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8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 1 of 10

Founding Ideals

Declaration, Constitution and their roots

What your child practices

The Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights and Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the debates of 1787, the Federalist Papers, and the principles of the Constitution.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 8.15(A); 8.15(E); 8.20(A); 8.22(A) · the ideas behind the Declaration and the Constitution, and the founders as models of civic virtue

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The founders drew on the Magna Carta (1215), which said rulers must follow the law, and Enlightenment ideas of natural rights.
  2. Checks and balances let each branch limit the others, such as the Senate approving the president’s choices for judges.
  3. There were gaps between ideals and reality: in 1787, the Constitution allowed slavery to continue.

Example: Which is an example of checks and balances: the Senate approving judges, or a governor running a state? Checks and balances are about branches limiting each other. The president picks judges; the Senate must approve. One branch checks another. Answer: the Senate approving the president’s choices for judges

Founding Ideals in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 1 of 10 in 8th grade Social Studies, before Rights & Amendments.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Why do people still argue about what the Constitution means?

    • Its words are broad and must be applied to new situations
    • It is written in Latin
    • It is lost
    • It has never been read

  2. Question 2

    The "necessary and proper" clause lets Congress…

    • Choose the president
    • Abolish states
    • Make laws needed to carry out its listed powers
    • Ignore the Constitution

  3. Question 3

    Checks and balances means…

    • Congress controls everything
    • Banks check spending
    • The president controls the courts
    • Each branch can limit the powers of the other two

  4. Question 4

    Why did the founders make the Constitution hard to amend?

    • So it could never change
    • So the president could change it alone
    • So it would change only with broad agreement
    • To keep it secret

  5. Question 5

    Anti-Federalists worried the Constitution would…

    • create a king
    • end elections
    • make states too strong
    • make the national government too strong

  6. Question 6

    What does the Declaration say people may do if a government destroys their rights?

    • Alter or abolish it and form a new one
    • Nothing
    • Move to Britain
    • Pay more taxes

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