| The U.S. Constitution was adopted Sept. 17, 1787 and
ratified by the states in 1788. Drawn up by delegates from the 13 states, the
Constitution defined our system of government, including the three branches: Congress,
the president and federal courts. It outlines this division of authority, or system
of checks and balances, to ensure no branch can dominate the others. The Constitution
also sets and limits the federal government's power over the states and describes
individual citizens' liberties. After ratification, the first Congress drafted
12 amendments to the Constitution, 10 of which were ratified by the states. These
become known as the Bill of Rights. Over time, an additional 17 amendments have
been passed. If you are looking for information on Constitution Day on
the web, be wary of sites with hidden agendas. The resources below are free of
these influences. Choose from:
Constitution
Resources
Simple
Constitution Game
The
Constitution (no Bill of Rights)
Simple
version of Constitution Constitution
with clickable explanations for difficult terms Constitution
Timeline
Bill
of Rights and other amendments
Constitutional
Convention Biographies
This source is great for re-enacting the convention
or individual presentations by students. Also: http://www.usconstitution.net/constframe.html Data
on those who attended the Convention To get the Constitution in Spanish
or many other languages use:
http://world.altavista.com/ [
Top of page ] Constitutional
Convention Questions Explore
Constitutional Convention issues
This site isolates the most important
elements of the convention, and most of the state essay questions come from this
information. Other sites offer data ideal for integrated lesson plans about
the Constitution and elections. These include: Information
about every state
Includes when states were accepted into the Union Electoral
college votes for every election
Create a great integrated math lesson. Every
Presidential election with parties and popular votes Presidential
Cabinet names and addresses Related sites that have data commonly used
for standardized tests: Comparing
the Articles to the Constitution The
Federalist Papers Alphabetical
list of all government websites [ Top of
page ] Two Outstanding Sites for
Constitutional Materials Center
of Civic Education
They have a great deal of usable material. There are
charges for some, but much is sponsored. Good stuff. Constitutional
Rights Foundation
This organization has excellent materials; some require
a fee. Here are the free online ones. Make sure you consider signing up for their
other free publications. They are current, dynamic, easy-to-read and meet every
state framework. You can sign up here:
http://www.crf-usa.org/marketing/form.html | 
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