The First Amendment Who For and Henceforth Or The Five Little Freedoms and How They Knew

An Integrated, Interdisciplinary, Thematic Unit on the First Amendment and the Five Freedoms Since the Puritans came to the New World, Americans have dealt with the conflict between the rights of the individual and the needs of the community. Today we deal with issues related to this conflict. The citizens of our thirteen original states deemed it necessary for the framers of the Constitution to include protection of individual rights before they would accept the new Constitution as the supreme law of the land. The first of the 10 Amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, insures each citizen the freedom of speech, religion, press, as well as the right to assemble and petition. In this unit, students will study why the five freedoms came about and how balancing these rights continues to be a challenge.