Crossroads: High School Curriculum
Unit IV: What Was the American Revolution? 1760-1836

Lesson 3

Contents

Major Concepts

Objectives

Suggested lesson/activities


Major Concepts:

Americans "revolutionized" their state and national constitutions.

Objectives: The student will be able to:

  1. Explain how the new state constitutions reflected the principles articulated by the Declaration of Independence.

  2. Analyze one of the state constitutions in terms of its roots in English and British history and in the history of American colonial government.

  3. Analyze the Articles of Confederation in terms of its strength and weaknesses as a form of government for the new nation.

  4. Write a short position paper that Constitutional Convention delegates from a selected state might present at the Convention before deliberations began.

  5. Identify the similarities and difference among the early states' constitutions and the positions their delegates to the Constitutional Convention would most likely express in their debates and speeches.

Suggested lesson/activities:

  1. This lesson is best implemented through the use of small-group work similar to that used in Unit I, Lesson Three. Divide the class into their home groups. Each "expert" group is assigned a state or group of states (one possible set of states used could be: North and South Carolina and Georgia; Virginia; Pennsylvania; Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey; New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island: and Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire). Give each expert group a list of the first four objectives of this lesson. The "home" group is assigned the fifth lesson objective and is to be directed to think of this lesson as preparation for the next lesson, a mock Constitutional Convention. Distribute copies of the Articles of Confederation to each group.

  2. Within each expert group assign the tasks needed to complete the fourth objective. How each group proceeds and what form the position paper takes should be the subject of group decision.

  3. Time should be allowed at the conclusion of each day's expert-group work to return to the home group for sharing of information about all the states.

A Crossroads Resource: Roots of the Constitution: Expert Group Worksheet

Suggested Resources for Lesson 3:

We the People . . . The Citizen and the Constitution, published by the Center for Civic Education. Calabasas, CA.

Schechter, Stephen, ed. Roots of the Republic: American Founding Documents Interpreted. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1990.

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