Constitution Day Lesson Plan

Listed are terms/topics that relate to the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788. Define the terms specifying how they relate to the Constitution. Answer the questions related to the terms.

Adopt - 

Ratify - 

When was the United States Constitution adopted? When was the United States Constitution ratified? Why was the adoption of the Constitution not enough to make it legally binding in the 13 states? What process had to happen to make it a ratified, legal document? 

(A) Committee of Detail - 

(B) State-of-Union Speech - 

(C) Slave trade - 

At what point did this practice end in the United States? How did the ending of the slave trade tie directly to the Constitution?

What other compromise dealt specifically with the issue of slavery? 

Many people, who were vocally against slavery, felt this compromise legally removed the humanity from slaves and strengthened the cause of slavery for southerners. Give two specific ways this compromise, which was included in, and protected by the Constitution, made slaves, in a legal sense, appear less "human".

(D) Fugitive Slave Clause - 

What's a clause and why was this one so important?

(E) Commander-in-Chief - 

(F) Commerce Compromise - 

At the time the Constitution was ratified, what were the primary southern exports? How did the southern economy differ from the economy of the north?

(G) Religious freedom - 

South Carolina played an important role in the drafting and adoption of our current United States Constitution. The South Carolinians named were part of the Constitutional Convention and contributed to the document ratified in 1788. 
1) Identify a "Lettered Term" with one of the South Carolinians present at the Constitutional Convention. 
2) Match a digital picture to a "Lettered Term" and a South Carolinian who was at the Constitutional Convention

John Rutledge - _____________

Charles Pinckney - ___________

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney - ____________

Pierce Butler - ___________

Look at the digital images. Placing the images in an application of your choice, match the image to lettered term, and describe how that image relates to the term and the Constitution. It may be necessary to identify the image in order to relate its significance. Finally, match a South Carolinian to an image, describing how that image relates to the chosen South Carolinians role at the Constitutional Convention. Some individuals or terms may have more than one image associated with them. 
 

Additional Activities:

Using the Application Make Beliefs Comix (a free application), have students create a comic strip which debates the positive points of either the Virginia or New Jersey Plan. The comic can be humorous or satirical, but should reflect the important points of the chosen plan.

The Electoral College was established and defined in Article II of the Constitution. The following activities explore facts about the Electoral College and the upcoming election.        

• Become a campaign manager for a current candidate running for president. Based on the 2008 elections, what states do you think your candidate can win? What states will you target to try to steal from your opponent? This activity can be done on a map of the United States. Create an electoral map, listing all the states and the electoral votes in each state. Create you "perfect map", based on the realistic projections of states you feel your candidate can win, and those you believe you can steal. What do you want the map to look like so that you hit that magic number of 270 electoral votes, and therefore victory.
• Using your home state, pick three cities for your candidate to visit. Where is he/she going and who will he/she be addressing. How will this help your candidate win your state?

Answer key - http://knowitall.org/sites/default/files/lwd7/ConstitutionDay_LessonDay_KEY.pdf
 

Constitution Day – Presentation Rubric

http://knowitall.org/sites/default/files/lwd7/ConstitutionDay_Rubric.pdf