Rules for Mock Confederation Congress

1. Speakers will raise hands before speaking, and the

moderator (teacher) will call upon that student.

2. Each side will speak one at a time, meaning that a federalist

will speak then an antifederalist will speak and so on.

3. Each student will speak at least once unless you have been

chosen or volunteered for a larger speaking role.

4. Each student will read from the script for dialogue during

meeting.
5. The participants will take activity seriously since it is a

learning experience, and it should be treated as such.

6. Have fun with it! The more you get into it not only will it

be more fun, BUT youll learn a lot more too!

Script for Mock Confederation Congress

Moderator: Welcome everyone to this meeting of the

Constitutional Convention. Now first and foremost we

 must select our president for the convention. Who would

possibly be the best possible choice to be the president of

the convention?
Alexander Hamilton: I nominate General George

Washington to be the president for the convention!

James Madison: I second that!
Moderator: I have a nomination for General Washington

on the floor. Do I hear any other nominations? No? All in

favor of General Washington

Everyone: AYE!!
Moderator: The ayes have it. General Washington you

are now the president of the Constitutional Convention. If

you could please take your seat here sir, we can begin. We

shall start with opening remarks from the Federalist

speaker, Mr. Alexander Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton the floor

is yours.
Alexander Hamilton: Now gentlemen of the congress and

General Washington we need to find a new solution of

 guidelines for our government. We are a new a country

after all, and so far the Articles of Confederation are not

panning out the way we had hoped. I believe that we need

to focus more power on our central government. The

Federalist Papers do lay out our groundwork for such a

government. Mr. Madison, Mr. Jay, and I believe that most

the power does need to be held within our central

government.
Moderator: Thank you Mr. Hamilton. Now gentlemen of

not only are we discussing how the control of powers

should be handled today, but we also need to decide

whether or not to amend the current Articles of

Confederation or dismiss them all together. So let us keep

the second part of that in mind when you are making your

argument. Now let us hear from the antifederalist

representative, Samuel Adams.

 Samuel Adams: General Washington and gentlemen of the

congress. We believe that Mr. Hamilton makes a

compelling argument, but if any of you have read our

published pamphlet written by Mercy Otis Warren,

Observations on the New Constitution, you can clearly

see that we believe that too much power lies within the

central government. Now forming our new government we

believe that some power does need to lie within the central

government, but the states should have power to govern

themselves. We also feel that we need to protect the rights

of individual citizens.
John Jay: If I may interject General Washington.
George Washington: Proceed.
John Jay: Thank you General Washington. Gentlemen did

we not just have this debate over the Virginia Plan and New

Jersey Plan? Did we not just debate over how the

government should be up? I ask you simply because we

 were able to reach a compromise with the Connecticut

Compromise.
Federalists: Excelsior!!
George Mason: Yes we did, but that was merely to

establish the representation of each state not how much

control our government should have. We antifederalists

may not be as well organized as you federalists, but our

side has just as much of a say in this as you do. I myself

refuse to sign until I feel that the bill of individual rights is

agreed upon by everyone.

Antifederalists: Here, Here!!!
Moderator: Order! We shall have order! (bangs on

podium) We seem to be getting slightly heated, but both

sides have made compelling arguments. General

Washington do you care to add anything?

George Washington: Let us take a moment and think

about both sides of this argument. I say that we should

decide on the set-up of the government at a later time, and

 vote now on whether or not to amend the Articles of

Confederation.
Moderator: I concur General Washington. If there is no

other business to bring before the congress, we shall

proceed to vote. All in favor of amending the Articles of

Confederation..(2 Federalists & 3 Antifederalists raise

hands). All in favor of abandoning the Articles and

establishing a constitution.(Everyone else raises hands).

It appears that the vote for abandoning the Articles has

passed. General Washington do have any closing remarks

before we officially close the meeting?

George Washington: I do not.
Moderator: With no further business to be presented we

shall now officially close this meeting to reconvene at a

date to be decided upon later. Go now in the spirit of new

countrymen, and know that we have done excellent work

here today. Meeting is adjourned!