Guess Who Signed the Constitution? Study Guide Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

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1 Guess Who Signed the Constitution? Study Guide 2011 Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

2 Guess Who Signed the Constitution? Study Guide This study guide is designed for students coming to see the Hudson Vagabond Puppets production of Guess Who Signed the Constitution? Imagine being taken back in time, to Philadelphia in 1810 only 23 years after the Delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia turned the original 13 states into a nation. The story is told through the eyes of 10-year old Adam, who not only studies history he lives it! Along the journey, we get to meet: Adam s grandfather an artist with an extraordinary, history-changing secret Adam s grandmother, Effie with some revolutionary ideas of her own And A fantastic gallery of portraits that magically comes to life. Paintings of the Constitutional Delegates and some lesser known heroes who also helped shape our country. We hear about how our Constitution was formed and explore the significance of compromise and voting to the process. And ultimately, Grandfather s secret is revealed can YOU guess who signed the Constitution? Inside this study guide you ll find sections on: The Constitution The Bill of Rights The Constitutional Convention Life in the States during the early 1800 s Compromise and Voting And All about our puppets and the performance! 2011 Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

3 The Story of the Constitution In 1776, the 13 states had just declared their independence from Great Britain and needed to adopt their own system of government. Afraid of giving too much control to one central body of leadership, the 1777 Articles of Confederation gave almost all of the power to the individual states, and required all 13 states to agree to any changes. But without a central government to deal with disputes between the states, doing business and taxes or even how to go to war it became clear that the original Articles of Confederation were not yet good enough. In 1786, James Madison, who would later become the nation's fourth president, called on the states to send delegates to work on revising the Articles. The following year, representatives from 12 states arrived in Philadelphia for what would become known as the Constitutional Convention. Revolutionary War hero George Washington was unanimously elected to lead the convention, which included famous Americans Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton. Eventually, the Delegates reached The Great Compromise, which guaranteed that states would be equally represented in the Senate, while representation in the House of Representatives would be based on population. The population would be determined by the number of white inhabitants plus three-fifths of "other people" slaves. Finally, in September 1787, the delegates agreed on the draft of the Constitution and signed it. Now it had to be ratified by at least 9 out of 13 states. You can visit the National Archives online, where you can view the actual document Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

4 The Bill of Rights The first ten amendments to the Constitution are also called The Bill of Rights. The following is a summary of those amendments: 1. Guarantees freedom of speech and religion, as well as the freedom to protest. 2. Grants the freedom to keep and bear arms, and states an armed force. 3. Prohibits soldiers from living in anyone's house (private property) without permission. 4. States that private property cannot be searched without a warrant, which must be given on the basis of probable cause. 5. Guarantees "due process of law" and that people cannot be held for a capital crime (like murder) without an indictment from a grand jury. Also prevents a person from being tried for the same crime twice (double jeopardy), gives individuals the right not to testify against themselves (think, "I'll take the 5 th amendment!"), and prevents the government from taking private property without adequate compensation. 6. Promises the right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury and the right to have a lawyer. It also states that citizens have the right to know what they are charged with and to bring witnesses to testify at a trial. 7. Gives the right to a jury in civil (non-criminal) cases if desired. 8. Prohibits extreme bails, fines, and "cruel and unusual" punishment. 9. Expresses that just because certain rights have been addressed here, it does not "deny or disparage" any individual rights. 10. Declares that powers not given to the U.S. government are reserved for the states or individuals Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

5 The Constitutional Convention Delegates The Delegates by the Numbers 12: The number of original states to appoint Delegates to the Constitutional Convention. (All but Rhode Island nominated Delegates.) 70: The total number of men appointed to the Constitutional Convention. 55: The number who actually attended. Those who could not included Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams and, John Hancock. 39: The number of Delegates who actually signed the Constitution 26: The age of the youngest Delegate. It was Jonathan Dayton, from New Jersey. 81: The age of the oldest Delegate. It was Pennsylvania s Benjamin Franklin. He was in such poor health at the time, he had to be carried to the meetings in a sedan chair Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

6 19 th Century America: Going to School with Adam Living and going to school in America in 1810 is very different than No IMs, texts or internet. Music is on my pennywhistle, not an ipod. Kindle is what I do to a candle, not what I read with. At school we are taught to read, write, and do some arithmetic. We need to learn this because then we can write letters to people and keep track of our money. Our town is considered lucky to have a schoolhouse because most towns don t have one. Those kids who don t go to school get their lessons from their parents. Most often, the boys grow up to have the same job that their father s have and the girls run the family and keep house. The schoolhouse has one room and one teacher. A wooden stove heats the room, and we have to bring in logs to put on the fire. Our school starts at 7 o clock in the morning and we go Monday through Saturday. The kids that are in the classroom are from the ages of six to twelve. We all have to learn our lessons by repeating them over and over. Exercise: Making a Quill Pen I write with my quill pen and my black ink. Step 1: Cut the tip of a quill. A turkey feather will make a fine quill. Step 2: Sharpen one side to a point. Step 3: Dip the end into an inkwell, and write! 2011 Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

