The Bill of Rights Institute is here to help you and your students make sense of current events with insights and relevant lessons. One of the ways we do this is with Rachel's weekly "This Week in Civics" video broadcast every Monday morning at 9 a.m. ET live on YouTube and Facebook. This week, in light of the refugee situation created by the U.S. and allied withdrawal from Afghanistan, Rachel takes a look at lessons related to refugees, immigration, and what creates the "Unum" in our national motto of "e Pluribus Unum." If you miss the live broadcast, you can always catch the recording later on our YouTube channel!
As a thank you, we will enter you into our raffle. This year we're giving away ten $50 Amazon gift cards and one $500 Amazon gift card. Profile updates must be made before August 31st to be eligible for the raffle.
Mask mandates in public settings have been a hotly debated issue for the last year, and now the dispute has shifted to schools. This week's Think the Vote debate prompt invites students to share their thoughts on the question: Should schools require students to wear masks? As we do each week, we will reward two students on each side of the question and their referring teachers with gift cards and swag. Winning students also have a chance to win a $1000 grand prize scholarship at the end of the school year.
Did the framers of the Constitution, as abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas, and some contemporary historians claim, create a proslavery document, or did they, as Douglas’s contemporary Abraham Lincoln and other historians claim, create a document that put slavery on the path to ultimate extinction? This point-counterpoint lesson from Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, our free U.S. history resource tackles this historical debate head-on. Sign up for a free account here.
How does the structure of our federal government promote the common good? Join Kirk Higgins in Part 2 of analyzing James Madison’s Federalist 10. How can the government balance the competing interests of the public good and rights of individual citizens? What constitutes a republican form of government? What makes a republican government work?
Educator Spotlight
Meet Kimberly Hammers! A Bill of Rights Institute Teacher Council member from Chesapeake, Virginia, Kimberly Hammers has been teaching AP U.S. Government and Politics for fifteen years. In a fun nod to her Masters in Political Science, while teaching at Grassfield High School, Kimberly set a Guinness World Record for the "Largest In-Person Politics Lesson."...Read More.
BoE: Bottom of Email
Dear John,
234 years ago, on September 17, 1787, the Founders affixed their signatures to a blueprint for governing the nation they had "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" (in the words of Lincoln) eleven years before when they declared independence from Great Britain. We know that many of them worried whether that nation and its government would stand the test of time.
At the end of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin, noticing the sun painted on the back of George Washington's chair, is said to have remarked:
And that sun has somehow continued to rise. Through wars abroad, economic hardships, civil war, and civil unrest, successive generations have taken on the task of building the "more perfect union" described in the Preamble. Whether it continues to rise will depend entirely on our own commitment to the principles the Constitution was designed to protect, including the ones we have chosen to focus on this year: liberty and equality.
Look for the first in the series of videos and viewing guides on these themes starting tomorrow on our YouTube channel, and be sure to sign up so you don't miss any of the new resources.
Here are a few of the speakers you will hear from this year:
Finally, we hope you and your students can join us for all or part of the live broadcast from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday, September 17. Those that sign-up in advance will be invited to submit questions to our live show.
Warmly,
Laura Vlk
Director, Educator Engagement
Bill of Rights Institute
