A. Purpose: To gain an understanding of the people and the events surrounding the writing of the U.S. Constitution, as a foundation for establishing perspective on current political events.

In addition to your textbook that references the Articles of Confederation, read the article about the Constitutional Convention titled “…by Unanimous Consent of the States”. While reading, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What were some of the “time bombs” being experienced by the states under the Articles of Confederation? In other words, identify Congress’ weaknesses; what did it fail to do?

2. What were the rules for voting at the Constitutional Convention? Which rules made it possible for the compromise to occur? (HINT: There are three of them!)

3. On what issues did the delegates agree prior to the start of the Constitutional Convention?

4. Over what issues did the delegates disagree? What were the key competing sets of interests regarding each issue (i.e., who wanted what)? For full credit, be sure to answer each part of the question in detail.

5. Ultimately, what compromises did the delegates agree to? For what reason(s) did each side ultimately agree to each of the proposed compromises? How did these compromises satisfy each set of interests? For full credit, answer each part of the questions in detail.

 

B.Purpose: To gain an understanding of the people and the events surrounding the writing of the U.S. Constitution, as a foundation for establishing perspective on current political events.

read a brief overview of the delegates provided by the National Archives titled Overview of the Founding Fathers and Analyzing Visuals: Who were the Framers? After reading both documents, you should be able to answer the following questions worth 1 point each. Just like the above, number your answers from 1 to 15. Most of the questions below only require a numerical answer, so you do not have to answer in complete sentences.

1. How many delegates had signed the Declaration of Independence? (Note: Please indicate your answer in numeric form, i.e. 12, NOT written form, i.e. “twelve”) [HINT: The answer is not “8”]

2. How many delegates had signed the Articles of Confederation? (Note: Please indicate your answer in numeric form, i.e. 12, NOT written form, i.e. “twelve”) [HINT: The answer is not “6”]

3. What other types of political experience did the delegates have? How many earned a substantial part of their income from public office?

4. Overall, how would you describe the economic status of the delegates? How many were “self-made” men?

5. What was the most common occupation among the delegates?

6. How many of the delegates were involved directly in business and trade?

7. How many were financiers, buying and selling land and/or stocks and bonds?

8. How many owned or operated plantations based on slave labor? How many were slave-holders?

9. How many were manual laborers?

10. How many delegates were not born in the United States? (Note: Please indicate your answer in numeric form, i.e. 12, NOT written form, i.e. “twelve”)

11. How many delegates had lived and/or worked in more than one state (or colony)?

12. How many delegates attended college?

13. Other than formal school-based education, how were delegates educated?

14. How many delegates had been members of the Continental Congress? (Note: Please indicate your answer in numeric form, i.e. 12, NOT written form, i.e. “twelve”)

15. Which state sent the most delegates to the Convention? Which state sent no delegates to the Convention?