Lesson: The Delegates of the Constitutional Convention of 1787
Author: Kimberly DeByle and Terry Vechinski
Grade Level: Elementary
Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domainspecific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.5 Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology,
comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in
two or more texts.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources,
demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem
efficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and
convey ideas and information clearly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.2b Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details,
quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development
and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific
expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use
technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact
and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to
type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.7 Conduct short research projects that use several sources to
build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support
analysis, reflection, and research.
Wisconsin Academic Standards:
Social Studies:
B.8.1 Interpret the past using a variety of sources, such as biographies, diaries,
journals, artifacts, eyewitness interviews, and other primary source materials,
and evaluate the credibility of sources used
B.8.4 Explain how and why events may be interpreted differently depending upon
the perspectives of participants, witnesses, reporters, and historians
B.8.5 Use historical evidence to determine and support a position about
important political values, such as freedom, democracy, equality, or justice, and
express the position coherently
B.8.6 Analyze important political values such as freedom, democracy, equality,
and justice embodied in documents such as the Declaration of Independence,
the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights
B.8.7 Identify significant events and people in the major eras of United States
and world history
C.8.1 Identify and explain democracy's basic principles, including individual
rights, responsibility for the common good, equal opportunity, equal protection of
the laws, freedom of speech, justice, and majority rule with protection for minority
rights
C.8.2 Identify, cite, and discuss important political documents, such as the
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and landmark decisions of the Supreme Court,
and explain their function in the American political system
C.8.3 Explain how laws are developed, how the purposes of government are
established, and how the powers of government are acquired, maintained,
justified, and sometimes abused
C.8.4 Describe and explain how the federal system separates the powers of
federal, state, and local governments in the United States, and how legislative,
executive, and judicial powers are balanced at the federal level
C.8.5 Explain how the federal system and the separation of powers in the
Constitution work to sustain both majority rule and minority rights
Technology:
A.8.2 Explain the need for and application of knowledge and skills from other
disciplines when engaging in technological activities
Essential Question: Who were the men who wrote the U.S. Constitution?
Learner Outcomes – Students Will Be Able To:
Discuss and analyze key ideas of the U.S. Constitution.
Interpret information from online sources.
Present historical research orally.
Procedure:
Phase 1 – Researching Constitutional Convention Delegates
1. Introduction: Using the social studies text book, students will read and discuss
the events leading up to the new government of the United States, the need for a
new government based on the old Articles of Confederation, and some of the key
2.
3.
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5.
6.
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people and ideas that helped draft the document which later became the United
States Constitution.
Move students to the computer lab or have them log in to their lap tops.
Assign students a delegate from the Constitutional Convention.
Hand out the attached information report worksheet. Have students write the
name of their delegate on the sheet. Go through each part of the worksheet so
that students know exactly what is needed to be researched.
Ask students to Google “Constitutional Convention delegates.” Have them locate
the following websites:
www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/delegates
www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers.html
Ask students to click on the first website. Show them how to navigate the
website to find the information necessary to complete their delegate report.
Repeat with the next site.
After students have had a chance to browse the websites and ask questions,
allow students to begin investigating their own delegate. Assist students as
needed. In particular, students may need help finding an interesting personal fact
and the most important contribution their delegate made to the convention itself.
Closure: After completing the sheet, have students cite their sources and begin making
a sketch of their delegate. Students may choose to investigate websites that discuss
and display clothing of the eighteenth century such as these:
www.memorialhall.mass.edu/activities/dressup/index.html
www.history.org/history/clothing/intro/index.cfm
Phase 2 – Creating a Delegate
1. Introduction: Call on students to relay what they learned about their assigned
delegates. Make a list on the board of recurring themes and characteristics. What
groups were not represented among the delegates? Why was this important?
2. Give each student a large piece of butcher paper or poster board.
3. Have students take turns tracing an outline of their bodies on the paper. Instruct
the students to cut out these outlines.
4. Using the information gained from their research in the computer lab, have
students create a life-size poster of their delegate. Students can use their
sketches, their social studies book, and the websites listed above to aid in the
creation of their delegates’ clothing. (See Appendix B).
5. Students must then create a printed document of the facts they found and
recorded on their information worksheets in the form of a paragraph.
Modifications such as typing the facts into bullets can be made as needed.
Phase 3 – Presentations
1. Students will recreate the table from the Constitutional Convention of 1787 using
the posters they have created. Some delegates are placed in chairs around the
table while others are “standing.” Copies of the Constitution, American flags, and
other documents are placed on the table to convey the atmosphere of the
Constitutional Convention of 1787.
2. Students will place a placard around the neck of their delegates displaying their
documented facts.
Closure: The following day, students make oral presentations in class to share what
they learned about their delegate. Parents, school staff, and other classes are invited to
participate.
Assessment: Students will be assessed on their completed paragraphs and
presentations to the class.
Delegates from the Constitutional Convention of 1787
Information Report
Name: _______________________________ Date: _____________________
Name of Delegate: __________________________________________
Date of birth and death: _______________________________
Age at the time of the Constitutional Convention: _________________
State this delegate represented: _____________________________________
Occupations: _______________________________________________________
One interesting fact about this delegate’s personal life:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
One interesting contribution this delegate made to the Constitutional Convention:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Write the name of the sources you used to find this information:
Use the space on the back of this sheet to make a sketch of your delegate.