14th Amendment
Passed by Congress 13 June 1866; Ratified 9 July 1868
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the [rights] of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to…the whole number of persons in each State…But when the right to vote…is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced…
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who…shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same… But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. ...[n]either the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
15th Amendment
Passed by Congress 26 February 1869; Ratified 3 February 1870
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude—
AMENDMENT XIII
Passed by Congress on 31 January 1865; Ratified 6 December 1865
Section 1
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
AMENDMENT XIV
Passed by Congress 13 June 1866; Ratified 9 July 1868
Section 1
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws…
AMENDMENT XV
Passed by Congress 26 February 1869; Ratified 3 February 1870
Section 1
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude…
We especially insist that the property of the chief rebels should be seized and [used for] the payment of the national debt, caused by the unjust and wicked war they instigated…
The whole fabric of southern society must be changed and never can it be done if this opportunity is lost. Without this, this government can never be, as it has never been, a true republic…
Nothing is so likely to make a man a good citizen as to make him a freeholder [landowner]. Nothing will so multiply the production of the South as to divide it into small farms. Nothing will make men so industrious and moral as to let them feel that they are above want and are the owners of the soil which they till… No people will ever be republican in spirit and practice where a few own immense manors and the masses are landless. Small and independent landholders are the support and guardians of republican liberty.
Students will understand the meaning of the second amendment’s key words and structure.
Students will understand the role of militias in colonial life and colonial attitudes about central government power.
Students will understand the spectrum of restrictions that state, local, and federal governments have placed on gun use and ownership in U.S. history.
This activity supports the following Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies:
RHSS.11-12.1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
RHSS.11-12.2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
RHSS.11-12.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (eg. how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10)
RHSS.11-12.5. Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.
Step 1. Introduce topic of Constitutional rights and gun control with a whole class discussion of these questions:
Who should be able to own a gun?
What should the criteria be for owning a gun?
What responsibilities should you have if you own a gun?
Who should decide the rules for who can own a gun?
Step 2. Project and read aloud the text of the second amendment. Discuss as a class:
What words tell you that? Who are “the people”?
What does “infringed” mean? [possible answers: intruded on; stepped on; interfered with]
What is the difference between “keeping arms” and “bearing arms”?
Step 3. Students work independently to complete the Preamble Worksheet. Lead a brief share out of students’ responses to Part II. b to insure that they understand the meaning of the preamble to the second amendment.
Step 4. Students work independently to read and complete focus questions for Background Reading on Colonial Militias and Battle of Lexington. Lead a class-wide discussion to insure students understand the role of militias in colonial life, the responsibility of white male citizens to defend their communities, and the importance of local control of militias.
Step 5. Project the three different positions on gun control. Lead a class-wide discussion to review their meaning and identify which one has the most government restriction on gun ownership and use and which has the least government restriction on gun ownership and use.
Other possible discussion questions:
Why does Position 2 mention states (states can pass their own laws; sometimes these laws are controversial and the Supreme Court must decide whether or not they are constitutional)?
In Position 3, why is an exception made for the police, military, and National Guard?
Step 6. Divide the class into six smaller groups. Assign each group one of the three positions discussed in the previous step (each position will be defended by two groups). Handout Task Instructions and Worksheet. Students will work in small groups to complete the task.
Step 7. Ask each group to summarize their position in their own words and read their slogan. Each group should also share the best reason from any of the documents that supports their position.
Reverend and Dear Sir:
...Because of the grave responsibilities of my office, I am turning to representative Clergymen for counsel and advice--feeling confident that no group can give more accurate or unbiased views. I am particularly anxious that the new Social Security Legislation just enacted, for which we have worked so long, providing for old age pensions, aid for crippled children and unemployment insurance, shall be carried out in keeping with the high purposes with which this program was enacted. It is also vitally important that the Works Program shall be administered to provide employment at useful work, and that our unemployed as well as the nation may derive the greatest possible benefits. I shall deem it a favor if you will write to me about conditions in your community. Tell me where you feel our government can better serve our people. We can solve our many problems, but no one man or single group can do it--we shall have to work together for the common end of better spiritual and material conditions for the American people...
Very sincerely yours,
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The White House Washington
September 24, 1935
Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so..."
… the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration.