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The group plans to distribute them to students in grades five through 12 at public schools in honor of Constitution Day on Sept. 17. Federal law requires schools receiving federal money to teach the Constitution on the anniversary of the document's signing.
TEA Party Hilton Head founder Kate Keep said the Constitution is important to the group, which has distributed pocket Constitutions throughout the community and held classes to teach residents about the document.
The group wants every student to read the Constitution, Keep said.
"There is no document that is more important to our country and the way we are governed," she said.
Keep said TEA Party volunteers hope to personally distribute copies of the Constitution to students in upper grades. Teachers will probably handle distribution to younger students, she said.
Superintendent Valerie Truesdale said principals have not finalized details for distribution. The district still must review the materials, she said. Truesdale said teachers are encouraged to use authentic documents in the classroom whenever possible, and owning a pocket Constitution could be helpful to students.
Lauren Martel, a member of TEA Party Hilton Head, provided the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette with a sample of the pocket Constitution. Martel has one child at Hilton Head High and another who graduated from the school in 2007.
The small booklet -- about 6 inches by 3 inches -- is about 50 pages and includes the text of the Constitution and its amendments, as well as the Declaration of Independence. The booklet doesn't mention the tea party movement and is copyrighted by the National Center for Constitutional Studies.
Information about Constitution Day is included, as well as quotes from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and other founders.
"Students can see some great history right there, in context," Martel said. "Our kids are hungry for history, and it's important that they get a balanced take on civics."
The Beaufort and Bluffton tea party organizations don't have plans to distribute Constitutions to students this year but think it is a great idea, representatives said.
Keep said she hopes the idea catches on, and suggested TEA Party volunteers might eventually be trained to go into classrooms and talk to students about the Constitution.
"Maybe by Sept. 17, 2011, we will be handing out pocket constitutions in every classroom in the country," Keep said. "Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
Truesdale said the district hasn't discussed allowing TEA Party volunteers to be involved in teaching the Constitution and she would ask principals to weigh in before any decisions are made. At this point, discussions have been limited to distribution, she said.
The tea party movement is a grass-roots group that emerged last year through several local and national protests, many about the economic stimulus package. The group is active politically.
Keep said there are misconceptions about the movement -- some critics have called it racist or extremist -- in the mainstream media that could lead to resistance to working with the group. But she said when people actually read the Tea Party's principles, resistance often is overcome.
Distributing copies of the Constitution is not a partisan or political move, she said.
"The Constitution is not political," Keep said. "It's for the protection and rights of every citizen, whatever party, whatever color and whatever economic strata they are in."
