Subject Areas |
History and Social Studies
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U.S. History - Civics and U.S. Government |
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U.S. History - Colonial America and the New Nation |
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Time Required |
| Lesson 1: Three 45-minute classes, plus an additional class if review is necessary.
Lesson 2: Three 45-minute classes, plus an additional class if review is necessary. |
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Skills |
| Collaboration
Interpreting archival documents
Oral presentation |
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Additional Data |
| Date Created: 06/27/02 |
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Date Posted |
| 6/27/2002 |
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Special Features |
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Constitution Day
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The Constitutional Convention: What the Founding Fathers Said
"Alexander
Hamilton of New York—a brilliant, ambitious, former aide-de-camp and secretary
to Washington during the Revolution, had…become a powerful political figure….There
were others who played major roles—Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut; Edmund Randolph
of Virginia; William Paterson of New Jersey…" —
The Creation of the U.S. Constitution IntroductionIn
the course of over two centuries since the nation's founding, the Constitution
of the United States has become an iconic document for many Americans, who may
with difficulty imagine real people piecing it together detail by painstaking
detail through meetings, discussions, committee work, and compromise. Yet we have
good records of those proceedings. By means of such records, among them James
Madison's extensive notes, we can witness the unfolding drama of the Constitutional
Convention and the contributions of those whom we have come to know as the Founding
Fathers: Madison, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and others who played
major roles in founding a new nation. What
were some of the conflicts debated in the meetings and discussions that led to
the creation of the Constitution of the United States? What interests and passions
drove those conflicts—and to what shared principles did the Founders appeal as
they struggled to reach a compromise? In this lesson, students will learn how
the Founding Fathers debated, then resolved, their differences in the Constitution
Learn through their words and the words of others how the Founding Fathers created
"a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise" (From The
Charters of Freedom on the EDSITEment resource Digital
Classroom). Note: Use this lesson
as a sequel to, or in conjunction with, the complementary lesson, Constitutional
Convention: Four Founding Fathers You May Never Have Met. By completing the
activities in both lesson, students will become familiar with the Constitutional
Convention and the men and ideas that shaped the U.S. Constitution. Guiding
Questions:What was the nature of the debates held
during the Constitutional Convention? In what ways do the debates represent "a
model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise"? Learning
ObjectivesAfter completing this lesson plan, students
will be able to: - List some ideas proposed and debated during
the Constitutional Convention.
- Discuss the important issues requiring
compromise during the Constitutional Convention.
Preparing
to Teach This Lesson Suggested Activities
1 Introducing the Constitutional Convention 2
Selecting the Debate Transcripts 3
Presenting the Reader's Theater 4
Discussing the Founding Fathers' debates 1 Introducing the Constitutional Convention As needed,
begin by reviewing with students the various proposals and issues debated during
the Constitutional Convention. If desired, use the summaries found in the Preparing
to Teach This Lesson section, above. Here are some additional sources of information
to use in your review: 2
Selecting the Debate Transcripts Divide
the class into small groups. Using the "Example of a Transcript Revised for a
Reader's Theater Reading" on pages 1-3 of the PDF file, Handouts
(see Preparing to Teach This Lesson, above, for download
instructions), review with students the kinds of changes they can expect to see
in the debate transcripts provided in this lesson. If students are comfortable
with the revised version featured in this example, they are ready to proceed with
3. Presenting the Reader's Theater, below. If
your students have difficulty with the minimally revised "translation" of the
original text, you may wish to break down the language further. There are a few
options for accomplishing this, depending on your students' abilities. You can
use the sample transcript to demonstrate what students are to do on their own
and then assign the transcripts (listed in Part 3, below)
to student groups. The students would then work together to prepare a newly revised
script on their own. If desired, check over the scripts before proceeding. Another
option is to work together as a class to further revise the transcripts. Feel
free to use different strategies with different groups. For example, after the
class works together creating a script, one group could prepare that script for
reading aloud while the other groups create their own scripts. In any case, emphasize
that students should make as few changes as possible—just enough to illuminate
the meaning of the original text—and focus on creating a script that will seem
real when read aloud. 3
Presenting the Reader's Theater Divide the
class into small groups. Download, copy, and distribute to each group one of the
following transcripts, found on pages 4-28 of the Handouts
(see Preparing to Teach This Lesson, above, for download
instructions). Or, for any students who are able to do so, allow them to locate
online a section of the debates to use on their own. (NOTE: The excerpts vary
in length, so assign them to groups accordingly.) - Madison Debates
for May 30, 1787
- Madison Debates for May 31, 1787
- Madison Debates
for June 1, 1787
- Elliot Debates for June 4, 1787 (NOTE TO THE TEACHER:
This is one of the shortest excerpts. It consists largely of a series of very
short statements.)
