Ben's Guide to U.S. Government
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
A federal law was passed in 2004 requiring that schools and other educational institutions, receiving funds from the U.S. Department of Education, present a program each year in observance of "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day." (1) This webpage features pictures, books, and websites offering educational materials from federal agencies. The materials provided by agencies include print materials, facsimile copies of original historic documents, lesson plans for teachers, coloring books for kids, and videos, CDs, and flash cards for people taking the citizenship test.
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Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids. By U.S. Government Printing Office.
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The Citizen's Almanac: Fundamental Documents, Symbols, and Anthems of the United States. By U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Government Printing Office, 2010. |
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| Civics and Citizenship Toolkit: A
Collection of Educational Resources for Immigrants. Toolkit.
By U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Institute of
Museum and Library Services. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Homeland
Security; U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009. University of Delaware (Morris) Library U.S. Documents-Oversize HS 8.2:C 49/2/2009/toolkit  The kit contains: 6 handbooks, including Citizen's
Almanac and Learn about the United States, 1 set of flash cards, 1 sound disc,
1 videodisc, 1 CD-ROM, 1 quick start guide, 2 posters. Text in English and Spanish. |
 Flash card from toolkit. |
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Civics and Citizenship Toolkit: A Collection
of Educational Resources for Immigrants. Toolkit. By U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services and U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Government Printing
Office, 2011.
The 2011 kit contains the Learn About the United
States book (Form M-638) and other educational resources, including Welcome
to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants(Form M-618), Civics Flash
Cards for the Naturalization Test (Form M-623), Learn About the United States:
Quick Civics Lessons for the Naturalization Test (Form M-638), The Citizen's
Almanac(Form M-76), and the Declaration of Independence and Constitution
of the United States (pocket guide)(Form M-654). Available in PDF on the
Internet. |
| Congress Hall, Capitol of the United States, 1790-1800:
Independence National Historical Park, Pennsylvania. By U.S. National
Park Service. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1990.
University of Delaware Library Annex U.S. Documents I 29.9/5: 147 |
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| The Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. By U.S. Congress, Senate. Senate document 111-4 (111th Congress, 1st session). Pocket ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009. University of Delaware Library Annex U.S. Documents Y 1.1/3:111-4 A pocket sized edition of the Constitution and the Declaration. Also available in Civics
and Citizenship Toolkit |
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| Creating the United States Constitution - Exhibitions - myLOC.gov. myLOC: Library of Congress. By U.S. Library of Congress. |
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History and Culture: For Teachers. By U.S.
Department of the Interior National Park Service.  The National Park Service
Teachers page. Provides curriculum guides, information on how to plan field
trips, lists of suggested readings. Also of interest: "For Kids," "People,"
and
"Places." |
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Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons for the New Naturalization Test. In the Civics and Citizenship Toolkit. By U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Government Printing Office, 2011. |
| The New United States of America Adopted the Bill of Rights. America's Story from America's Library. By U.S. Library of Congress. |  |
| Our
American Government.
By U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Printing. House Document 108-94 (108th
Congress, 1st Session). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2003.
University of Delaware Library Annex U.S. Documents Y 1.1/7:108-94 |
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| Our
Documents: 100 Milestone Documents from the National Archives. By
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Oxford; New York: Oxford
University Press, 2003. University of Delaware (Morris) Library E173 .U62 2003 A collection of one
hundred documents important in the development of the United States from
its founding to 1965, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution,
and other important, though lesser-known writings. The website includes:
printable copies of the 100 documents, Ideas for Librarians, Meeting Standards
with Our Documents, Tools
for Educators, and posters. |
 Supreme Court Case: McCulloch v. Maryland 1819. |
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Our Flag. By U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Printing.
Senate Document 109-18 (109th Congress, 2nd Session). Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 2007. University of Delaware Library Annex U.S. Documents Y 1.1/3:109-18 |
| Picturing America. By National Endowment for the Humanities. Picturing America's slogan is: America’s history through America’s art. The site provides famous American artworks and stories about them. One example is the Norman Rockwell "Freedom of Speech" illustration pictured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, February 20, 1943. | 
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EDSITEment created by the National Endowment for the Humanities. To find constitution related materials, select History & Social Studies, then filter by the subtopic: Revolution and the New Nation. |
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| Smithsonian
Education - Educators. By Smithsonian Institution.
The website offers educational resources featuring
the Smithsonian Institution's collections. Provides lesson plans and many
virtual exhibitions. The Search features allow searching for a subject and
limiting it to a grade level and searching for resources aligned to each
state's standards. |
| Symbols
of the U.S. Government: Ben's Activity Book. By
U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office,
2004. University of Delaware Library Annex U.S. Documents GP 1.2:Sy 6 Contains pictures, quizzes, pages for coloring, and other activities for children. |
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Teaching
with Documents. By U.S. National Archives.
Provides
lesson plans, copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National
Archives of the United States, and teaching activities correlated to the
National History Standards and National Standards for Civics and Government.
Includes U.S. Constitution Workshop. |
| U.S. Constitution Teaching and Learning Resources. From Website: FREE: Federal Resources for Education Excellence. By U.S. Department of Education. |  |
Legislation Relating to Constitution Day
1. The law mandating Constitution Day programming appears as a section of an appropriations act: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Public Law 108-447. The Constitution Day and Citizenship Day measure appears in 118 Stat. 2809, 3344-45 (Section 111).
The measure changing the name from Constitution Day to Constitution Day and Citizenship Day appears in the United States Code (36 U.S.C. §106).
The Notice of Implementation appeared in the Notices section of the Federal Register, May 24, 2005 (70 FR 29727).
