No Bill of Rights, No Deal (HS)
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Identify arguments for and against the need for a bill of rights in the U.S. Constitution
- Explain why the Bill of Rights was added to the U.S. Constitution
- Describe how the Bill of Rights addresses limited government
- Relate the arguments over the need for a bill of rights to the wording of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution
- Compare and contrast the fears on both sides of the argument over the need for a bill of rights
Overview
In the debate over the Constitution, the Bill of Rights was a deal breaker. In this lesson, students learn why the federalists thought the Constitution didn’t need a bill of rights and why the anti-federalists refused to accept the Constitution without one. Students will find out why individual rights was such a big issue, where the concept of a bill of rights came from, and how the Bill of Rights finally got added to the U.S. Constitution.
iCivics en español! Student and class materials for this lesson are available in Spanish.