7 Voting and Compromise What is suffrage? It has nothing to do with suffering! Simply put, suffrage is the right to vote. Today, suffrage is one of the major principles of democracy. In the United States today, every man and woman who is at least 18 has the right to vote in general government elections. But this wasn't always the case. America's history is filled with changes to the voting laws. It wasn t until 1869 that Congress adopted the 15 th Amendment, giving all men the right to vote regardless of their race, color, or previous time as a slave. However, by using the word men, women were specifically kept from voting. It took Congress another 42 years to adopt an Amendment and have it accepted by the States. On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote. Exercise: Gender in Your Classroom 1. Take a poll of the students in your class. How many are girls and how many are boys? How do they divide by age? 2. Talk about yourselves from the point of view of gender. Do the boys do things differently from the girls? What does each group contribute to the class? What problems to they bring? 3. Pick a topic and vote on it. Keep track of how your class votes. Do all the girls vote as a block? Do younger/older kids vote as a block? 4. Talk about how gender and age can affect the decisions you make by voting Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

8 Time to Vote: Are You For Pizza Power or a Chicken Champion? What is voting? Think about voting in everyday life: making a choice in the lunch room is a form of voting. But what if there was a vote for what to have for lunch? What if pizza always won? Would that be fair to those who vote for chicken? How could the chicken voters influence some of the pizza voters to switch? And how could a compromise work here? 2011 Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

9 Voting Machines Then and Now Because the Constitution gives states the job of running elections, voting in the United States has developed into a patchwork of manual, mechanical, and electronic balloting. Many methods common in the past are still used in some places today. This wooden ballot box was used in the northeastern United States and dates from about Innovations in ballot box design were intended to ensure an honest vote. The Acme, an improvement upon the open-slot box, has a tabulator activated by a lever mechanism that releases the ballot into the box. The Acme was manufactured in Bridgewater, Connecticut, about Exercise: Make a Ballot Box 1. Using simple materials like cardboard and tape, make a ballot box for your classroom 2. Talk about ways you can vote anonymously (so that no one knows what your vote was). 3. Use the voting box to make decisions about how you will do things in class How do you want to line up for recess? What do you want to do every day right before dismissal? How do you want to solve conflicts between members of your class? 2011 Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

10 2011 Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

11 From 1898 through the early 1960s, the gear-and-lever voting machine was promoted as an ideal voting technology. Though its internal mechanism changed over the years, the machine's "three steps to vote" never changed: booth. Pull the handle to close the curtains of the Turn the voting levers over the names of your chosen candidates to expose the Xs. Pull the handle back to register your vote and reopen the curtains. Touch-screen voting demonstration, Arlington, Virginia, February 10, Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

12 The Puppets The Hudson Vagabond Puppets make all their own puppets for use in their musical productions. Here s a short guide to the different kinds of puppets they use. Can you tell which types were used in Guess Who Signed the Constitution? Rod Puppets -- This type of puppet has its head mounted firmly to a stick. In this case -- a very long stick, which then rests in a flag pole holder around the neck of the puppeteer. Turning the stick controls the head. Sometimes there are sticks attached to the hands of the puppet and the puppeteer uses them like chopsticks to move the puppet s hands. Body Puppets -- Just as a hand puppet uses your hand, a body puppet uses all of you -- the puppeteer is inside the puppet. Bunraku -- HVP often borrows certain techniques from the Japanese Bunraku style of puppetry. The puppeteers dress in black and hold the puppets in front of them. In the Japanese Bunraku puppet companies, three puppeteers manipulate each puppet. HVP modified this to use just one. We attached the puppet's feet to the puppeteer s feet, so the puppets can walk, dance -- and climb trees with the puppeteer Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_

13 Exercise: Make a puppet show about a debate. 1. Using a stiff piece of paper or a file folder, pinch a mouth with your hand. 2. Fold the paper up to make the top of the head and down to make the chin. 3. Draw first, then cut out the shape of the head. Cut out the sides of the mouth 4. Cut slits in the paper so you can form the head into a sphere. Cover the slits with masking tape. Use a second file folder to form the back of the head and tape them back together. Make sure you can still open and close the mouth. 5. Draw in the eyes, nose, and hair. If you have time you can make 3 dimensional elements: spoons for eyes, a paper nose glued on, hair made out of yarn or string. A felt hat 6. Talk about the debate. Make sure it has a clear idea, some conflict that needs to be addressed, and give each character a point of view. Put a joke or two in, without being mean. Discuss a couple of possible endings. 7. Hiding your body behind a desk, use the puppets to improvise the story for the rest of the class, moving the mouths of the puppets when you talk. Have someone film the debate so you can watch what you did Hudson Vagabond Puppets..Guess Who Signed the Constitution Study Guide_v1_