Goals of the Preamble

What were the goals of the Preamble?

Activity #1 Background Knowledge and Key Vocabulary

Activity #2 Deepening Understanding

With a partner or with your team, go over the Preamble with Hand Signals below several times.  Consider memorizing it or performing it for other groups. Discuss with your class how the hand signals help you to better understand the main goals of the Preamble. 

HandSignals-Preamble.pdf Download HandSignals-Preamble.pdf

If you have time, consider watching Liberty's Kids episode about the Preamble Links to an external site.

Preamble Matching Game Download Preamble Matching Game

Activity #3 Application

To help you understand the enormous task facing the Americans as they wrote the Constitution and established a new government, consider the following situation.

Imagine that we are on a field trip to a wilderness area and you all became stranded without any communication with parents, the school, or other adults. We have little hope of being rescued in the foreseeable future. The area where you’re marooned can provide the basic necessities of food, shelter, and water, but you will have to work together to survive.

Think about the following questions

• Are you better working together or alone? 
• How will you work together?
• How will you create rules?
• Who will be responsible for leading the group to help all survive?
• How will they be chosen?
• How will you deal with people in the group who may not be following the rules?

With your team, brainstorm a list of things you would have to consider in developing you own government.

Use the Google Document Linked Here Links to an external site. to record your answers. You will need to make a copy first so that you can add your answers.  Be prepared to discuss your plan with the class. 

Activity #4 Enduring Understanding

Use Flipgrid to explain and record your thinking on one of the following questions of your choice.

• Having just released themselves from Britain's monarchy, what would the colonists fear most?
• Judging from some of the complaints the colonists had against Britain, what might be some of their concerns for any future government?
• Remembering the hypothetical situation described in the previous activity, what decisions would the colonists have to make about forming a new government out of 13 colonies which, until 1776, had basically been running themselves independently?
• Summarize your conclusions concerning the critical differences between the Articles of confederation and the Preamble. 

Teachers: Students may record their answers using FlipGrid, a video blog site. You can create the FlipGrid using this website https://flipgrid.com/ Links to an external site. and embed it here for students. They will only need to enter the provided code once it's embedded. They will then verify their email address via Microsoft or Google.

Example: