1. Constitutional Convention Essential Question:
Warm up: Fill in the missing spots on the Articles of Confederation handout. You may use your old notes. 
Constitutional Convention Essential Question:
How could our Founding Fathers balance the needs of the states as we created a national government?

2. Warm-Up
Based on what you've seen in this video, why do you think the founders would have wanted to keep their efforts secret?

3. Announcements Today – Constitutional Convention Tomorrow – Compromises
Thursday – Compromises

4. Constitutional Convention
After the failing of the Articles of Confederation, some founding fathers felt that there needed to be some changes
Originally the founding fathers felt that the Articles could be saved with some modifications.
Eventually, though, it was decided that a new form of government was needed
On May 14, delegates from 12 states met in Independence Hall in Pennsylvania to create a new Constitution
Why Pennsylvania and not, Virginia or Massachusetts?

5. Constitution Convention
Delegates from 12 states, eventually made up the convention; however, some notable members include:
George Washington – Unanimously elected to be the chairperson for the convention
James Madison – Wrote the initial draft of the Constitution
Alexander Hamilton – Hamilton was a strong advocate for rewriting the constitution and having no states
Benjamin Franklin – Now over 80 years old, Benjamin Franklin was present at the Convention as an advisor
This delegation consisted of the wealthiest, most educated men in the nation.  Do you think they could have represented the needs of the poor, the enslaved, women, and uneducated in the country?

6. Constitutional Convention
Again, while the delegates originally thought they were just going to revise the Articles of Confederation, that plan was quickly abandoned.
During the Constitution Convention, there were several major discussions:
How would the president be elected?
How would the Congress be chosen?
Would we keep slavery?
What kind of powers would the national government have?
Why would these disagreements have slowed down the convention?

7. Convention Invitation
You are to create a formal invitation to the Constitutional Convention
This should look like an invitation, something that you would want to send to a friend.
It should include
what the event is
when it will occur
where
why/purpose
You should also include some catchy information that might encourage someone to attend. For example, maybe mention what you might be doing there or if anyone famous going to attend. Or what they might expect. Be creative and persuasive.
Creative Aspect:
Make it colorful and inviting and so that someone who sees it will totally want to attend.
You may make it look like a formal gorgeous invitation with beautiful writing, or not.