We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution Lesson 4 Worksheet / Test

40 Multiple Choice Questions about the influence of the British constitutional system on the Founding Fathers.

This worksheet is intended for use with Lesson 4 of We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, an excellent high-school level textbook published by the Center for Civic Education. There are actually several levels of We the People available. You can tell if this worksheet matches your text by looking at the book cover thumbnail image included near the top of this page.


MEETING TEACHERS' NEEDS

If you have used this text, you have probably had the same reaction to it as myself -- fantastic content, placing government concepts in their rich historical context where they are best understood.... but where’s the testing program?

Indeed, the major drawback I have found to the We the People textbook is a lack of strong ancillaries. That is why I have developed my own. This worksheet has been used by real high-school students and has kept them engaged and on-task while providing me, their teacher, with valuable information about how well each of them is mastering government concepts.


A PRACTICAL APPROACH

All questions are presented in “lesson order,” so that they can be used as a guided reading activity if desired. I often use them as tests instead, however, requiring students to answer questions from memory alone. I have found that if students read the text with partners and discuss it along the way, they have excellent recall and can easily achieve scores of 80% and higher even without being able to look in the textbook to check their first impressions.

This worksheet is targeted for use with only one lesson from the We the People textbook. Check back frequently for additional worksheets targeting other lessons from the book. I plan to regularly update my store with more We the People support materials,


LESSON 4 CONTENT:

"This lesson describes the evolution of British constitutional government. It examines the early stages of English government in the feudal period, concluding with the Magna Carta of 1215. It traces the development of representative institutions in England, English common law, and the relationship between legal and constitutional structures. It also examines some of the differences between British and American constitutionalism. When you have finished this lesson, you should be able to explain how rights and representative government evolved in England and how this evolution influenced the Founders. You also should be able to identify the origins of some of Americans' most important constitutional rights. Finally, you should be able to evaluate, take,and defend positions on the influence of the Magna Carta on the development of rights and the importance of habeas corpus and trial by jury."