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Introduction

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THE UNIT

This unit contains eight lessons that focus on major bills, amendments, & issues debated by the FFC. Most of the lessons are part of an ongoing simulation or, more specifically, mock Congress. The primary goal of the instructional activities is to help students understand some of the roles that Congress plays in our government as illustrated by some of the debates that took place at the First Federal Congress.

The scope of information that is available for students to learn about the FFC is enormous. Fourteen weighty volumes of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress have already been published and three more are in the works.

Logically, therefore, it was not possible to design a unit that covered all of the major issues that confronted the FFC nor was it possible to design a unit that reveals all of the roles that Congress plays in our federal government. The lessons included in this unit offer a sample of what took place over a two year period of time from 1789-1791.
Nevertheless, there is one curricular decision that begs explanation. Perhaps the most significant topic slighted involves the role that the FFC played in giving Americans their Bill of Rights. You will find that Lesson 2 touches tangentially on the FFC’s "amendments" or rights debates but even that lesson’s goals did not include a deep exploration of the Bill of Rights. The decision to limit an examination of the Bill of Rights was a conscious one based on the constraints of time and space as well as a belief that an American student’s understanding of his or her rights and their history is so important that it ought not be overshadowed or possibly blurred by parallel explorations.

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For more information, contact Fran O'Malley by e-mail or phone (302-831-4271 or 302-831-8443).