Philadelphia, 1787. Thirteen states, one impossible task: agree on a government. You are a delegate to the Convention.
Philadelphia, the summer of 1787. The thirteen states have sent delegates to the Pennsylvania State House to mend a failing government. You are one of those delegates — not a famous Founder, but an original character with a region, a faction, and interests to defend.
You will debate representation, the powers of a national government, the design of the executive, and the questions of slavery that divide North from South. Your only weapons are argument, coalition, and compromise — and from fierce disagreement, your table must forge a union.
A large-state delegate who argues for a strong national government and representation proportional to the people.
A small-state delegate who defends the equality of the states against domination by the populous large states.
A delegate of the Southern plantation states, defending the agrarian economy and the slaveholding interest.
A Northern commercial delegate seeking a government empowered to regulate trade, secure credit, and pay the public debt.
A delegate of the western settlements, pressing for expansion, navigation rights, and a voice for the new lands.
A guardian of liberty wary of concentrated power, demanding limits, accountability, and the rights of the people.
Delegates from the populous states — Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and their allies — who argue that representation in the national legislature should be proportional to population and who favor a strong, energetic national government. A national government, proportional to the people.
Delegates from the less populous states — New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut and their allies — who insist on the equality of the states in the legislature and fear domination by the large states. The equality and sovereignty of the states.
Delegates of the plantation states whose economy rests on agriculture and enslaved labor. They press to protect slavery, the slave trade, and the interests of agricultural exporters in the new government. Protection of the agrarian and slaveholding economy.
Delegates of the mercantile North — shippers, traders, and manufacturers — who seek a government empowered to regulate commerce, protect trade, and pay the public debt, and who are largely hostile to the Atlantic slave trade. A government that secures commerce, credit, and trade.
One run through a beat is an attempt — the same word your gradebook uses. Set the length in turns, alone or in groups, and the Activity is waiting when your students arrive.
