Free Civics Studies Lesson 10: The Departments of Justice, Interior, & Agriculture

How the government goes to law and attends to the weather.

Rock Creek Park was the third park established by the government and was authorized in 1890. View the final outcome.
View a photo of the Department of Justice Building.
Compare and contrast the roles and duties of the Supreme Court with those of the Justice Department (pg. 144).
Learn about the history of the Office of the Attorney General created by the Judiciary Act of 1789.
Learn more about Davy Crockett.
Copy Davy Crockett’s motto on Drawing and Writing Paper and then illustrate the concept. (If you prefer, you can use a motto you more identify with.)

Be always sure you’re right—THEN GO AHEAD!

Find your United States Attorney!
List the roles of the United States Attorneys.
View an interactive organizational chart of the Department of Justice, which now includes the FBI, DEA, and ATF.
The original Department of the Interior Building was housed in the Patent Office Building.
View and learn more about the Department of the Interior Building today.
View the Old Patent Building, now part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Read more about the role of the U. S. Patent Office. Narrate.
Look up those listed in the book who filed U. S. Patents and find out what type of patents they filed:
- Edison.
- Morse.
- Howe.
- Whitney.
- Ericsson
Make a list of the current bureaus within the Department of the Interior.
The Department of Labor is now its own department; as is the Department of Education.
Learn more about the history of the Census Bureau, which is now part of the Department of Commerce.
Learn more about the Homestead Act which officially ended in 1988.
Listen to “Uncle Sam’s Farm,” the song that the phrase in the text was taken from:

“And Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm….”

Learn what the Bureau of Indian Affairs does today.
Read a more current list of the duties of the Department of the Interior.
Learn more about the Pension Building.
View an old photo of the Agricultural Grounds in Washington, D. C.
View the Department of Agriculture Building.
Compare and contrast the architecture of the Department of Agriculture building with that of Versailles.
View a current list of Agricultural Colleges in the United States.
Summarize the duties of the Department of Agriculture.
Read the comment about agriculture given in the book: “Agriculture is as necessary to the development of a nation as art. It is more desirable than statecraft, more noble than war, more lasting than internal improvements, more productive than law; for upon it both the welfare and subsistence of a nation depend.” Would you consider that statement true today? Why or why not? Defend your position with a short persuasive essay.
View a list of the current USDA agencies.
The Weather Bureau is now part of NOAA, a division of the U. S. Commerce Department.
Learn more about Arlington National Cemetery.
Create an acrostic poem using the word liberty and this interactive from ReadWriteThink.org.
There are now 147 national cemeteries. Read about the history of national cemeteries in the Untied States.
Learn more about O’Hara’s poem.
Read the history of Arlington House.
View the “Temple of Fame.”
Copy the text of Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech into your copybook.