We’re your one-stop shop for teaching the First Amendment. Everything you need is here in Lessons in Liberty, from court cases to lesson plans. Our goal is to make your job easier. That’s why we’re here.

Why teach the First Amendment?

Help tomorrow’s citizens find their voices. Teach the First Amendment. The lesson plans, school activities and other resources below are designed to make it easier to teach our democratic republic’s first freedom — the First Amendment.

The most basic liberties guaranteed to Americans — embodied in the 45 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — assure Americans a government that is responsible to its citizens and responsive to their wishes. These 45 words are as alive and important today as they were more than 200 years ago. These liberties are neither liberal nor conservative, Democratic nor Republican — they are the basis for our representative democratic form of government.

We know from studies beginning in 1997 by the nonpartisan First Amendment Center, and from studies commissioned by the Knight Foundation and others, that few adult Americans or high school students can name the individual five freedoms that make up the First Amendment.

The First Amendment isn’t an artifact of legal history buried in the past. It is a living part of the everyday lives of every one of us. Especially in education, First Amendment issues offer almost limitless applications and opportunities.

Teachable aspects of the First Amendment include:

• How our core freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly and petition came to be guaranteed is a fascinating saga of American history – involving towering figures, particularly James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. It is a saga that began even before U.S. history and continues to evolve today.
• Students should know that the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, did not spring whole into existence with no debate by our Founding Fathers. Rather, it arose through great contention and controversy, illustrating the early — and continuing — workings of U.S. government and our legal system.
• We have the freedom to speak, write, worship, assemble, and ask the government for change, but how do we as citizens use those freedoms? What does it mean to exercise freedom responsibly? The First Amendment offers teachers a way into matters of civility and respect for others in society.
• Current affairs. Examples of the First Amendment in action and in the news are inexhaustible. They can form the basis for class debates. From student protests, to issues of religious freedom in schools and in society at large, to press censorship and freedom of information, teachable First Amendment moments are everywhere.

What’s here

Below, the Free Speech Center has gathered a host of resources and ideas to help teachers teach the First Amendment. They’re organized by categories representing the five freedoms of speech, press, religious liberty, assembly, and petition. There’s also a general category for resources on the Bill of Rights and related material.

As more resource materials become available, they will be added.

The primers, lesson plans and resources below will draw young people into an exploration of how their freedoms began and how they operate in today’s world. Students will discuss just how far individual rights extend, examining rights in the school environment and public places. The primers and lessons may be used in history and government, civics, language arts and journalism, art, and debate classes. They may be used in sections or in their entirety. Many of these materials indicate an overall goal, offer suggestions on how to teach the lesson and list additional resources and enrichment activities.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution