The First Amendment

In this activity for middle-schoolers, students will analyze documents that span the course of American history and connect them to the different phrases found within the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Suggested Teaching Instructions

This activity may be taught following an introduction to the First Amendment. For grades 8-12. Approximate time needed is 20-30 minutes.

You may wish to share a full transcript of the Bill of Rights and the history of its creation with students before starting this activity. Introduce the type of documents and the vocabulary found in the text that might be unfamiliar to students, such as:

• amendment
• amicus curiae
• mandate
• restrain
• enjoin
• decreed
• sedition

Ask students to begin the activity, analyzing each document for a possible link to the First Amendment. Students should match each document with the specific phrase of the First Amendment that it best demonstrates. This activity may also be completed by dividing the class into pairs or small groups.

After concluding, lead a discussion with students about the documents they examined.

• Which documents involved the claim that First Amendment rights were violated?
• Which documents lead you to wonder what happened next?

Documents in this activity

• Alien and Sedition Acts
• Amicus Curiae Brief from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Supreme Court Regarding Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township, New Jersey
• Bill of Rights
• Mandate in West Virginia v. Barnette
• Petition for Universal Suffrage
• Photograph of Leaders at the Head of the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.
• Testimony of John Tinker in Tinker v. Des Moines

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