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The Constitution and Bill of Rights

Our Constitution and the Bill of Rights give our country a map of rules, rights and freedoms.

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The Constitution

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence declared the colonies independent from Great Britain and that it outlines some of the rights that citizens are guaranteed.

The Constitution

The Constitution is a plan for government that created the three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial branch.

July 4, 1776

July 4th 1776 was the day the Declaration of Independence was signed, and marks the day our country was founded.

Checks and Balances

The three branches of government have checks and balances on each other, meaning each branch has some influence over the other branches to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.

Branches of Government

The three brancjes of government are the legislative branch, which makes laws, the executive branch who enforces laws, and the judicial branch which interprets laws.

13 Colonies

The 13 colonies were a group of settlements that became the original states of the United States of America.

The Bill of Rights

Religion

People have the right to believe in any religion, or people can believe in no religion if they want. And no one can force you to believe in, or not believe in any religion.

Speech

People have the right to express their opinions and ideas in the United States. People can express ideas, even if they are not popular. The ideas cannot harm or threaten other people though.

Press

Newspapers, magazines, podcasts, videos and other kinds of media can report the news. They cannot be censored by the government. Censor means to control. The government cannot control the news and media.

Assembly

People have the right to be get together peacefully with others. They can do this for a protest. They can do this for a meeting. They can do this because they want to be together. This is a right of the people.

Petition

People have the right to petition for changes. Petition means to stand up and ask for or demand change. This is a right of the people.

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