U.S. Constitutional

ConventionMcGuire

Honors US History

Questions

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:

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

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

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…

Iroquois Northern merchants and bankers Male southern plantation owners White women Free African Americans Enslaved African Americans White indentured servants

Vocabulary terms Unfair Just Justice Wealthy Property Merchant Trader Suffrage Constitution Plantation owner

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

Working together to achieve a goal

Working in a joint intellectual effort

Teamwork Ms. McGuire likes this!!!

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? Unfair Just Justice Wealthy Property Merchant Trader Suffrage Constitution Plantation owner

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:

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

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 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”?

Who should be allowed to vote?

Suffrage

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.

What are your hopes for the Constitution? What are your fears for this new government?

Burning Issues

For each question, you MUST propose a resolution

These may change later after you talk with other groups

“Be it resolved that…” 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

Each person gets one vote on the issues we address Therefore, all groups are important

Parliamentary Procedure—handout tomorrow Individual speeches addressing our two questions

Should slavery be abolished? Who should have the right to vote?

Building Alliances Meant to sharpen your arguments and thinking skills. Strategize within your social group

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 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:

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

Each person’s role—real or fictional George Washington (southern plantation owner—real) Joe Smith (Indentured servant—fictional)

Finalize any questions you have about your group’s perspective

Preparing Individual Speeches

Introduce yourself (real or fictional character) Little bit about yourself and your perspective Present your arguments about both of the issues

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 Everyone come to class tomorrow with your final draft of

your speech to turn in. 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. 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

Introduce yourself (real or fictional character) Little bit about yourself and your perspective Present your arguments about both of the issues

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 Questions1.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. Be it resolved that slavery is abolished in the United States.

2. Be it resolved that the slave trade is abolished in the United States.

3. 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.

4. Be it resolved that all adults (16 and over) without a criminal record will be allowed to vote in the United States.

2nd period Constitution1. Be it resolved that slavery is abolished in United States.

Slaves become indentured servants under a contract.

2. Be it resolved that the slave trade is abolished in the United States.

3. Be it resolved that fugitive/runaway indentured servants must be returned to their employers. As punishment, pay is taken away (10%) each time.

4. 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 Constitution1. Be it resolved that slavery is abolished. Slaves become

migrant workers on contracts.

2. Be it resolved that the slave trade is abolished in the United States.

3. Be it resolved that migrant workers who run away are not to go back to their employer, but they can be hired elsewhere.

4. 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 Constitution1. Be it resolved that slavery is abolished in the United

States.

2. Be it resolved that the slave trade is abolished in the United States.

3. Be it resolved that fugitive slaves no longer exist in the United States.

4. 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 Reflection1. Write an interior monologue from your

individual’s perspective telling your feelings about the outcome of Constitutional Convention.

2. In what ways was our class Convention unrealistic? In what ways was it realistic?

3. Which social groups made alliances with each other? Do you think that similar alliances were made in real life?

4. Which social groups had absolutely conflicting interests—where no compromise was possible?

Convention Reflection ContinuedWho Wrote the Constitution?

Prompt: Were these individuals broadly representative of the entirety of U.S. society at the time?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 ActivityFind the answers to the following questions in the Constitution:

1. What branches of government are created by the Constitution? 2. Provide 2 examples of how each branch has power over another

branch. 3. How can Congress remove the President from office? 4. What is the longest time a President elected today can stay in office? 5. How long do members of the House of Representatives serve?

Senators? 6. How old do you have to be to be a Representative? A Senator? A

federal judge? 7. How old do you have to be to be President? Vice President? 8. How many states had to ratify the Constitution to put it into effect? 9. How many states have to ratify an amendment to make it part of the

Constitution?