1 THE FIRST AMENDMENT A UNIT PLAN FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS by Diane G Fuller A Master s Project for ED 7999 Submitted to the Office for Graduate Studies Graduate Division of Wayne State University Detroit Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF TEACHING NOVEMBER 2003 MAJOR HISTORY Approved by Dr Bob Pettapiece Date 2 Table of Contents pagination may be off by 2 Chapter 1 The First Introduction Page 1 Chapter 2 Page 3 Historical Background Amendment An Review of Literature Page 11 Teaching Strategies Page 17 Chapter 3 Unit Lesson Plan Page 19 Approach to Unit Plan Page 21 Unit Plan Lessons Page 22 References Page 86 Teaching Resources Page 88 3 Chapter One The First Amendment An Introduction On March 23 2003 Tom and Ray the hosts of NPR s Car Talk were interviewed by Bill Moyers host of the PBS television show NOW They were asked about their current campaign to try and get as many Americans as possible to stop driving gas guzzling SUV s As part of their campaign they are telling people that by driving an SUV they are indirectly assisting terrorists Mr Moyers asked them for an example of the kind of feed back that they have been getting from the public They said that one listener vehemently told them It is my First Amendment right to drive an SUV Does the First Amendment guarantee the right of every American citizen to drive an SUV It most certainly does not or maybe it does under the modern day interpretation of freedom of expression The truth is the average American citizen does not really know what the First Amendment guarantees They only know that the First Amendment assures and protects every American citizen s civil liberties or an individual s personal right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness rights that cannot be infringed upon by other people or by the local state or the federal government The First Amendment does in fact guarantee freedom of religion freedom of speech 4 expression freedom of the press freedom of assembly and freedom to petition the government These five freedoms are the pillars of American democracy and they are essential to the American way of life so much so that civil libertarians begin sounding the alarm whenever they think that these most basic of freedoms are under attack Currently they are sounding the alarm concerning the USA PATRIOT Act government legislation hurried through Congress by Attorney General John Ashcroft and signed into law by President George Bush on October 26 2001 shortly after the September 11th bombing of the World Trade Center Overall the majority of the public is silent about the potential threats to civil liberties posed by the USA PATRIOT Act In fact according to Nick Gillespie 78 of the respondents in a recent Gallup University of Oklahoma poll favored trading civil liberties for security even though the trade has not made Americans safer 2002 p 25 This is because the public is being told that this kind of legislation is needed in order to fight terrorism effectively According to President George Bush the PATRIOT Act takes account of the new realities and dangers posed by modern terrorists therefore it will help law enforcement to identify to dismantle to disrupt and to punish terrorists before they strike Davis 2002 p 1 Thus in exchange for a sense of security and safety the public is voluntarily giving up many of its First Amendment freedoms The goals of this unit plan are as follows 1 to teach students about their First Amendment rights and how to exercise them and 2 to cause students to become aware of how fundamental these rights are to the American way of life The American people need to be more educated about the First Amendment They need to know why the Founding Fathers added the First Amendment to the Constitution what its intended purpose was how it has evolved over the years and how essential it is to the uniquely American form of democracy Moreover the 5 American people need to know how the current war on terror is threatening to erode the very foundation of American democracy in terms of liberty and freedom An understanding of the First Amendment as well as an awareness of potential threats to American freedom so prevalent in today s society may cause people to be a little more apprehensive about their willingness to exchange their precious freedom for an illusion of security and safety during the current crises 6 Chapter Two Historical Background and a Review of Literature Introduction A variety of literature was reviewed for this project Journal articles newspaper articles books magazines and encyclopedias both in hard cover and on the world wide web were consulted in an effort to compile as much information as possible about the First Amendment The goals of this research were to understand the roots of the First Amendment gain insight into the intended role and purpose of the First Amendment understand how it has evolved over the years and discover any threats posed against the First Amendment since 9 11 Historical Background English Constitutional History and Antecedents of the First Amendment In terms of individual freedom another major influence on the leaders of America was English Constitutional history As Englishmen the Founding Fathers were well aware of the many struggles that had taken place between their English ancestors and the king for liberty or personal freedom They were aware of the great documents of English liberty which go all the way back through history to the Magna Carta of 1215 The Magna Carta was a treaty between the king and the nobility that defined their relationship and laid the basis for the concept that the ruler was subject to the law rather than above it This was the first document to give effective expression to the idea of limiting government by law Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2003 Without the English precedent of the two sided compact between the king and his peers and later between the king and parliament one might wonder if the American colonists revolutionaries and constitutional makers would have or indeed could have come up with their novel conception of a strictly defined relationship between all those governed and all those 7 governing Schwartz 1977 p 2 These men highly valued their freedom and they were careful to invoke their rights as Englishmen In fact the Virginia Charter of 1606 the first basic law of the first permanent English colony in America had a clause about enjoying English liberties Conley Kaminski 1992
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