Lesson Plan: 2nd Amendment

LESSON TITLE

 

Second Amendment – Right to Bear Arms

 

ABOUT THIS LESSON

In this lesson students will take a historical look at the creation of the Second Amendment rights,  the legislative path to passage taken, and how the meaning may have changed over time.  This lesson will have each student taking a stance on the second amendments rights of today.

 

 

GRADE LEVEL

 

8th Grade US History

 

 

CLASSROOM TIME

 

This lesson should take (2) 90 minute class periods

 

 

RESOURCES (title only – attach complete files separately)

 

Interactive Constitution – Writing Rights

 

Interactive Constitution – Matters of Debate

 

 

BACKGROUND

As part of the unit of the Bill of Rights & Amendments to the US Constitution, each student will take an in-depth look at the construction of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.  It will include having students identifying a current controversial issue surrounding the Second Amendment, taking a position on that issue, and finding supporting evidence to back up their claim.

 

 

OBJECTIVES

• Students will understand the process on how to Amend the US Constitution
• Students will be able to explain the 2nd Amendment rights of a US citizen
• Students will be able to take a stance on a current Bill of Rights issue and support it using historical and contemporary arguments
• Students will be able to show their understanding and knowledge of the Interactive Constitution as a resource.

STANDARDS – Wisconsin’s Model Academic Standards for Social Studies

 

Standard B History:  Time, Continuity, and Change

B.8.1 Interpret the past using a variety of sources, such as biographies, diaries,

journals, artifacts, eyewitness interviews, and other primary source

materials, and evaluate the credibility of sources used

B.8.5 Use historical evidence to determine and support a position about

important political values, such as freedom, democracy, equality, or

justice, and express the position coherently

B.8.6 Analyze important political values such as freedom, democracy, equality,

and justice embodied in documents such as the Declaration of

Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights

 

Standard C Political Science and Citizenship: Power, Authority, Governance, and Responsibility

C.8.1 Identify and explain democracy’s basic principles, including individual

rights, responsibility for the common good, equal opportunity, equal

protection of the laws, freedom of speech, justice, and majority rule with

protection for minority rights

C.8.2 Identify, cite, and discuss important political documents, such as the

Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and landmark decisions of the Supreme

Court, and explain their function in the American political system

C.8.3 Explain how laws are developed, how the purposes of government are

established, and how the powers of government are acquired, maintained,

justified, and sometimes abused

C.8.4 Describe and explain how the federal system separates the powers of

federal, state, and local governments in the United States, and how

legislative, executive, and judicial powers are balanced at the federal level

C.8.7 Locate, organize, and use relevant information to understand an issue of

public concern, take a position, and advocate the position in a debate

 

 

 

 

 

LESSON – Day 1 

Day 1- The Creation of the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights

1. Have all students log on to their chromebooks and go to the Interactive Constitution at: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution
2. Students should enter the link called Rights Interactive: Origins & Travels. For the first part of the lesson students will concentrate on the Writing Rights section – Please click into that section of the website.
3. Read the directions on the page and then enter the section by hitting the Start Exploring Icon.
4. In the upper left hand corner, there is a drop down menu to choose one of the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution or Bill of Rights. Give students 3-5 minutes to explore the this section of the Interactive Constitution.
5. Lead a very quick (2-5 minutes) class discussion on “What are some characteristics and information that you found on this part of the Interactive Constitution?”
6. Explain to the students that their task today is to reverse engineer the Second Amendment. Instead of looking at a law or in this case an Amendment in the traditional start to finish flowchart process;  Today students will look at the Final document as the starting point and unfold the process in reverse order until you get to where the idea for this Amendment came from.
7. Please Use the whiteboard to draw out for the students the traditional process and then the Reverse engineering model.

Traditional:

Idea   Introduced to House of Representatives by a member  Debated and amended by the House    Final House Version    Sent to Senate    Debated and amended by the Senate    Final Senate Version    Any Differences between House and Senate worked out in Committee    Final Version Passed by both House and Senate

Reverse Engineering:

Final Version  Senate Process  House Process  Idea for Madison

8. You will notice I shortened the reverse engineering flowchart to indicate the process of debating and amending that takes place in the House and Senate. I did this to show where I want you to concentrate and be able to explain what actually happened during these stages of the process.
9. To help understand and be able to explain what changes, edits, deletions, or additions were made to the Amendment – use the interactive Constitution to click on each of the proposals at the various stages during the legislative process.

