Reflective Paper
American History Teachers' Collaborative
Summer Institute
2008
Greg Stock
Over the course of the week, we have been exposed to fantastic variety of quality speakers and written resources. Certainly one of the themes that keeps coming back to me by each speaker is the power of the personalities and character at the Constitutional Convention. Clearly, the final document that was unveiled in 1787 is a direct result of the various factions and personalities that assembled in Philadelphia that spring.
One of the ways that I try to get students interested in a particular era or event is by helping students to better understand the people involved. I feel that it is important for students to see that historical characters are more than just names in a book, but actual people, with flaws and positive attributes just like “ordinary” people have. The keynote speeches by both David Stewart and Dr. Carol Berkin certainly illustrate that the framers were extraordinary in many ways, but yet ordinary in many others. While many of the men present at the Constitutional Convention have become legendary, such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison; others, such as John Rutledge, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and George Mason, have faded away into obscurity for most Americans.
Clearly, quite of variety of personalities were present at the Constitutional Convention. Berkin’s book, “A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution” does a great job of providing a miniature biography of each of the fifty-five men who were present (some more often than others) during the Constitutional Convention. I think that this is an excellent resource for teachers (and possibly students) to learn background about each of the framers. One task that I could envision after seeing this information is for students to research a particular framer. In order to go beyond compiling a simple biographical sketch, the students would then try to determine, based on the biographical sketch, what issues they feel would have been important to that particular framer based on their economic situation and region. Based on prior knowledge of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, the students could also try to determine which weaknesses would have the most meaning for that particular framer. As in politics today, most of the framers would have had an agenda at least to some extent and it is important that students realize that this was the unspoken reality of the convention. There are a few websites that might help students get this basic biographical information, such as Biographies of the Founding Fathers (http://colonialhall.com/biousc.asp) and About the Signers (http://www.constitutionfacts.com/index.cfm?section=constitution&page=aboutTheSigners.cfm). Yet another great website is the Findlaw Founding Fathers page (http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/documents/fathers/).
By better understanding the power of personality at the Convention, students can no doubt begin to see the critical roles that various individuals played at the convention leading to a document that some historians have referred to as a “bundle of compromises.” One example of a situation where understanding the person may also help students understand the position taken may be the case of Gouverneur Morris, delegate from Pennsylvania. In an impassioned speech (referred by some as the Curse of Heaven speech), Morris makes a strong anti-slavery speech that Dr. Berkin identified as one of the first, if not the first, abolitionist speech of the new nation. By reading the debates that occurred in the Convention on August 8, 1787 (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/debates/808.htm), students can get a much richer understanding of the types of debate and discussion that was held at the Constitutional Convention. Another website that offers a “cleaner” version of the speech is http://homepage.mac.com/cohora/puzpro/gouvmorrislavery.html. This site has basically the same text as the other site, but instead of a transcript format, it centers specifically on an excerpt of the speech delivered by Morris. Students would certainly recognize the strength of Morris’ words and imagery in trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to make his point to the other delegates present.
Another excellent follow-up activity would be to allow students to work individually or in small groups with the Avalon Project website’s collection of the “Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787” (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/debates/debcont.htm). This excellent resource offers day-by-day accounts of the discussions and debates that occurred at the Constitutional Convention from May 25 through September 17, 1787. Using this website, students could be assigned to read and summarize a particular day of the convention, then reporting to the rest of the class what sort of issues were discussed and what decisions were made. A key element would be reporting which delegate took what position and see if that matches what the students had previously identified as issues that they felt would be important to that delegate after researching for their biographical sketches.
In her discussion, Dr. Berkin identified five delegates as being extraordinarily brilliant in her opinion. There is a website (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/debates/debcont.htm ) devoted to a series of Constitution-related quotes of one of these delegates, James Wilson, also of Pennsylvania. Students could also be given these quotes and be asked to paraphrase each to demonstrate understanding of Wilson’s beliefs.
Yet another delegate, whose intellectual brilliance is rarely questioned, is Benjamin Franklin. An analysis of Franklin’s speech at the conclusion of the convention (http://www.jmu.edu/madison/gpos225-madison2/frankcov.htm) gives students an opportunity to witness a true spirit of compromise as Franklin clearly demonstrates his conflicts with the finished document, while at the same time recognizing the importance of a unanimous recommendation for ratification.
Clearly, this was a document written by men, sometimes ordinary and often extraordinary men, who need to be seen for both their strengths and weaknesses. By understanding their lives through biography and through their actions at the Constitutional Convention as evidenced by various documents, students will be able to better understand what one historian once referred to as the “Miracle at Philadelphia.” By understanding the delegates’ political needs and wants, students should recognize the importance of compromise, while still recognizing the significant roles that the sheer power of personality and character played throughout the Convention.