Discover the ideas and documents at the heart of American democracy. In this lesson for students grades six and up, students will explore how the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution established a system of government grounded in natural rights, representative democracy, and the Rule of Law. They’ll also examine how 13 colonies became the United States, why the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and how the Bill of Rights protects fundamental freedoms such as speech and religion.