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Unit

The Bill of Rights and Property

Guiding question

Spotlights safeguards to property in the Bill of Rights, explores various types of property, and examines the concepts of takings, just compensation, and eminent domain.

Published
Nov 6, 2020
A combine harvester unloading grain into a truck on a foggy farm landscape.

Lessons

A combine harvester discharging grain into a truck against a foggy field background.
What is Property? Why Protect It?
  • 4 Activities
  • 45 min

The Founders were extremely concerned with protecting private property as a cornerstone of a free society. Property is not only physical possessions but also ideas, works, and even what someone has been promised in wages. This lesson explores the idea of property, its origins and the reasons it is protected.

A woman stands with arms crossed in front of a house on a street, with trees in the background. Black and white image.
How Does the Fifth Amendment Protect Property?
  • 4 Activities
  • 50 min

The Founders believed that property is among the natural rights governments exist to protect. One of the ways the Founders protected property rights was in the Fifth Amendment. This amendment restricts the government's ability to take property and ensures that when it does take property, it must pay for it. This lesson explores the Fifth Amendment and its applications.

Standards

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