Lilia Kerski

Lesson Plan: The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists

State Standard/s Addressed:
Standard 11.1 (3) Understand the history of the Constitution after 1787 with emphasis on
federal versus state authority and growing democratization.
Students will work in groups to study a paper from the Federalists or the Anti-Federalists and
will create a list of at least three reasons the authors are either supporting or condemning the
constitution. The groups will then share with the class to make a master list of arguments on both
sides of the debate. The students will then decide if they would have been a Federalist or an
Anti-Federalist and write 3-5 sentences explaining their choice to be turned in at the end of class.

Instructional Procedures
1. Anticipatory Set:
The class will begin with a small slip of paper on each students desk. Once the students
are seated, the teacher will ask the following question: “What do you think the most important
political issue in the United States is today?” The students will take 2 minutes to write their
answer on the paper and pass it to the front. The teacher will read out the answers, and then state:
“today we are going to look at how political debate began in the United States following the
Constitutional Convention, and by the end of class we are going to see how even our
contemporary debates like the ones you all have mentioned have historical roots, and are,
ultimately, the same things we’ve debated for centuries.”

2. Perceived Objective and Rationale

Today, you will learn about the first two political coalitions in the United States, the
Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, and you will understand their beliefs about two key
constitutional issues. At the end of the lesson, you will decide which coalition you agree with
and will be able to explain why, showing knowledge of the beliefs of the coalition.

3. Input:
The teacher will deliver a short lecture on the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists,
including the following information:
● The Articles of Confederation were failing the new nation in many ways: failure to
protect states from angry mobs (Shay’s rebellion), trade wars between states because of
lack of commerce regulations, no power to tax, no executive authority whatsoever, the
league of friendship
● 4 months of drafting the constitution
● Central debate following Constitutional Convention of 1787 followed two major groups:
the federalists and the anti-federalists
● To make their arguments known plainly, they wrote papers to be published in the NY
newspaper
 ○ Why New York? Economic hub of the U.S.
● Federalist papers by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay under the name Publius which means
will of the people
● Anti-Federalist papers by unknown sources under the name Brutus to show standing up
to perceived tyranny
● Date: 1787-1788, Authors, Audience as people of NY, Purpose to convince them to vote
for ratification
○ Need 9/13 states
● Key issues between the two groups included whether or not to include a Bill of Rights,
the roles and statuses of states vis a vis the federal government, the power of the
judiciary, and several others.
○ Today we are going to be focusing on just two debates: the debate about States
Rights and the debate about the Bill of Rights

The teacher will then assign the groups and pass out papers to each group. The teacher
will display a slide with the group assignment on the board that s/he has predetermined. The
groups will have 15-20 minutes to read their assigned paper and compile a list of grievances the
authors had. The students will need to determine whether they are for or against the constitution
(Federalists or Anti-Federalists), what the topic of the paper is covering (it will be either states
rights issues or the Bill of Rights), and why their coalition is arguing for/against the constitution
as it relates to the particular issue. The teacher will circulate throughout the activity to check for
understanding and group participation.

4. Modeling:
After the group activity, the class will come together and each group will share out their
list, and the teacher will write all these things on one master class list on the board as the students
share.

5. Check for Understanding:

The teacher will circulate as the groups are working to make sure the papers are being
understood.

6. Guided Practice:
As a class, a list will be compiled of the notes and observations each group collected. The
teacher will write a 2 column list (Federalists and Anti-Federalists) on the board as the groups
share out to the class. The teacher will supplement any of the points with additional discussion or
information, and will ask further questions of the groups as needed.

7. Independent Practice:
 Students will write 3-5 sentences explaining whether they would have been a Federalist
or an Anti-Federalist in the 18th century, using the information they have learned in class
regarding the ideological views of each side. This will serve as an “exit ticket” before students
leave class.

Closure:
The teacher will recap the class while collecting the exit ticket by saying “Today we have
learned about the political debates that took place after the Constitution was drafted as people
tried to convince citizens to ratify or not to ratify the constitution, and we have seen how even
our contemporary debates like the ones you all have mentioned have historical roots, and are,
ultimately, the same things we’ve debated for centuries.”

Differentiated Instruction:
The teacher will give edited versions of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers to the
students due to the difficulty of the language. The teacher will provide word banks for struggling
readers to accompany each Federalist and Anti-Federalist paper. The teacher will also underline
the main ideas and highlight the topic of the paper in blue. The teacher can further edit some of
the papers for English Learner students by shortening the reading assignment or further
removing some sections. The teacher can provide these papers to English Learners and students
with IEPs the day before the in-class lesson. The teacher will assign groups while carefully
considering the diverse learning needs of the students.