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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 6 of 11

Rights & Responsibilities

The Bill of Rights and citizens' duties

What your child practices

Unalienable rights, the freedoms in the Bill of Rights and later amendments, religious freedom, due process, the 14th Amendment, civil rights laws, and citizens' duties such as jury service and paying taxes.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: GOV.12(A); GOV.12(B); GOV.12(C); GOV.12(D); GOV.12(F); GOV.12(G) · unalienable rights, the Bill of Rights, religious freedom, due process and the 14th Amendment

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The Declaration names unalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
  2. The Bill of Rights protects freedoms, even unpopular speech, and due process.
  3. Cases shape rights: Plessy (1896) allowed segregation; New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) lets schools search with reasonable suspicion.

Example: What did New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) say school officials need to search a student? Police usually need probable cause. Schools need a lower standard. Answer: reasonable suspicion

Rights & Responsibilities in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 6 of 11 in 9th grade Social Studies, after Three Branches and before Landmark Supreme Court Cases.

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

    The Declaration of Independence names unalienable rights as life, liberty and…

    • the right to vote
    • a free education
    • the pursuit of happiness
    • property taxes

  2. Question 2

    The 26th Amendment (1971)…

    • Ended slavery
    • Created the Senate
    • Gave women the vote
    • Lowered the voting age to 18

  3. Question 3

    In Marbury v. Madison (1803), the Supreme Court established…

    • Miranda rights
    • Judicial review
    • Free speech for students
    • Segregation

  4. Question 4

    The right to vote is both a right and a…

    • Civic responsibility
    • Court
    • Tax
    • Crime

  5. Question 5

    Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) allowed…

    • Free speech
    • "Separate but equal" segregation
    • Integrated schools
    • Women to vote

  6. Question 6

    Why do historians say Korematsu shows the risk to rights in wartime?

    • It protected everyone
    • Fear led the government to deny citizens' rights based on ancestry
    • It gave more rights
    • It ended the war

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