Florida Virtual Schools – Teaching American History Project

The Constitution


Tuesday, May 17, 2011
7:00 p.m.–8:30 p.m. (EST)

The Constitution

Leader

Carol Berkin

Presidential Professor American Colonial and Revolutionary History; Women’s History
Baruch College, CUNY

The Scene at the Signing of the Constitution, Howard Chandler Christy, 1940

Enter Moodle Forum

Assigned Readings

To incorporate seminar texts into your teaching, we offer the National Humanities Center’s Primary Document Application Form.
  1. Introduction and chapter one from A Brilliant Solution, Carol Berkin, 2002 (PDF)
  2. Alexander Hamilton on the Articles of Confederation: “make our union feeble and precarious” (PDF)
  3. Descriptions of delegates to the convention, from A Brilliant Solution, Carol Berkin, 2002 (PDF)
  4. Portraits of the Founders (PDF)
  5. Preamble to the United States Constitution
  6. Thomas Jefferson on “what the people are entitled to” (PDF)
  7. “The 35 Anti-Federal Objections Refuted”, selections (PDF)
  8. Anti-Federalist letters to newspapers: “To the citizens of the United States” (PDF)

Presentation (PDF)

Online Evaluation

Seminar Recording

Streaming Recording

Download Recording (You will need to install the WebEx ARF player, available at download, to play back the recording.)