The U.S. Constitution social studies lesson for kids

The U.S. Constitution social studies lesson for kids -  social studies skills studied in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th grades.
We all know about the American Constitution. It’s our governing document that determines everything our country stands for and what we as a people believe in. Truth be told practically every nation has a constitution of some kind, because if you don’t tell people what the rules are, how can they follow them? The American Constitution tells the American people what the rules are. What they can and can’t do, and what we consider to be against the law. But more than that, the Constitution of America tells the people who live here what their rights are as citizens of this nation.
As you may know, the Constitution determines what rights you do or don’t have, such as the right to free speech. However, the rights in the Constitution are not set in stone. They can be changed later if enough people agree to it and think it needs to be changed. These changes are called amendments, and there have been a lot of them over the years, as what the people believed to be rights changed. Continue reading below>>>

Amending a part of the Constitution is straightforward, but not easy. The Constitution itself says that an amendment may be proposed by two thirds of Congress or by a Constitutional convention, which requires two thirds agreement from state governments. But this doesn’t mean that the amendment will automatically be accepted: it’s just a proposal. Even after the amendment is proposed, the majority of the people discussing it have to agree for the change to be made to the Constitution.
The Constitution has experienced twenty seven amendments to it since it was written. The first ten amendments are what we call the Bill of Rights. These are the basic rights we believe that all Americans have.
The Bill of Rights includes many of the rights we think are the most important in our country. Thanks to the Bill of Rights, we are allowed to believe in whatever religion we want, and we have the freedom to say what’s on our mind. We’re also allowed to protest against things we don’t agree with. We also have the right to be judged fairly by a jury in court, to have privacy in our homes, and many other things. We’re even safe from cruel and unusual punishments, thanks to the Bill of Rights.
In the end, you can’t have a government without something that tells us what our laws are. From the earliest days of our nation, we knew that we wanted to be free from the rule of kings and queens. We wanted the people to have power and rights, so from the very beginning we wrote our Constitution to make that happen. We have more rights and freedoms than almost anyone else in the whole world. As American citizens, we are one of the few nations in the world that have a voice in our government that truly means something, and it’s all thanks to our nation’s forefathers, who wrote the Constitution for all of us.