Warm-up• Update Table of Contents• Write your homework – leave it out to be

stamped• Article 5 of the Constitution describes how

the Constitution can be amended, or formally changed…why was this such an important idea for our Founding Fathers to include?

Date Session#

Activity Page#

11/27 28 The Structure of The Constitution 47

The Bill of Rights 48

The Bill of Rights

• The First 10 Amendments to the Constitution

• How many amendments are there total?

1st Amendment• 1st Amendment: Religious and Political

Freedom guarantees freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly, and petition.

• This means:• we can practice any religion we want to• to speak freely• to assemble (meet)• to address the government (petition/protest)• to publish newspapers, TV, radio, Internet

(press)

1st Amendment Quiz

•Do you know your first amendment rights?

2nd Amendment

• The 2nd Amendment: The Right to Bear Arms

• This means:we have the right to own a gun

3rd Amendment

• The 3rd Amendment: Quartering Troops

• This means:• that we cannot be forced to house

or quarter soldiers.

4th Amendment

• 4th Amendment: Search and Seizure

• This means:• that the police must have a warrant to

enter and search our homes • it also means the government cannot take our

property, papers, or us, without a valid warrant based on probable cause (good reason)

5th Amendment

• 5th Amendment: Rights of Accused Persons

• This Means: protects people from being held for committing a crime unless they are properly indicted (accused)

• You may not be tried twice for the same crime (double jeopardy)

• You don’t have to testify against yourself in court. (self-incrimination)

6th Amendment• 6th Amendment: Right to a

Speedy, Public Trial • This Means: you can’t be kept

in jail for over a year without a trial

• an impartial jury (doesn’t already think you are guilty)

• that the accused can confront witnesses against them

• the accused must be allowed to have a lawyer

7th Amendment

• 7th Amendment: Trial by Jury in Civil Cases

• This Means:• A civil trial differs from a criminal

trial. A civil trial is when someone sues someone else. A criminal trial is when the state tries to convict someone of a crime.

8th Amendment

• 8th Amendment: Limits of Fines & Punishments

• This Means: • punishments will be fair

and not cruel, and that extraordinarily large fines will not be set.

9th Amendment

• 9th Amendment: Rights of People

• This Means:• all rights not stated in the Constitution

and not forbidden by the Constitution belong to the people.

• This means that the states can do what they want if the Constitution does not forbid it.

10th Amendment

• 10th Amendment: Powers of States and People

• This Means:• states that any power not granted

to the federal government belongs to the states or to the people.

Amendment Charades• Take 5 minutes with a partner to read

through and make clarifying notes on all 27 amendments on your “Structure of the Constitution” hand out (pages 266-277 in Creating America)

• You will pick an amendment out of the bowl to act out, and your team will have 30 seconds to guess the amendment

Words to Know

• Suffrage Bail• Abolish/Abolition Civil vs. Criminal• Repeal Assembly• Quartering Succession• Seizure• Petition• Prohibit/Prohibition

Amending the Constitution

• If the Constitution were being written today what would you add, get rid of and clarify?

• Chose one thing from the Constitution for each and create a chart to explain your “amendments”

Amending the Constitution Example

Add, Get Rid of and Clarify Reason for changing

I would clarify what is meant by “cruel and unusual” punishment in Amendment 8.

This needs clarification because some states support the death penalty…

I would add…

I would get rid of…