The (Constitutional Convention) Celebrity Apprentice “The Lost Founding Fathers Episode” ATUS 10/14/14
Special thanks to Ms. Nee who has arranged for your top-secret invitation to her “Constitutional Convention” Apprentice Episode. The year is 1787, the place is “Carpenter’s Hall” Philadelphia. You will help create a government that will last forever. The challenge is that you must put yourselves in the mindset of over 200 years ago and do what is in your best interest.
“Decisive decision-making and problem-solving skills are the most critical skills to success in the business world. These are precisely the kind of skills I hope to find in one of you that will run one of our companies. As accomplished people representing a newly formed independent country, you all have varied and impressive resumes.” However, you will have to prove yourself as people who can identify a problem, propose solutions, and predict the longevity of those outcomes.
“Politics can be frustrating, but can also be extremely useful to you in the business world. Our national government is supportive of corporate businessmen like myself, and has been for a long time. At the same time there are flaws in the structure of the government that need to be addressed. “
This week’s task may be one of the most difficult ones you could face as an interviewee on this show. Your teams are going back to the original boardroom—to the Constitutional Convention—to revisit some of the problems that the Founding Fathers encountered in creating this company….actually, I mean, country.
Each of you will take the identity of one of the actual delegates at the Convention as follows: (teams TBA upon completion of background research)
Delegates: John Dickinson: Gouverneur Morris: Peyton Malsch Rachel Abbe Sandra Soarez Alexa Miller
Benjamin Franklin: Charles Pinckney (w/o middle initial) Rocco Palermo Aerin Brown Garrett Tanzer Nina Dheer
Elbridge Gerry: Edmund Randolph: Jordanna Roman Emma Lapin Yarden Wiesenfeld Charlie Musoff
Alexander Hamilton: Roger Sherman: Gillian Lubin Ben Jacob David Rosenstein Lucas Malhotra
James Madison: George Washington: Sydney Bernstein Ali Bauresfeld Alexis Zachem Steven Nicodemo
George Mason: William Patterson: Mahiro Abe Gabriel Dolsten Viraj Mehta Guidelines: 1. Your first individual task is to find out who this person is. Using at least two book sources in addition to the Internet, compile the information to create a resume for this convention leader.
2. One book should be Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. Several copies will be on reserve in the library along with copies of Madison’s notes, plus other books that cover the delegates at the Convention.
3. Be sure to include in your typed resume (but not limited to): objectives educational background previous work experience extracurricular activities public securities, real estate, and other property holdings for full disclosure plus anything else relevant to the delegate’s perspective/point of view.
4. Specific discussion and debates—The Constitution can be viewed from several vantage points— as a political document, an economic document, and a social document. After completing your research, respond to the attached worksheets (typed) from your delegate’s point of view.
5. After completing your resume and worksheets, each team will meet together in separate rooms. You will go over the questions and discuss the issues/problems facing you as delegates, and come up with suggestions as a group for creating a government. As a group, you will then try to compromise on each of the questions and present one final Constitution to my associates and me.
6. We will compare constitutions of both teams and determine which delegates hampered the proceedings the most. Someone will be fired.
Research: 1. Use bibliography and notecards: a 3x5 template will be provided on the Library’s home page under Social Studies, “Constitutional Convention” project.
2. Remember: each source has its own bibliography card with full entry and a symbol such as “A”; next source, new card with “B”, etc. This symbol goes on the top of all notecards from the second source. . . .
3. Remember: each notecard has notes that only belong to one subject heading and one source at a time designated at the top of the notecard.
4. Remember: if the subject changes, but it is the same source, use a new notecard with the same bibliography symbol at the top. The idea is that you are building upon subject headings from different sources.
5. Remember: all notes are to be taken in bullet form, not sentences, to avoid duplication of the author’s words. Keep quotes to a minimum for you are the simulated interpreter of your delegate, and are speaking for him but in your ‘interpretive’ words. However, you may want to use famous phrases your delegate may have used. If so, put quotes around them in your notes so you know it is not your interpretation, but actual sayings from the delegate in 1787.
Respond individually to the following 3 worksheets after finishing your research. Please type answers in full sentences. May respond beyond the space provided.
Constitution as a Political Document: Delegate: Name:
Do you support a Republican Form of Government or Popular Democracy?