Example: Gaining an understanding of what happened in the Senate.

• Look at all four of the Senate Proposals
  • ○ Compare the proposals to the final House version
  • ○ Compare the proposals to the final Senate version
• Check the dates.
  • ○ How close are they to one another?
  • ○ How long did the debate take?
  • ○ How much agreement is there on the proposal.

You will need to do this at several points along the process.

Assessment for Lesson:

Students will create either a Flowchart/Pictogram/Diagram with an analysis of the creation of the second amendment.  The Flowchart/Pictogram/Diagram should highlight the process. The analysis should explain the changes, additions, or deletions that took place along the legislative path. I expect to see attention, time, and analysis given to the following junctures during the process.

1. What took place in the Senate?
   • ○ How did the Amendment come into the Senate, what were some ideas to change or edit the version, and how did it leave the Senate?
   • ○ Pay attention to dates and how much time was spent for debates and editing. Were there any differences between the Senate version and the Final House version that was passed by both houses as part of the Bill of Rights?
2. What took place in the House of Representatives?
   • ○ How did the Amendment come into the House, what were some ideas to change or edit the version, and how did it leave the House of Representatives?
   • ○ Pay attention to dates and how much time was spent for debates and editing. Were there any differences between the Senate version and the Final version that was passed by both houses as part of the Bill of Rights?
   • ○ What changes had taken place from James Madison’s original proposal?
3. Where did Madison get his ideas from to create his proposals?
   • ○ Investigate several of the historical documents to see which ones had the roots of the Second Amendment embedded in their document. Use three of the historical documents as evidence of where Madison may have borrowed the ideas and principles for the eventual Second Amendment.

Make sure that your analysis has answered the following 2 questions:

1. Where did James Madison get the ideas to create his original proposals for the Bill of Rights?
2. How did Madison’s original proposals develop, change, or morph into the final version in the Bill of Rights that we have today?

Bonus Question for additional points:

Do other countries around the world enjoy the right to bear arms and gun ownership that US citizens do under the Second Amendment?

In answering this question, make sure you include the following:

1. Explore the Rights around the World section of the Interactive Constitution.
2. Compare 3 countries from around the world to the United States in terms of similar Second Amendment rights according to the Constitutions of the other countries.
3. Provide a comparison and analysis of the 3 countries and the protected rights.

 

 

LESSON – Day 2

 

Day 2 – Second Amendment Issues , Making a Claim, & Supporting Evidence (Attachment)

 

1. Have all students log on to their chromebooks and go to the Interactive Constitution at: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution
2. Students should enter the link called Explore It. For the first part of the lesson students will concentrate on the 2nd Amendment – Right to Bear Arms. Please click into that section of the website.
3. Students will read through the section called “Common Interpretation”. This section is written by two constitutional scholars as a joint venture on points about the Second Amendment that they agree on.
4. Students will select a current controversial issue surrounding the 2nd Amendment. Topics could include:
   1. Gun ownership for people on the No Fly List
   2. Conceal & Carry Laws
   3. Government limits on clip size for weapons
   4. Government registry & background checks on private sales
   5. Other

Before making a final decision, students should read the Matters of Debate section of the Interactive Constitution.  In the Matters of Debate section, there are two essays written by opposing viewpoints by the same two scholars who wrote the Common Interpretation section for the Second Amendment.  Each scholar writes about the Second Amendment today and how it should be viewed.

5. After reading the Matters of Debate – Students should make a final selection on which controversial issue they would like to research and become an expert on.
6. Students begin researching and collecting data. Create a list of evidence that supports each the position taken on a controversial issue. Students should have at least 4 pieces of evidence for each position.
7. Make sure the evidence for both sides can be properly sourced. Using experts and previous Supreme Court decisions or opinions would lend credibility to your argument.
8. After researching and collecting data for both sides of the controversial issue, look at each position along with the supporting evidence for each side. Students should decide which side they agree with more and which position they would be more comfortable in defending.
9. The last step is for the students to write a thesis or claim statement that delivers their position on the issue.
10. Students should turn in their Thesis or Claim statement at the end of the hour.

 

POST LESSON ACTIVITIES – (Attachment)

 

These two lessons could be followed-up with a classroom discussion using the debate protocol and debating several controversial issues concerning the Second Amendment

 

ASSESSMENT OPTIONS

 

An assessment option would be to have students write a 5-6 paragraph argumentative essay on their issue as an assessment.