Pennsylvania Paper

For this assignment you will write a five page, double-spaced essay using the directions provided below.  You should utilize the textbook and additional resources to develop a cohesive narrative addressing all parts of the assignment while making sure to properly cite your sources where appropriate.

It is September 17, 1787, and the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has just ended with the signing of documents that will eventually be ratified as the Constitution of the United States of America. You attended the Convention as a delegate, with the responsibility to help negotiate a solution to strengthen the young nation, while also protecting your own state’s needs.

First, select which state you represented at the Constitutional Convention:
-Pennsylvania

Second, familiarize yourself with important plans and turning points from the Constitutional Convention utilizing the textbook and additional resources as necessary:

Articles of Confederation
Virginia Plan
New Jersey Plan
Hamilton’s Plan
Pinckney’s Plan
Connecticut Compromise
The Three-Fifths Compromise
US Constitution (with no amendments yet)
Constitutional Convention
Constitutional Convention Delegates
Third, develop and write your essay utilizing the following questions

Provide a brief historical background of your Pennsylvania up to 1787 (people, economy, colonial rule, key events, etc. discussed in our textbook):
-What state interests did you protect while participating in negotiations at the Convention?
-What other states were your allies at the Convention, and why?
-Did your state take any role during the process of creating the new constitution? If so what?
-Were there any delegates from your state (other than yourself) that were particularly outspoken about how the nation should be formulated?
-What issues were you willing to compromise on to gain some other benefit to your state?
-Did you ultimately support the final documents and sign the Constitution?  Why or why not?

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