(upbeat music) - Good morning, amazing students.

I'm so excited to be with you this morning.

We are going to have so much fun today learning about these really important but really old papers.

First, I have a question for you.

Do you know why we celebrate the 4th of July?

It's one of my favorite celebrations, because in my town, we have a huge fireworks display and people set up their lawn chairs close to the river to watch the fireworks.

But why do we celebrate it?

The name doesn't give us any hints, does it?

July 4th is just a date, but the holiday does have another name, we don't say it as much, but it's called Independence Day.

And we celebrate that day because the United States won independence from the country of England.

So the first document that I want us to look at is the Declaration of Independence.

Now, this document was written in 1776.

That's over 200 years before I was even born.

And it was written because the people living in the country didn't want to be ruled by the King of Great Britain anymore.

So, they did two things.

They declared their independence and they prepared for war.

And they did end up fighting in a war for the next nine years.

It was called the American Revolution.

Why do you think they were willing to be in a war for so long?

Well, the Declaration of Independence tells us that.

It says that they wanted to break apart from Britain and the king and instead be an independent country.

The Declaration of Independence says that everyone deserves to have equal rights and live a life that makes them happy.

So not too long after the war was over and the United States became well states, they had a really big job.

Can you guess what it is?

If you were helping start a country and a government, what would you do first?

Well, while it might not be the most fun part, it is very important.

You have to decide on the rules.

If you want to have a country that recognizes that all people are equal and have the right to pursue a happy life, you need some rules to protect everyone and make sure that that happens.

To do that, the Constitution was written.

And about two years after it was written, it became the law of the land.

Now the Constitution is long, but it's not broken up into chapters like a book.

It starts with a preamble that tells us why, why was a new country being formed?

Then, it has seven articles.

Those are kind of like chapters in a book.

The seven articles talk about how power in the United States will be shared by three different groups or branches, instead of having a king or a queen.

They also talk about what power belongs to each of the states instead of the federal government.

The Constitution also has 27 amendments.

Now, amendments are additions or alterations to the original.

The first 10 amendments happened very early in our country's history and they are called the Bill of Rights.

So that's our last document here for today.

When the Constitution was first written and people were checking it out to make sure it was ready to be the law of the land, they felt like some of our rights needed to be very clearly stated.

So those first 10 amendments are our Bill of Rights.

It protects our right to believe different things and express our ideas.

And there are three words in the Constitution that I want you to think about today, "blessings of liberty".

What is a blessing?

Have you ever sneezed and heard someone say, "Bless you."?

A blessing just means something that's good for you.

And what is liberty?

Well, liberty and freedom mean almost the same thing.

Liberty means that you have the freedom to make your own choices based on what you want.

So the blessings of liberty mean that you get to make choices that are good for you.

Can you believe that all these rules were written over 200 years ago?

Well, the next time you see a firework, I want you to think about your blessings of liberty and be thankful that you live in a country where you can go to school, learn as much as you can, and grow up to make choices that give you a happy life.

Okay, that's all that I have for you today.

I hope that you have a blessed day and I'll see you again on Rise and Shine.

(upbeat music)