U.S. Constitutional
Convention
McGuire
Honors US History
Questions
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Who benefited most (and the least) from the
American Revolution?
Who wrote and ratified the Constitution for the
new nation?
Who benefited most (and the least) from the
Constitution?
Objectives/Goals:
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To learn about the social forces active during and
immediately following the American Revolution.
To explore two burning questions that confronted the
new American nation: slavery and suffrage.
To develop strong oral presentation skills, including both
persuasive and argumentative skills.
To develop critical skills of examining arguments and
social reality.
Howard Chandler Christy’s depiction
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Created in April of 1940
Depicting the event that happened on Sept 17,
1787
Currently in the House of Representatives
building in the capitol
List your observations
Our own Constitutional Convention
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We will invite groups of people not present at the
original event
Southern slave owners
Northern merchants
White indentured servants
Women of different nationalities and social classes
Free African Americans
Enslaved African Americans
Iroquois
Pick your top three…
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Iroquois
Northern merchants and bankers
Male southern plantation owners
White women
Free African Americans
Enslaved African Americans
White indentured servants
Vocabulary terms
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Unfair
Just
Justice
Wealthy
Property
Merchant
Trader
Suffrage
Constitution
Plantation owner
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Abolitionist
Fugitive
Convention
Bill of Rights
Taxes
Abolish
Prohibit
Resolve
Indentured servant
Iroquois
January 30
Entry Task:
Get out your homework, please.
Collaboration vs Collusion
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Working together to
achieve a goal
Working in a joint
intellectual effort
Teamwork
Ms. McGuire likes this!!!
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Secret agreement or
cooperation especially for
an illegal or deceitful
purpose
Conspiracy
Cheating
Vocabulary terms—COLLABORATE
Are there any definitions that you could refine or
make better by molding it with another person’s
definition?
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Unfair
Just
Justice
Wealthy
Property
Merchant
Trader
Suffrage
Constitution
Plantation owner
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Abolitionist
Fugitive
Convention
Bill of Rights
Taxes
Abolish
Prohibit
Resolve
Indentured servant
Iroquois
January 31: To understand one of the
social groups represented post-Rev War
Please get out your
journal/vocab lists
Announcements: vocab quiz tomorrow
Objectives/Goals:
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To learn about the social forces active during and
immediately following the American Revolution.
To explore two burning questions that confronted the
new American nation: slavery and suffrage.
To develop strong oral presentation skills, including both
persuasive and argumentative skills.
To develop critical skills of examining arguments and
social reality.
Monumental Occasion
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This was the first time in recorded history that a
revolution had been won with the sole purpose of having
the governed—or at least some of them—involved in
determining how they were to be governed.
Not an easy task
Citation: Bob Peterson, Rethinking the U.S. Constitutional Convention—Zinn Education Project
Slavery
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Where can/should slavery
exist?
Should the slave trade
continue in the U.S.?
What happens when a
piece of property (a slave)
gets “lost”?
Suffrage
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Who should be allowed
to vote?
Interior Monologue
What’s going on inside of your head as a Free
African American? (or Iroquois, Northern
merchant, woman, etc.)
Answer the following questions in a journal-entry
type format.
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What are your hopes for the Constitution?
What are your fears for this new government?
Burning Issues
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For each question, you MUST propose a
resolution
These may change later after you talk with other
groups
“Be it resolved that…”
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Be it resolved that slavery should be abolished in the
United States.
Put an asterisk (*) next to the resolutions that are
most important to you/your role
Format of our Convention
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Each person gets one vote on the issues we
address
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Therefore, all groups are important
Parliamentary Procedure—handout tomorrow
Individual speeches addressing our two questions
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Should slavery be abolished?
Who should have the right to vote?
Building Alliances
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Meant to sharpen your arguments and thinking skills.
Strategize within your social group
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What are you willing to compromise on?
What are you NOT willing to compromise on?
For example, white women might support allowing fugitive
slaves to stay in the North in exchange for enslaved African
Americans supporting women’s suffrage.
Have 1 or 2 “traveling negotiators” who go to the other
groups to negotiate
Make a sign with your social groups name
Make sure you meet with groups that would most likely
support the resolutions you have an asterisk (*) next to
Developing counter arguments
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As a social group, come up with questions you
still have for each of the other social groups.
