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Teacher
Resources
This
page contains specific resources developed for teachers using
this Exploration.
Entire
Unit | Test Your Knowledge | Who
Were the Delegates?
Overview of the Delegates | The
Delegates in Art
Focusing
Event for Entire Unit:
Pose
the following situation to the class:
Imagine that, on a field trip to a remote location, the students
became stranded—without any adults and with little hope
of being rescued in the foreseeable future.
Start
with a brief, general discussion about such matters as:
- How
will you work together?
- How
will you create rules?
- How
will you deal with people who group members think are not following
the rules?
Then,
either brainstorming as a class or working in small groups (if
desired, groups can be assigned the questions below), make lists
of the things the group would have to consider in developing its
own government.
Help
the students by asking these guiding questions, which relate to
phrases from the Preamble:
- How
will you make sure that anyone who feels unfairly treated will
have a place to air complaints? (establishing justice)
- How
will you make sure that people can have peace and quiet? (ensuring
domestic tranquility)
- How
will you make sure that group members will help if outsiders
arrive who threaten your group?(providing for the common
defense)
- How
will you make sure that the improvements you make on the island
(such as shelters, fireplaces and the like) will be used fairly?
(promoting the general welfare)
- How
will you make sure that group members will be free to do what
they want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else? (securing
the blessing of liberty to ourselves)
- How
will you make sure that the rules and organizations you develop
protect future generations? (securing the blessing of liberty
to our posterity)
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Preamble
to the Constitution:
We
the People of the United States, in Order to form a more
perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,
provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for
the United States of America. |
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If
the students worked in groups, allow time for sharing.
Continue
by reading excerpts of the Constitution
There
are several versions of the Constitution for different grade
levels:
(Links
open in a new window; close that window to return to this page)
Explore
the timeline of the Constitution
(Links
open in a new window; close that window to return to this page)
The
Centuries of Citizenship: A Constitutional Timeline is an online
experience highlighting some of the key dates and events that
mark more than 200 years of our constitutional history. These
timeline entries, taken as a whole, tell the evolving story
of the U.S. Constitution and the continuing role that it plays
in our lives.
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/timeline/
More
resources for teachers are available at EDSITEment:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/ConstitutionDay/constitution_index2.html#teachers
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Test
Your Knowledge
The
test may be used as an opening activity. The
Constitution Test is available in Microsoft Word format.
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Who
Were the Delegates?
Use the in-depth discussion of each of the delegates
on the National Archives' page, The Signers of the Constitution:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/signers.html
Reading the personal correspondence
of delegates may help students gain
a
better understanding
of
hopes,
aspirations,
and fears of members of the Federal Convention.
Suggested primary sources:
- Of the 42 delegates who stayed to the end of the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, 39 signed the document.
One who did not sign the Constitution of the United States
was Elbridge Gerry, a delegate from Massachusetts. In a letter
written to the Massachusetts state legislature, Gerry
describes why he did not sign the Constitution.
- Numerous letters from Elbridge Gerry to his wife Ann are included in Supplement to Max Farrand's
The Records
of
the
Federal
Convention
of 1787 edited by James H. Hutson (Yale University Press,
1987).
Elbridge Gerry's letters
- George Washington's
letters
- to Thomas Jefferson (5/30/1787)
“The business of this convention is as yet too much in
embryo to form any opinion of the conclusion. Much is expected
from it by some; not much by others; and nothing by a few.
That something is necessary, none will deny; for the situation
of the general government, if it can be called a government,
is shaken to its foundation, and liable to be overturned
by every blast. In a word, it is at an end; and, unless
a remedy is soon applied, anarchy and confusion will inevitably
ensue.”
- to the Marquis
de Lafayette (6/6/1787)
- to David Stuart(7/11/1787)
“I have no wish more ardent,
through the whole progress of this business, than that
of knowing what kind of government is best calculated
for us to live under.”
- to Patrick Henry (9/24/1787)
“I wish the constitution, which is offered, had been
more perfect; but I sincerely believe it is best the could
be obtained at this time. And, as a constitutional door
is opened for amendment hereafter, the adoption of it,
under the present circumstances of the Union, is in my
opinion desirable. From a variety of concurring accounts
it appears to me, that them political concerns of this
country are in a manner suspended by a thread, and that
the
convention has been looked up to, by the reflecting part of the community, with
a solicitude which is hardly to be conceived; and if nothing had been agreed
on by that body, anarchy would have soon ensued, the seeds being deeply sown
in every soil.”
- to Col. David Humphreys (10/10/1787)
“The Constitution that is submitted, is not free from
imperfections, but there are as few radical defects in
it as could well be expected, considering the heterogeneous
mass of which the Convention was composed and the diversity
of interests that are to be attended to. As a constitutional
door is opened for future amendments and alterations, I
think it would be wise in the People to accept what is
offered to them…”
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Overview
of the Delegates
Use the Constitution
Game as a good overview of
the delegate and the process
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The
Delegates in Art
Student question: Only
39 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention are
pictured in
the Christy
painting. Who isn't shown and why were they not included
in the painting?
Teacher response: Not included are the 3 delegates who did not
sign the Constitution: Edmund J. Randolph (Virginia), George
Mason
(Virginia),
and Elbridge
Gerry (Massachusetts).
Also not included are the 13 delegates who left the convention:
Oliver Ellsworth (Connecticut), William Houston (Georgia), William
L. Pierce (Georgia), Luther Martin (Maryland), John F. Mercer
(Maryland), Caleb Strong (Massachusetts), William C. Houston
(New Jersey), John Lansing, Jr. (New York), Robert Yates (New
York), William R. Davie (North Carolina), Alexander Martin (North
Carolina), James McClurg (Virginia), and George Wythe (Virginia).
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