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Race to Ratify

List Teaser
Make your own history! Are you team Federalist or AntiFederalist?

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Learning Objectives

  • Identify the main stances of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists between 1787 and 1789.
  • Understand the key debates surrounding the ratification of the constitution, including an extended republic, the House of Representatives, the Senate, executive power, the judiciary, and a bill of rights.
  • Interact with the ideas, perspectives, and arguments that defined the ratification debate.
  • Explore the many different viewpoints, which spanned geographic regions, populations, and socio-economic class.
  • Identify the building blocks of the proposed Constitution.
  • Engage with competing ideas in order to form an effective and cohesive set of arguments for, or against, ratification within a state.

Overview

Race to Ratify drops your students into 1787, where the ink is still drying on the new Constitution. Will it become the law of the land or will it fall into the dustbin of history? The fate of the young nation is in their hands! Use this game to teach the big ideas at the core of the ratification debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists.

Dive deep into the heated national debate over the future of a radical new plan for the American government and explore big ideas at the core of the ratification debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists.

Students will travel across the 13 states to hear from a diverse and opinionated cast of characters and use what they learn to influence others through the social media of the time...pamphlets. Can your students be ratification influencers?

 

Teacher Tips

The Race to Ratify Extension Pack includes activities and a mini quiz that give the game context and reinforce and assess its concepts. Extension Packs include a downloadable teacher lesson plan, assignable student handout, and instructive Google Slides. Google Slides can be used on projectors or interactive whiteboards.

Multilingual and English learners (ELs/MLs) and Spanish-speaking students: This game offers a decision-support tool, an English voiceover, a contextualized glossary, and a Spanish-language version.

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Assessment
History Connection
Vocabulary
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Tablet/iPad App
Web browser
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PDF
Kami
Google Slides
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Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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