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Summary and Objective
Students will examine the opinions of citizens on whether Masaachusetts should support or oppose ratification of new United States Constitution. Through the reading of articles printed in the Western Massachusetts newspaper, The Hampshire Gazette, students will prepare announcements of opinions they found.
Teaching Plan
Step 1.
Review the word ratify and briefly discuss the need for the Constitution to be ratified.
Step 2.
Divide the class into groups of three or four. Assign each group an article from the archives. (This may require that more than one group will view the same article.)
Step 3.
Each group should actively read the article together, marking up the text. They should look in the article for information on how Massachusetts citizens felt about the new Constitution. Each student should write notes indicating as many of the 5 W's as possible.
Step 4.
Once notes have been taken, reviewed for understanding, and shared, each student should create an article or letter to the editor of the Gazette or a speech that enacts an opinion on ratification that may have been an opinion of the time. Each product should be written with the intention of persuading an audience of the time to agree with the position taken.
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