Topic:

US Constitution 

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Grade/Subject

US Government/US History 

To download your own copy of the original powerpoint, right click here and save file to a drive or disk.

Author:

Suzanne Pitman 

Objectives:

• Using copies of primary source documents, students will be able to list the similarities between the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and the United States Constitution

Anticipatory Set/Warm-Up:

• Review culture and government of 17th century America
• Slide 1 & 2 of power point (ppt)

Instruction/Activities:

• Define Republicanism (slide 3 of ppt)
• Explain context/background of FOoC (slide 4 & 5 of ppt)
• Review major ideas of document (slide 6 of ppt)

Guided Practice:

• Divide class into groups of 3
• Handout copy of FOoC to each group
• Have each group find an example for 2 of the listed items (slide 7 of ppt)
• Set timer for 15 to 20 min max.
• Pull class together and review examples collected
• Discuss long term consequences of document (slide 8 of ppt)

Closure:

• What is Republicanism? (slide 9 of ppt)
• What it is not
• What it is (slide 10 of ppt)
• Explain how political concept drove colonies further away from England (slide 11 of ppt)

Independent Practice:

• Lead Whole Class Discussion using following questions— (slide 12 of ppt)
• What conditions, historical context and or ideas do you see in this document that we have previously discussed in our class.?
• What connections can you make to current political ideas or practices?
• Have students turn to appendix of textbook and skim over the US Constitution looking for examples of the FOoC principles.
• Handout Graphic Organizer and have each student create a table for similarities between the two documents.

Materials Needed: 

textbook, copies of document, graphic organizer, ppt