The point of these questions is to:
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Understand their viewpoint more
Point out weak points in their arguments
Show the strengths of your arguments
Come up with some questions other groups will
ask you
Group Brainstorm
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Each person’s role—real or fictional
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George Washington (southern plantation owner—real)
Joe Smith (Indentured servant—fictional)
Finalize any questions you have about your
group’s perspective
Preparing Individual Speeches
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Introduce yourself (real or fictional character)
Little bit about yourself and your perspective
Present your arguments about both of the issues
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Should slavery be abolished?
Who should have the right to vote?
Utilize the reading you have and the monologue you
wrote
Prepare yourself for possible questions and
counter statements
Convention
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Everyone come to class tomorrow with your final draft of
your speech to turn in.
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Handwritten or typed is acceptable
That means you need 2 copies--one for yourself, one to turn in
We will randomly choose one person from each social
group to give their speech.
After the initial speeches, we will open it up for questions.
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Reps who did NOT give a speech will answer questions first.
You will rotate through your group members so that everyone
answers a question.
Individual speech writing time
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Introduce yourself (real or fictional character)
Little bit about yourself and your perspective
Present your arguments about both of the issues
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Should slavery be abolished?
Who should have the right to vote?
Utilize the reading you have and the monologue you
wrote
Prepare yourself for possible questions and
counter statements
Burning Questions
1. Where should slavery exist in our country?
2. Should the slave trade continue?
3. Should escaped slaves be returned to their
owners?
4. Who should be allowed to vote in our new
nation?
1st period Constitution
1.
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3.
4.
Be it resolved that slavery is abolished in the United
States.
Be it resolved that the slave trade is abolished in the
United States.
Be it resolved that freed slaves and indentured
servants who want to go back to their homeland can,
and those that want to stay will be given jobs on
plantations or find safe haven with the Iroquois.
Be it resolved that all adults (16 and over) without a
criminal record will be allowed to vote in the United
States.
2nd period Constitution
1.
2.
3.
4.
Be it resolved that slavery is abolished in United
States. Slaves become indentured servants under a
contract.
Be it resolved that the slave trade is abolished in the
United States.
Be it resolved that fugitive/runaway indentured
servants must be returned to their employers. As
punishment, pay is taken away (10%) each time.
Be it resolved that all free persons, 18 and over, who
pass a literacy test can vote. Natives will be given
reservations. They can vote for their own officials in
each tribe and those officials will represent them
within Congress.
4th period Constitution
1.
2.
3.
4.
Be it resolved that slavery is abolished.
Slaves become migrant workers on contracts.
Be it resolved that the slave trade is abolished
in the United States.
Be it resolved that migrant workers who run
away are not to go back to their employer, but
they can be hired elsewhere.
Be it resolved that anyone who lives
permanently in the U.S., 18 and over without
felonies, may vote, no matter what gender or
ethnicity.
5th period Constitution
1.
2.
3.
4.
Be it resolved that slavery is abolished in the United
States.
Be it resolved that the slave trade is abolished in the
United States.
Be it resolved that fugitive slaves no longer exist in
the United States.
Be it resolved that citizens (including men, women,
former indentured servants, and freed slaves) 18 and
older may vote and be provided with a reader to
help. This is after being 3 years a citizen, after 2
years of freedom from being a slave, or 1 year of
freedom from indentured servitude. This excludes
Iroquois, land-owning Southerners and Northerners.
Convention Reflection
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Write an interior monologue from your
individual’s perspective telling your feelings
about the outcome of Constitutional
Convention.
In what ways was our class Convention
unrealistic? In what ways was it realistic?
Which social groups made alliances with each
other? Do you think that similar alliances were
made in real life?
Which social groups had absolutely conflicting
interests—where no compromise was possible?
Convention Reflection Continued
Who Wrote the Constitution?
Prompt: Were these individuals broadly
representative of the entirety of U.S. society at
the time?
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Read through the document (10 minutes)
Write in your journal as many questions as you
can. You don’t have to be able to answer them.
Just ASK!
Write a response to the prompt (15 min) using
the doc and your experience from the mock
convention
Constitution Activity
Find the answers to the following questions in
the Constitution:
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5.
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9.
What branches of government are created by the Constitution?
Provide 2 examples of how each branch has power over another
branch.
How can Congress remove the President from office?
What is the longest time a President elected today can stay in office?
How long do members of the House of Representatives serve?
Senators?
How old do you have to be to be a Representative? A Senator? A
federal judge?
How old do you have to be to be President? Vice President?
How many states had to ratify the Constitution to put it into effect?
How many states have to ratify an amendment to make it part of the
Constitution?