Supporting Claims with Evidence: The Second Amendment and Gun Control Debates
In this activity, students develop Common Core reading skills (eg. citing textual evidence, determining the central ideas, and determining meaning of words and phrases) through a study of the history of the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution and its significance today. First, students work independently, with some class discussion, to complete a close reading of the second amendment text and related primary and secondary documents. Then, students work in groups to prepare a presidential candidate for a debate in which he/she must defend a particular position, or claim, about the meaning of the second amendment and constitutionality of gun regulation.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
2012
American Social History Project, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a> This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
Supporting Claims with Evidence: The Second Amendment and Gun Control Debates Task Instructions and Worksheet
This worksheet provides students with detailed task instructions and a note-taking guide for selecting evidence from their documents for the activity Supporting Claims with Evidence: The Second Amendment and Gun Control Debates.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
2012
Copyright American Social History Project, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /><br /></a>This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1966
Supporting Claims with Evidence: The Second Amendment and Gun Control Debates Preamble Worksheet
This worksheet helps students understand what a preamble is and what it signifies when used in a law or constitution. It was designed to be used in as part of a close reading of the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
2012
<em></em><br />American Social History Project, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a> This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1966
Regulating Guns in U.S. History
Throughout U.S. history, governments at the local, state, and federal level have passed laws regulating the ownership and use of guns. This chart provides examples of such laws over time.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
2012
American Social History Project, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a> This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.
1966
A Congressman Denounces Immigration Quotas as "Un-American" (short version, with text supports)
Immigration and Migration
Restrictions on immigration, largely aimed at would-be migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, gained considerable popular support during the 1920s. Anti-immigrant sentiment culminated in the Quota Act of 1921, which effectively reduced immigration from those areas to a quarter of pre-World War I levels, and in the even more restrictive Immigration Act of 1924. Although the later bill passed the Senate with only six dissenting votes, not everyone was persuaded. Congressman Robert H. Clancy defended the Jewish, Italian, and Polish immigrants that comprised much of his constituency and denounced the quota provisions of the bill as "un-American." In a speech before Congress on April 8, 1924, Clancy traces the history of anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. and reminds his fellow congressmen that all Americans are of foreign origin.
Robert H. Clancy
Speech by Robert H. Clancy, 8 April 1924, Congressional Record, 68th Congress, 1st Session (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1924), vol. 65, 59295932.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1924
1862, 1256
English
Modern America (1914-1929)
"OSHA at Forty"
Work
This short article by public health historians David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz reflects on the fortieth anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, passed in 1970. OSHA is one of the most important pieces of labor legislation ever passed, and as Rosner and Markowitz demonstrate, has had a significant impact on workers' lives. The authors also address the attacks that have been made on OSHA and its chances for survival in the current political climate.
David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz
David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, "OSHA at Forty," in <em>The Huffington Post</em>, 4 January 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-rosner/osha-at-forty_b_804195.html.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2011
Used by permission of the authors.
English
Contemporary US (1976 to the present)
How an Amendment Gets Passed worksheet
This handout explains the process for passing amendments, as outlined in the Constitution, as well as the larger forces that push Congress and voters to support or oppose Constitutional change.
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2010.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2010
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
English
The 14th and 15th Amendments
Civil Rights and Citizenship
Following the Civil War and abolition of slavery, Republicans in Congress passed reconstruction laws meant to guarantee full citizenship and suffrage to African Americans. The 14th amendment required states to guarantee the rights of all citizens, including the right to vote for male inhabitants over the age of 21. The 14th amendment also contained provisions meant to prevent Confederate leaders from regaining political power or receiving economic benefits from the emancipation of slaves. The 15th amendment was passed to further protect African American enfranchisement. Despite the intent of northern lawmakers, the amendments––and the strong opposition to them by white southerners-- signified the beginning of a long struggle for black equality.
U.S. Congress
National Archives
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1866 - 1870
English
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
Alice Paul Hangs the Ratification Banner at Suffrage Headquarters
Gender and Sexuality
Social Movements
After Congress approved the 19th Amendment in June 1919, the amendment had to be ratified by three fourths of the states. Fortunately, suffragists were well organized at the local level to pressure state legislatures into approving the amendment. To keep track of the amendment’s progress, the National Women’s Party created a “ratification flagâ€, sewing on a star for each state that ratified the amendment. When Tennessee became the 36th state to approve the amendment—and the final of the necessary three-fourths of the states—triumphant suffragists, led by Alice Paul, hung the flag in Washington, D.C on August 18, 1920.
National Photo Company
National Photo Company, When Tennessee the 36th state ratified, Aug 18, 1920, Alice Paul, National Chairman of the Woman's Party, unfurled the ratification banner from Suffrage headquarters, in The Suffragist, Vol. 8, No. 8, (September 1920); from Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
1920
1799, 1696
English
Modern America (1914-1929)
Claiming We the People: Political Participation in Revolutionary America
Civil Rights and Citizenship
In this activity students will learn about how groups without political power—African Americans, women, and working-class men—sought to expand their political power in the Revolutionary era. Students will analyze primary sources to determine the methods by which non-voting groups made their claims on being part of "We the People".
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2010.
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
2010
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><br />This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
1671
English
Revolution and New Nation (1751-1815)