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Lesson 4

We will read the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States and the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution to help answer our Central Question: What does it mean to be American?

Lesson Goals

  • Can I explain the concept of citizenship?

  • Can I determine the central ideas of a text and analyze their development?

  • Can I work productively in various roles with other participants and actively focus my attention on the collaborative task?

Texts

Core

  • Unit Reader
    • “The 14th Amendment and the History of Birthright Citizenship in the U.S.,” Ari Shapiro and Martha Jones, National Public Radio, Inc., October 30, 2018
    • The Declaration of Independence, Second Continental Congress, Public Domain, 1776
    • The Preamble to the Constitution and The 14th Amendment, United States Congress, Public Domain, 1787, 1868

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will read the preamble of the United States Constitution and annotate the text.

Step 1

Read the Preamble of the Constitution independently and annotate the text.

Focus on the first phrase, “We the People of the United States.”

  1. Who are “we”?

  2. Who do you think would have been included in “we” in 1776?

  3. Who is “we” now?

Step 2

In a class discussion, respond to the following questions:

  1. What are the framers forming?

  2. What is meant by the pairing of “more” with “perfect”?

  3. Why are the framers creating the Constitution?

  4. What is it intended to do?

  5. Who is meant to benefit from the Constitution?

Activity 2: Read

We will read and discuss the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Step 1

Read the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the longest amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, more than 100 years after the Constitution was signed.

Respond to the following questions:

  1. What do you know about the Civil War and Reconstruction?

  2. According to Section 1 of the 14th Amendment, who is a citizen of the United States?

Step 2

Write down the words naturalized and jurisdiction in your Vocabulary Journals.

Independently work to define the words. You might use a Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text; for others, you might use morphology to decipher the meaning or a reference resource to check if your meaning is accurate. For some words, your teacher might present you with definitions.

For each word, identify the vocabulary strategy (e.g., context, morphology, reference resource) you used to determine its meaning.

Activity 3: Listen – Read – Write

We will discuss the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Step 1

Listen to NPR’s “The 14th Amendment and the History of Birthright Citizenship in the U.S.,”an interview with Martha Jones, a constitutional scholar from Johns Hopkins University.

Respond to the following questions:

  1. For whom was the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution originally intended?

  2. What was the immediate impact of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution?

  3. According to Dr. Jones, what are some of the modern benefits of the 14th Amendment in regard to citizenship?

Step 2

Return to the text of the 14th Amendment. Using context clues, define the words enforce and abridge and add them to your Vocabulary Journal. Use the Vocabulary in Context Tool to assist you.

Respond to the following questions:

  1. Who are citizens of the United States?

  2. What qualities do citizens have?

  3. What is the state prohibited from doing?

  4. According to the text, what rights do citizens have under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution?

Step 3

Reread the following clause from the 14th Amendment:

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.”

Respond to the following question:

  1. What is this clause indicating that no state can do? What does that mean?

With a partner, respond to the following question:

  1. What are the central ideas of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution?

Activity 4: Discuss

We will discuss The Declaration of Independence.

Get into discussion groups and write one question that emerged for you from any of the texts you have read: the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, and “The 14th Amendment and the History of Birthright Citizenship in the U.S.”

Have a group discussion on the texts you have read so far. Start your discussions with the question you wrote or one of the following questions:

  1. What does it mean to be an American, according to the founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States?

  2. What does it mean to be an American, according to the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution?

  3. How has the definition of citizenship evolved from the texts we have read?

  4. How are those definitions still relevant today? Are the definitions still relevant at all? Why or why not?

Activity 5: Write

We will begin planning for the Culminating Task.

Revisit the Culminating Task. Brainstorm about what you would like to research more regarding the topic of being an American.