The Star News Education Foundation's 'Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for Secondary Students' is a supplementary text that discusses the people and events leading up to the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

Students learn the personalities, policies, and some of the politics the framers dealt with as they designed what was as the time, a unique form of government. The story then continues through the first ten amendments, known as The Bill of Rights.

Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for Secondary School Students

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 14

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 13

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 12

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 11 Part 2

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 11 Part 1

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 10 Part 2

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 10 Part 1

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 09 Part 2

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 09 Part 1

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 08 Part 2

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 08 Part 1

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 07 Part 2

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 07 Part 1

Star News Education Foundation - Guide To The Constitution Chapter 06

Federalism is a foundational concept framed in the Constitution of the United States which defines the relationship between the national government and each of the state governments that comprise our republic (thirteen such state governments in 1789, fifty now in 2019).
Both entities – the national government and each state government – remain sovereign, while the powers of governance and responsibilities to the citizenry are balanced between the two. Federalism, along with The Separation of Powers within the national government (which we will discuss in Chapter Six) are the two foundational concepts of the Constitution that protect the freedoms and liberties guaranteed to individual citizens.

Chapter 05 - Federalism

Today’s high school students may yawn when they hear teachers describe what a world-changing document the United States Constitution was when it was ratified in 1788 and a new government was formed a year later in 1789.
But a deeper look behind the scenes reveals the three dramatic innovations the Founding Fathers introduced in just 4,400 words that changed the course of history for the better over the next 228 years, not just in the United States of America, but around the world:
1. A Single Written Agreement Was Now the Highest Authority for “The Rule of Law” in America
2. Federalism
3. The Separation of Powers

Chapter 04 - Three Things That Make the United States Constitution Unique in World History

His unusual first name – Gouverneur – was the maiden name of his mother, Sarah Gouverneur. Her father, Isaac Gouverneur, was born in Amsterdam, Holland, and came to New York at an early age. Isaac’s grandfather, Nicholas Pierre Gouverneur, was said to have been born in France around 1580 and served as a Captain of Arms to French King Henry IV, who was a Protestant Hugeonaut prior to becoming king known for his support of religious liberty and the signing of the Edict of Nantes. When Henry IV was assassinated by a Catholic fanatic in 1610, Gouverneur fled to Holland, where he was “granted arms” by William of Orange.
Morris’ family lineage from his father, Lewis Morris, was equally impressive. Lewis’ grandfather (Gouverneur’s great-grandfather), Richard Morris, fought for Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War in the 1640s, emigrated to Barbados, and in 1671 purchased a major 2,000 acre estate in what is now the Bronx, but was then known as Westchester County, which came to be known as Morrissania. For the next two centuries, the Morris family owned much of what is now the borough of the Bronx, as well as large tracts of land in New Jersey.

Chapter 03 - The Preamble and Its Author, Gouverneur Morris (Part 2)

The first fifty-three words of the Constitution – the Preamble – lay out The Who, the Why, the What, and the How of the 4,000 plus words that followed in the document it introduced:
WHO: We the People of the United States,
WHY: In order to form a more perfect union,
WHAT:
– establish Justice,
– insure domestic Tranquility,
– provide for the common defence,
– promote the general welfare,
– and secure the Blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our Posterity,
HOW: do hereby ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Chapter 03 - The Preamble and Its Author, Gouverneur Morris (Part 1)

Minutes after the Constitutional Convention adjourned in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787, Elizabeth Powel, a friend of George Washington who hosted many social events for the political class of the time, asked Benjamin Franklin if the convention had given us a republic or a monarchy.
“A republic, madam, if you can keep it,” the venerable 81-year-old delegate, ambassador, and inventor responded.

Chapter 02 - A Republic if you Can Keep It

A remarkable aspect of the Constitution of the United States is that since its ratification in 1788 the American people have, for the most part, viewed it as a covenant agreement between themselves and the national government.

It is a powerful document not simply because of the words it contains, but because the people have freely chosen to be governed by those words.

Words written on parchment or typed into an I-phone have no impact unless they are accepted within a common belief system.

Chapter 01 - The Golden Triangle of Freedom

The Star News Education Foundation's Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for Secondary Students is a supplementary text that discusses the people and events leading up to the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

Students learn the personalities, policies, and some of the politics the framers dealt with as they designed what was as the time, a unique form of government. The story then continues through the first ten amendments, known as The Bill of Rights.

Learn more about The Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for Secondary Students at https://guidetotheconstitution.org

Learn more about The Star News Education Foundation at https://starnewseducationfoundation.org

Learn about The National Constitution Bee at https://nationalconstitutionbee.org