Lesson Plans for America's 250th
Designed by teachers to help students navigate our nation’s history and constitutional principles using trusted, nonpartisan resources.
Colonial Grievances and the Social Contract
In this lesson, students examine how the grievances in the Declaration of Independence demonstrate a broken social contract. Through a matching activity and analysis of draft documents from the Library of Congress, students identify patterns of unfairness and evolving argumentation. Using a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning framework, they practice identifying them as legal arguments and apply their understanding to modern contexts before completing a final written evaluation.
The Promises of America
In this lesson, students will explore and evaluate period-relevant treaties in relation to the concept of social contracts and their evolution.
“In 1787, in the Northwest Ordinance, Congress pledged that the utmost good faith would always be observed towards the Indigenous peoples of the nation and that land would never be taken from them without their consent. In reality, the policy of the United States fluctuated many times over the next two hundred years.”