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](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090813080317im_/http://edsitement.neh.gov/sf_images/sf3/CD-SF-icon.jpg) Constitution Day
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The Constitutional Convention: Four Founding Fathers You May Never Have Met
"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 men we have come to know as the Founding
Fathers: Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington,
among the best known. There were others, however, less well known now but who
also played major roles in founding the new nation. Four
such "others" are the subject of this lesson. Here, you'll introduce your students
to four key, but relatively unknown, contributors to the U.S. Constitution-Oliver
Ellsworth, Alexander Hamilton, William Paterson, and Edmund Randolph. 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 prequel to, or in conjunction with, the complementary lesson, Constitutional
Convention: What the Founding Fathers Said. 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
Question:What is the connection between regional
politics and the positions of Ellsworth, Hamilton, Paterson, and Randolph during
the drafting of the U.S. Constitution? What other factors motivated these four
Founding Fathers as they developed their positions in the debate? Learning
ObjectivesAfter completing this lesson plan, students
will be able to: - Summarize the plans put forward by Ellsworth,
Hamilton, Paterson, and Randolph
- Provide some biographical details for
Ellsworth, Hamilton, Paterson, and Randolph
- Make connections between
the biographies of Ellsworth, Hamilton, Paterson, and Randolph and their positions
during the Constitutional Convention.
Preparing
to Teach this Lesson - Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark
suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out selected
documents and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
- Download
the document Three Handouts,
available here as a PDF file. The download contains three handouts used in this
lesson: "Chart of Various Plans (Blank)" and "Chart of Various State Plans" (both
used in 1.
Introducing the Constitutional Convention, below), as well as the "Four Fathers'
Quotes" (used in 4.
Matching Quotes, below). Print out and make an appropriate number of copies
of the handouts you plan to use in class.
- Some of the texts used in this
lesson may be challenging for students at less advanced reading levels; such students
may benefit from Congress for Kids
(an extension of the EDSITEment resource Congress
Link) which features a very basic description of the steps in the process
of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, starting with a page on the Articles
of Confederation (which served as our country's ruling document before adoption
of the Constitution). From that page, you can also click on "Learn More" to read
about the Writing
of the Constitution, the Great
Compromise, and on succeeding pages, an explanation of the government as created
by the Constitution, including a page on our System
of Checks and Balances.
- A detailed history of the Constitutional
Convention and the document it produced is available through the EDSITEment resource
Digital Classroom
in the essay The
Constitution: A History. For convenience, you may also wish to download the
following PDF file, Four
State Plans, which contains excerpts from the article summarizing the four
plans discussed in this lesson as well as some other issues that threatened to
divide the delegates.
- The Text
of the Constitution is available on the EDSITEment resource Digital
Classroom.
- A Biographical
index of all those attending the Consitutional Convention is also available
through Digital
Classroom. Though your students will probably be familiar with the names of
more famous figures who attended the Constitutional Convention, such as Washington,
Franklin, and Madison, this lesson, by concentrating on lesser known individuals-Ellsworth,
Hamilton, Paterson, and Randolph-emphasizes that the Constitution was the product
of many minds. Unlike the Declaration of Independence, it is difficult to identify
an "author" of the Constitution. You can find very brief biographies of the four
subjects of this lesson, with direct links to more comprehensive biographies,
by downloading Four Biographies,
available here as a pdf file.
- Be prepared to help students work through
alternative spellings for the names of individuals in this lesson, such as "Patterson"
and "Ellesworth," as well as the general lack of standardization of spelling in
the debate proceedings.
- It should be noted that other delegates, including
Roger Sherman for the Connecticut Plan and Madison for the Virginia Plan, had
a hand (or more) in developing the plans. For balance, this lesson concentrates
on one individual for each.
Suggested Activities
1 Introducing the Constitutional Convention 2
Group Assignment: Getting to Know a Founding Father 3
Oral Presentations and Class Discussion 4
Matching Quotes 1 Introducing
the Constitutional Convention As necessary,
begin by reviewing with students the Virginia, New Jersey, and Hamilton Plans,
as well as the Great Compromise (Connecticut Plan). If desired, use the summaries
found in the Preparing
to Teach This Lesson section, above. Adapt the "Chart of Various Plans (Blank)"
on page 1 of the PDF file (see Preparing
to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions) as an organizer to
help students see the differences and similarities between the various plans.
The "Chart of Various Plans"—the same chart, complete with information-is available
on page 2 of the PDF file (see Preparing
to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions). Here are some additional
sources of information to use in your review: 2 Group Assignment: Getting
to Know a Founding Father Divide the class
into four groups and assign one of the selected Founding Fathers-Ellsworth, Hamilton,
Paterson, and Randolph-to each group. Download, copy and distribute to the respective
groups some or all of the following brief biographies, available on EDSITEment
resources. (NOTE TO THE TEACHER: You can encourage students to use other resources
in the classroom and library as well. If a typical group consists of five students,
one or two students could read one biography while other students look for additional
resources using the computer or library. When the group reconvenes, students can
combine what they have learned into one account.) - Oliver Ellsworth
- Alexander Hamilton
- William Paterson
- Edmund Randolph
As students read
biographies of their assigned Founding Father, they should attempt to answer the
following questions: - In what ways did he serve his colony/state
before the Constitutional Convention?
- What were his qualifications to represent
his state?
- Was his state large or small?
- Was his state in the North or
South?
- In what ways was he involved with Patriot causes before the Constitutional
Convention?
- What was his profession?
- What was his socioeconomic background?
How might that background have affected his decisions?
- In what ways did his
proposal to the Constitutional Convention represent the interests of his state?
- In what ways did he serve the United States after the Constitutional Convention?
3
Oral Presentations and Class Discussion Based
on their reading of the biographies and/or other sources available in the classroom,
each group should distribute a brief (one page typed) composite biography to the
entire class and present an oral argument that their assignee deserves to be better
known. Students can consider achievements before, during, and after the Convention.
After all the groups have presented their
arguments, allow time for students to review the biographies offered by the different
groups. Discuss the plans with reference to the biographies. How did each plan
differ? What regional factors led to the inclusion of specific elements in each
plan that deal with issues such as how states would be represented in the national
legislature or how the population would be counted for the purpose of taxation
and representation? What parts of any plan connect to the biography of its author?
What parts of which plans eventually became part of the Constitution? 4
Matching Quotes Challenge students to match
quotes from the debates with either Ellsworth, Hamilton, Paterson, or Randolph.
Using the "Four Fathers' Quotes" handout on pages 3-6 of
the Three Handouts pdf file (see Preparing
to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions), adapt this activity
to a game show format or a more simple pencil-and-paper activity. If time permits,
students could even create their own game. Extending the Lesson- 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
Fathers' 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
View your state’s standards
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