The Three Documents That Made America

April 1, 2004
Gr 5 Up-The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights are amazing documents. One can imagine the fury and the courage of our founding fathers as they drafted the Declaration of Independence. As we head into the climax of another presidential election, it's impressive to listen to the U.S. Constitution. This document, written 215 years ago, is still the foundation of our government. The Bill of Rights, meanwhile, reminds us that while the Declaration of Independence declared "all men are created equal," it still took many years for women and African-Americans to receive the right to vote. Listening to these documents helps bring history to life. They're not easy to listen to in their entirety, although reader Terry Bregrey does his best to do justice to them. The shortest of the three, the Declaration of Independence, takes 13 minutes to read. The longest, the Constitution, runs 34 minutes. The original Bill of Rights takes only five minutes to read, but the additional amendments run another 25 minutes. Each document has a brief introduction written and read by Sam Fink, and there is haunting bugle music at the beginning and end of each segment.-David Bilmes, Schaghticoke Middle School, New Milford, CT

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.