Civic Virtue and the Executive Branch

The maintenance of our republican government requires the people be vigilant, informed, and virtuous, ensuring that governing institutions are directed towards their right ends. This President's Day, analyze how Presidents displayed civic virtue throughout the nation’s history with BRI.

Our President's Day Playlist includes primary sources, lessons, videos, and activities highlighting George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and many more.

George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

This primary source challenges students to analyze the civic virtue of honor. Through a series of comprehension and historical reasoning questions, students can uncover how President Washington demonstrated honor, integrity and prudence.

Take the reading further with our George Washington’s Farewell Address and First Inaugural Address Primary Source Close Reads video.

Theodore Roosevelt: Warrior for Public Justice Lesson

Using a narrative activity, engage students in how President Theodore Roosevelt displayed the civic virtue of justice by seeking to reform the meat packing industry and the general welfare of the nation.

Complete the lesson with our observation and discussion questions like:

What is the historical context of the narrative?
How and why did the individual exhibit a moral and/or civic virtue in facing and overcoming the challenge?
How did the exercise of the virtue benefit civil society?

Eisenhower and the Little Rock Crisis (1957) Lesson

Use this lesson to help students asses President Eisenhower's constitutional justification for his decision to send federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce a federal court's order to integrate public schools.

How did President Eisenhower uphold justice and respect the rights of the Little Rock Nine?

Help Your Students See Civic Virtue in Themselves

In the above examples, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Eisenhower each had a problem affecting a community of people and enacted a solution.

Use the presidential examples to parallel how students can find a local problem and create their own alternatives and solutions through civic virtues with MyImpact Challenge. (a national contest for students aged 13-19).

Sebastian Tan was the First Prize Winner of the 2024 MyImpact Challenge. Tan found a need to advocate for formerly incarcerated individuals seeking employment but not finding success.

As a solution, he created OutsideConnection, a job-listing website for the formerly incarcerated reentering society, through the civic virtue of justice and respecting the rights and dignity of all.

Encourage your students to create a civic engagement project with stories like Sebastian's and share it with us. We'd also love to hear from students who actively volunteer or are already civically engaged.

Share MyImpact Challenge

Find BRI at National, State, & Local Conferences!

2/20-21/2025 - North Carolina Council for the Social Studies Conference in Greensboro, NC
2/21-22/2025 - Missouri Council for the Social Studies Conference in St. Charles, MO
2/21/2025 - Virginia Council for the Social Studies Summit in Richmond, VA
2/26/2025 - National Association of Independent Schools Conference in Nashville, TN
2/26-28/2025 - Colorado Charter Schools Conference in Denver, CO
2/28-3/1/2025 - Middle States Council for the Social Studies Conference in Lancaster, PA
3/7-9/2025 - California Council for the Social Studies in San Francisco, CA

"The virtues and vices can apply to all of our classrooms and can be something that is implemented in every grade. We already do some of these things even when we don't put a name to it."

- Teacher Program Particpant, Kansas

BOE: Bottom of Email

Dear :

Our MyImpact Challenge Contest embodies the ideal of everyday citizens making change. As you introduce this contest to your students, explore our Black History Month resources and find examples of young people making change. And give them a chance at the $10,000 Grand Prize!

Help students find themselves in examples like Elizabeth Eckford of the Little Rock Nine, John Lewis and the Freedom Riders, and so many other students who were committed to their cause.

We continue to offer our array of resources and materials to you at no charge. In addition to hundreds of lessons and classroom-ready activities, we also maintain a Current Events page . Our team searches for recent news articles that explore relevant themes and connect those articles to our resources. And don’t forget about our Think The Vote platform – we hope it helps your student think critically about the world around them!

Warmly,

Laura Vlk
Director, Educator Engagement
Bill of Rights Institute

Copyright © 2025 Bill of Rights Institute, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
1310 North Courthouse Road, Suite 620 Arlington, Virginia 22201

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.