Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS:

One component of an organized community is a representative democracy at which political power and influence is shared and valued.  In this unit, grade eight students will examine the foundations of government in the newly formed United States.  Students will carefully evaluate the origins, purpose, and impact of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  Students will analyze how and why the Constitution created a sharing of power between the states and the national governments and how and why a sharing of power between different branches of the federal government was instituted. Students will carefully evaluate the powers given to citizens as a result of the Bill of Rights.  Students will also analyze the extent to which “liberty for all” was a guiding principle of our founding documents.  Students will evaluate and assess what was stated in the founding documents related to Enslaved People and Indigenous Peoples. 

Unit Duration:

30 days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks