Creating the New Nation: Constitutional Development
Speaker
Barbara Terzian, Professor of History, Ohio Wesleyan University
Using Primary Sources: The Great Statehood Debate
Overview
The Confederation Congress produced both the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance, allowing for the settlement of America’s frontier. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established the colonial policy of the United States, more specifically the procedures by which an area might be admitted to the Union on an equal basis with the original thirteen states.
This resource disc looks at the origins of this policy in the eighteenth-century context as well as the ways in which it was worked out in the first state admitted under the ordinance; Ohio. The history of Ohio from territory to state models the history of subsequent areas that became American states. As the Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia, some settlers in the Northwest Territory began to chafe under the territorial government, anxious to determine their own constitutional government. Others urged caution and patience. This CD contains a selection of primary source material from the Ohio Historical Society related to the struggle for statehood
Primary Source Activity Materials
Using Primary Sources: Multiple Perspectives: PowerPoint Presentation
Federalists Activity Sheet: pdf file or Word doc
Jeffersonian Republicans Activity Sheet: pdf file or Word doc
Resources
Barnard College: Reacting to the Past – History as Hypothesis
Developed by Mark C. Carnes at Barnard College, this award-winning curriculum requires students to assume roles and engage in history while developing persuasive speech, expository writing, and research skills.
http://www.barnard.columbia.edu/reacting/
Ourdocuments.gov--website that provides text and pdf versions of 100 milestone documents
Our Documents Teacher Sourcebook--Guide to teaching with America's 100 Milestone Documents
