Students explore the six core principles that hold up the U.S. Constitution — popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and republicanism — the design ideas that shape American government.
Students will be able to…
How do you design a government strong enough to work but limited enough that it can never turn tyrannical? The Constitution’s answer rests on six big ideas.
Project this and tap each constitutional principle. Have students record what it means and why the Framers built it in.
Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.
How do you build a government that works but can’t become a tyranny?
Students investigate.
Students analyze.
Students conclude.
Students take action.
Aligned to the C3 Framework for Social Studies (Grades 9–12) and Common Core literacy in history/social studies.
Explain how the U.S. Constitution establishes a system of distributed powers.
Evaluate social and political systems in different contexts.
Analyze the impact of constitutions and laws on order and rights.
Determine the central ideas of a source and provide an accurate summary.
Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.
Have students locate each principle in the actual text of the Constitution and explain how the words establish it. A printable Constitution scavenger-hunt is in the Social Studies library.
Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.
A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.
A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.