferson and others implemented the ideals of the Enlightenment into the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. They will finish with a discussion of whether Thomas Jefferson and others were justified with the limitations they placed on the Enlightenment ideals.

Students explore the Articles of Confederation and the revisions that created the US Constitution of 1787. Students analyze and assume the views of Federalist and Atnti-Federalists by participating in a partner debate over North Carolina's ratification of the US Constitution as either North Carolina Federalist James Iredell or Anti-Federalist Willie Jones. The lesson culminates with students writing and delivering a persuassive speech as a historical Constitutional framer with Federalist or Anti-Federalist views.

Narrated by Bowdoin College Government Professor Andrew Rudalevige, "Founding Principles" provides an introductory overview and basic understanding to American government, but one that is crucial to building citizen-leaders, promoting civic engagement, and working toward the common good.
Chapter One discusses how the American Government was formed in the late 1700s, including the creation of the Constitution.

Students will gain the ability to recognize important names of the enlightenment and will understand the basic idea that the order of society was changed from a system of government in which people served the government to a system that envisioned the government serving the people that formed it.

The purpose of this lesson is to help students gain a deeper understanding of how the United States government was formed, and the people/ideas that influenced the founding documents of the nation. In this lesson, students will evaluate the importance of the Articles of Confederation and identify the weaknesses that caused the delegates at the Constitutional Convention to create a new governing document. Students will be recognizing perspectives and communicating ideas about the Articles of Confederation. This lesson will consist of teacher facilitated notes and discussion opportunities that will prompt group and classroom conversation. This lesson was developed by Dorothy Kerby as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

The purpose of this lesson is to help students gain a deeper understanding of the Declaration of Independence and perspectives of the founding fathers as they constructed this document . In this lesson, students will read and analyze the Declaration of Independence, while evaluating the impact it had on the American Revolution. To guide students in their analysis, each group will be assigned a specific task while analyzing the Declaration of Independence. Students will be recoznizing perspectives as they read and analyze the ideas put forth in the Declaration of Independence and other contributing theories that impacted the document. Students wil also be communicating ideas as they work in groups to discuss the components of the Declaration of Independence. This lesson was developed by Dorothy Kerby as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

This study of Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau is designed to give students an understanding of the ideas of these four philosophers and is also an opportunity for them to reflect on humanity's need for order and efforts to create stability within the social community. In the first part of the unit, activities focus student awareness on the nature of government itself and then progress to close reading and writing centered on the specifics of each philosopher's views. Large-group and small-group discussion as well as textual evidence are emphasized throughout. In the second part of the unit, students are asked to engage in creative writing that has research as its foundation. Collaboration, role-playing, and a panel discussion
are fundamental parts of the culminating activity. Options for further writing activities and assessments close the unit.

This lesson introduces students to some basic ideas the Framers used in creating the kind of government they thought would best protect the natural rights of each individual and promote the good of all.

In this lesson, students are introduced to Tocqueville's argument about the "omnipotent" power of the majority in America and its consequences. After an initial statement that the "very essence" of democracy is majority rule, he contrasts the means by which state constitutions artificially increase the power of the majority with the U.S. Constitution, which checks that power.