Homework for Friday's class

Please read pages 159-166 in your textbook, and answer the following questions:

• What were the characteristics of the men who met at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia? What were their socio-economic backgrounds?
• What were the main positions of the Virginia and New Jersey Plans?
• How did the Great Compromise draw from those Plans?
• How did sectionalism and the issue of slavery influence the Constitution?
• List the provisions and the underlying principles of the U. S. Constitution.
• Explain the ongoing debate between historians over the motives of the men who framed the American Constitution.
• How has the debate over the origins of the Constitution mirrored the debate over the causes of the American Revolution?