Topic: The Constitution

Aim: How does the Bill of Rights protect our individual liberties?

What are the Bill of Rights?

• The Bill of Rights are the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution.

Why were the Bill of Rights included in the Constitution?

• They were included in the Constitution to protect personal freedoms.

What is an amendment?

• An amendment is an official change, correction, or addition to the Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Directions: You will review different situations. You must decide whether the situations are supported by the First Amendment or if they are a violation of the First Amendment. You must support your answer.

Students at DSLA are upset with their new social studies teacher. They stage a demonstration outside the school to protest the amount of homework she gives and each student makes a personal speech expressing his/her feelings of hatred toward this teacher. Can they do this?

Situation #1

The state of Michigan decides to pass a law that requires all students across the state to attend a church meeting once a week. If students neglect to attend this meeting, they will be suspended from school and will not graduate from high school. Can the government pass laws like this?

Students across the state of Michigan are angered when Governor Granholm signed a law extending the school day to 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, 12 months a year. To protest the new law, students across the state of Michigan wrote letters to the governor to protest the new law. Is this legal?

Situation #3

President Obama is very concerned about the number of soldiers being killed in Iraq. He is worried because the amount of people who are against the war is increasing. As a result he forbids all newspapers and news reports to discuss soldiers being killed in Iraq. Are Barack Obama’s actions legal?