To Sign or Not to Sign: The Ultimate Constitution Day Lesson Plan
Author: Education and Exhibits Staff National Constitution Center
About this Lesson
From the moment students enter the room, they will begin to examine and understand the role of the people in the Constitution. When students enter, they are asked to respond to a question posted at the front of the room. Students then watch a short video that gives a brief explanation of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, or listen as the transcript of the video is read aloud. Constitutions are provided so that in small groups, students can examine Article VII and rewrite it in their own words. The educator will then lead a discussion using the questions provided that examine the significance of signing the document and the even greater importance of Article VII, the revolutionary and powerful idea that it is the people who ultimately consent to the government framed by the Constitution. The importance of the amendment process, as a crucial element in keeping the document relevant, and one of the people, is highlighted in the remaining discussion questions. Websites containing primary sources from supporters of ratification and dissenters are provided for further reading, should you decide to use them.
To Sign or not to Sign: The Ultimate Constitution Day Lesson Plan
National Constitution Center Classroom Ready Resource
Grade(s) Level 7-12 Classroom Time
1- 45 minute class period
Background
September 17, 1787 was the final day of the Constitutional Convention, when 39 of the men present in Philadelphia chose to sign the document. Though placing their signatures – and thus their reputations – on the line, gave weight to the document, it was the subsequent ratification contest that really mattered. Ratification embodied the powerful idea of popular sovereignty – government by the people – that has been at the heart of the Constitution since its inception and remains so today.
Handouts
-Creating the Constitution (video transcript)
Objectives
Students will: • • • • Examine the Constitutional Convention of 1787 Summarize Article VII of the Constitution of the United States Deliberate the importance of signing the Constitution Understand that the idea of popular sovereignty, particularly as it applied to the ratification of the document, was a revolutionary concept.
Constitution Connections
Articles VII Amendments
©2006 National Constitution Center ©2007 National Constitution Center
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To Sign or not to Sign: The Ultimate Constitution Day Lesson Plan
National Constitution Center Classroom Ready Resource
Activity
Warm Up
1. As students enter the classroom, ask if they would like to sign their name on a large sheet of paper or chalk/white board in the front of the classroom, with the following statement on top: • Constitution Day is one of our most important national holidays.
2. Once they sign, ask students to take their seats. If they choose not to sign, encourage students who did sign to convince their classmates to sign the sheet. 3. Keep the signatures and the statement posted in the front of the class, so that it can be used at the conclusion of the primary activity.
Primary Activity
1. Display the poster of the Constitution in the front of the classroom, and distribute copies of the Constitution to each student. 2. Explain to students that Constitution Day is the anniversary of the day when the Constitution of the United States was signed in Philadelphia. To recognize this day ask students to think about why 39 of the delegates attending the Convention chose to sign the Constitution and what their signatures did to promote its adoption by the states. 3. At this point in the activity you can play the video listed below to introduce students to the Constitutional Convention. If classroom technology does not permit, you can have students read the attached handout Creating the Constitution. Video located online at: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4f335affb418aee08a6d 4. Divide the class into groups of 3-5 students and assign a member of each group to read Article VII of the Constitution aloud. Ask students, working in groups, to rewrite the article in their own words. 5. Invite the first group to write its explanation of the article in the front of the class for all to see. Invite one representative at a time from each group to edit or add to the explanation. Continue until each group has had an opportunity to contribute to the revision. 6. Using the explanation created by the class, lead a classroom discussion using the following questions: • Did signing the Constitution make it go into effect? Why or why not?
©2006 National Constitution Center ©2007 National Constitution Center
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To Sign or not to Sign: The Ultimate Constitution Day Lesson Plan
National Constitution Center Classroom Ready Resource
• •
There were 42 men present at the Convention on the day of the signing. Why did only 39 sign the Constitution? Why did they sign the document? What effect would it have had if they did not sign their names and simply submitted it to the states for ratification without their signatures?
7. Ask students to again consider the statement they were asked to sign at the start of the class period. “Constitution Day is one of our most important national holidays.” Present the following questions for discussion: • • • Why did you or did you not sign the statement? Do the signatures of this class make the statement true? Why or why not? What steps would you have to take to promote this idea? Do your signatures help or detract from this?
8. Ask students to once again consider Article VII of the Constitution. Present the following questions for discussion: • • • What role did the signatures of the framers play in the ratification process? Who ultimately had the power to put the Constitution into place? What is the Constitution without the people’s support?
9. Provide students a couple of minutes to examine the copy of the Constitution they have been provided. Using their Constitutions, ask them the following questions: • • • Is the Constitution you have in your hands the same Constitution that the framers signed on September 17, 1787? If it is different, how has it changed? Is it a “better” document? Is it now perfect and complete?
10. Remove the Constitution poster from its display in the front of the classroom and lay it on a table or desk. Ask each student, if they choose, to come to the front of the room and sign the Constitution, by adding their names to the existing list of Constitutional framers. 11. When students return to their seats, finish the lesson with a class discussion using the following questions: • • What does it mean to sign your name with the framers of the Constitution? Why did you choose to sign? Why did you choose not to sign?
©2006 National Constitution Center ©2007 National Constitution Center
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To Sign or not to Sign: The Ultimate Constitution Day Lesson Plan
National Constitution Center Classroom Ready Resource
Extension
• Provide students with copies of letters written by contemporary supporters and opponents of the Constitution Ask them to summarize the arguments. o John Jay- Address to the People of New York in Support of Ratification of the Constitution found online at: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/newnatn/usconst/johnjay.html Letter from Elbridge Gerry to Sam Adams on why he choose not to sign the Constitution found online at: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/newnatn/usconst/egerry.html
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©2006 National Constitution Center ©2007 National Constitution Center
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To Sign or not to Sign: The Ultimate Constitution Day Lesson Plan
National Constitution Center Classroom Ready Resource
Handout
Creating the Constitution
When was the last time you successfully changed anyone’s mind about anything? Or even gotten a small group of people to agree what movie to see? Now try to imagine this? Fifty-five men getting together in Philadelphia one muggy summer in 1787, trying to create a nation. Now imagine that most of them are lawyers. Well, that’s what it was like. And it would take 3 ½ months of quarreling and compromise. But somehow those men managed to hammer out the framework for our nation’s Constitution. Pretty soon there were some basic questions in the room about the very things they fought so hard for. Freedom and power. It wasn’t so long ago that colonists had won their freedom from the king of England. So no one was in a hurry to hand over too much power to any government, even their own. And wouldn’t a stronger central government mean weaker individual states? Ultimately, those 55 delegates came up with a brilliant compromise. A balance between federal power and state’s rights that still hangs delicately today. And as for how the government should actually be set up, they settled on the remarkable idea of dividing it into three branches: The executive, judiciary, and the legislative. When it was all over, these men forged a document that defined a country complete with built-in checks and balances designed to keep everyone honest. But the document wasn’t perfect. For all its promise of freedom and justice, it included compromises, like slavery, that would take years, even bloodshed, to resolve. Some critics felt it also overlooked some crucial fundamental rights. The first 10 amendments, called the Bill of Rights, took care of that. However imperfect the document, it begins with three perfect words, “We the People.” For over 200 years, presidents, lawyers, judges, politicians, protestors, and ordinary citizens have been examining the “We” in “We, the People.” Pulling at it, trying to get it to expand or contract, and in doing so, shaping the character of our nation.
©2006 National Constitution Center ©2007 National Constitution Center
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