- Madison Debates for June 13, 1787 (NOTE TO THE TEACHER:
This is one of the shortest excerpts.)
- Rufus King Debates for June 18,
1787 (NOTE TO THE TEACHER: This is one of the shortest excerpts, though a few
of the speeches are relatively long.)
- Madison Debates for July 12, 1787
(NOTE TO THE TEACHER: This is one of the longest excerpts; the discussion centers
around the heated issue of slavery.)
Each group
is to prepare a "reader's theater"-style presentation of their selection by assigning
roles, including a narrator to read the portions of the script that do not indicate
actual speech. Though not essential, students may benefit from first reading the
biographies of the figures they will portray. A good place to start is with the
biographies available at the Founding
Fathers' Page on the EDSITEment resource Digital
Classroom. Each group could also be required
to locate the section in the Constitution that deals with the subject under discussion
in their transcript (e.g., veto power, how states should be represented in the
legislature, etc.) to remind the class of the final decision on the issue. The
Text
of the Constitution is available on the EDSITEment resource Digital
Classroom. After students have had a chance
to complete their research, each group should present their reading and any other
details they have gathered about it to the class. 4
Discussing the Founding Fathers' debates Once
all groups have presented, engage students in a discussion of the nature of the
debates they dramatized in their readings. For example, can they point to points
in the debates (in the excerpts used or anywhere else) where there was: - A
free flow of ideas?
- Respect shown from one delegate to another?
- Disrespect
shown from one delegate to another?
- A delegate raising a point based
on the interests of his region?
- A delegate raising a point based on his
state's size?
- A delegate foregoing regional or other interests for the
sake of compromise?
- A delegate suggesting something we now might view
as rather odd?
- A delegate suggesting something that became part of the
final document?
- A delegate admitting frustration about something?
Extending
the Lesson- If the class has adequate access to technology and students
want to further explore the debates, familiarize students with the Debates
in the Federal Convention of 1787 (Madison's Debates), available on the EDSITEment
resource The Avalon Project
at the Yale Law School, and/or The
Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution
(Elliot's Debates), available on the EDSITEment-reviewed website American
Memory. Have students scan the transcripts on their own or in small groups,
looking for individual statements that, for the most part, became part of the
Constitution. This is a way of demonstrating how many minds contributed to the
Constitution as it now stands. Students can use the "Chart for Statements in Documents"
on page 30 of the Handouts
PDF file (see Preparing to Teach This Lesson, above,
for download instructions) for collecting statements that became part of the Constitution.
The full Text
of the Constitution may be accessed from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Digital
Classroom.
- Students can also search for statements made by delegates
that now seem unusual, irrelevant, or even rather odd, relative to the proposals
adopted in the end. This is a way of demonstrating the far-ranging nature of the
discussion and the ability of those present to speak their minds. Let students
share their findings with the class, pointing out how a particular statement differs
from an item in the final Constitution or why it now seems rather unusual, irrelevant,
or odd. For examples of statements we would now deem odd, use "Examples of Rather
Odd Statements from the Constitutional Debates" on page 29 of the PDF file; for
a chart students can use for collecting odd statements, use "Chart for Odd Statements"
on page 31 of the PDF file (Preparing to Teach This Lesson,
above, for download instructions). The full Text
of the Constitution may be accessed from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Digital
Classroom.
- Students might be interested in making comparisons between
the various records of the debates of the Constitutional Convention (Madison's,
Hamilton's, King's, and so on). For example, students can compare records for
June 1 and/or June 4, using these resources available on the EDSITEment-reviewed
website The Avalon Project
at the Yale Law School:
- Students could create
a flow chart indicating issues cited in the debates that were eventually addressed
in the Constitution. Similarly, students with technical skills could create an
annotated copy of the Constitution with links to relevant sections of the debate.
The full Text
of the Constitution may be accessed from the EDSITEment resource Digital
Classroom.
- Students wishing to research other lesser-known Founding
Fathers can start with the Founding
Fathers' Page, on the EDSITEment resource Digital
Classroom, and/or FindLaw's
Founding Fathers' Page, available via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed
website Internet Public Library.
- The
EDSITEment resource CongressLink offers
a series of lesson plans related to the Constitution, such as The
Great Compromise—A House Divided (6-8) and A
Mock Constitutional Convention (9-12), that might work in your classroom.
- Who were the framers of the Constitution? What was their profession?
Age? Socio-economic class? Students can create a composite portrait of the members
of the Constitutional Convention using Founding
Fathers: A Brief Overview, on the EDSITEment resource Digital
Classroom. Students wishing to dig deeper can start with the biographies offered
on the Digital Classroom's Founding
Father's Page
- Students with other inquiries about the Founding Fathers
can consult Questions
and Answers Pertaining to the Constitution on the EDSITEment resource Digital
Classroom.
Selected EDSITEment Websites
Standards Alignment
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