Is this Constitution necessary? What’s wrong with the Articles of Confederation?
Strong state governments or a strong federal government? How should voting be determined in the federal government?
Is a Bill of Rights necessary? Does your state have one?
Are checks and balances appropriate?
Should there be an electoral college? Why?
Those representing large states should realize that it would be to their advantage to have representation based on population; small states will see that they may be outvoted every-time unless they have an equal number of representatives in Congress. Should we have a president? What if the president gets too power- hungry, like the king? Who decides who the president is going to be? Even the uneducated? Constitution as an Economic Document: Delegate: Name:
How will this government regulate trade and taxes?
Should there be a national bank? Why?
Based on your delegate’s personal finances, what provisions can be made for maintaining their status?
How can this new government secure money, public securities, manufactures, and trade and shipping?
Constitution as a Social Document: Delegate: Name:
How should slaves be treated? Should slavery exist?
Will they be counted as part of the electorate? Southern states are going to want to keep their slaves and count them as part of the population; northern states are not going to want slaves to count as population. (Pennsylvania, the Quaker state, wants slavery to be abolished altogether in the new government).
Should you heed Abigail Adams’ advice to “Remember the Ladies?” What role will you assign women in this new document?
Although this overlaps with economics, how can this document best preserve a class structure in America that will preserve and protect your interests?
Assignment Sheet
Bibliographic ideas to get you started:
Beard, Charles A. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 2004 (1913 unabridged republication). Print. (Must consult for resume and questions). (Reserve)
Dudley, William, Ed. “Creating a New Government.” Opposing Viewpoints in American History. Vol. I. New York: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Print. (Text)
Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It. New York: Vintage Books, 1989: 4-29. Xerox.
Kennedy, David M. & Bailey, Thomas A. The American Spirit. 11th Ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006:167-187. Print. (Text)
Lefer, David. The Founding Conservatives. New York: Penguin Group, 2013: 281-323. Print. (Reserve)
Madison, James. Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787. Bicentennial Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1966. Print. (Must consult for issues and delegate dialogue). (Reserve)
Patrick, John J. Ed. Founding the Republic: A Documentary History. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1995: Parts III-VI. Print. (Reserve)
Rakove, Jack. Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. Print. (To use in class only)
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005: 90-102. Print. (Text)
Due dates:
Library/home/class preparation: Tuesday through Thursday, October 14-16: work on research in preparation for completing resume and worksheets individually. Use proper research form—bibliography and notecards as outlined above.
Thursday evening through the weekend: complete research . Monday, October 20: work in library or class on final resume and worksheets. Suggested guideline for debate will follow.
Tuesday, October 21: turn in resume and three worksheets (2 copies). TEAMS MEET in different spaces and BEGIN!
Wednesday & Thursday, October 22 & 23: DEBATE CONTINUES!
Due Monday, October 27: one-two page thoughtful REFLECTION on the challenges of negotiating including triumphs and failures—why some strategies worked better than others.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION: Delegates: *denotes delegates that did not sign the Constitution. Highlighted ones are part of our simulation.
Connecticut Delaware William. Samuel Johnson George Read Roger Sherman Gunning Bedford, Jr. Oliver Ellsworth (Elsworth)* John Dickinson Richard Bassett Jacob Broom Georgia Maryland William Few James McHenry Abraham Baldwin Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer William Houston* Daniel Carroll William L. Pierce* Luther Martin* John F. Mercer* Massachusetts New Hampshire Nathaniel Gorham John Langdon Rufus King Nicholas Gilman Elbridge Gerry* Caleb Strong* New Jersey New York William Livingston Alexander Hamilton David Brearly (Brearley) John Lansing, Jr.* William Paterson (Patterson) Robert Yates* Jonathan Dayton William C. Houston* North Carolina Pennsylvania William. Blount Benjamin Franklin Richard. Dobbs Spaight Thomas Mifflin Hugh Williamson Robert Morris William R. Davie* George Clymer Alexander Martin* Thomas Fitzsimons Jared Ingersoll James Wilson Gouverneur Morris South Carolina Rhode Island John Rutledge Rhode Island did not send any delegates to the Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Constitutional Convention. Charles Pinckney Pierce Butler Virginia John Blair James Madison Jr. George Washington George Mason* James McClurg* Edmund J. Randolph* George Wythe* Source: http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_o verview.html