Eleven years after the Revolutionary War, the United States held the Constitutional Convention of 1787 where delegates would have a formal meeting for creating a constitution for the United States. Taught to students as an important event in U.S. history classes and part of its humble beginnings, Judy Aronson’s AP US History classes learned about this event in an untraditional manner: by holding a 1787 Constitutional Convention reenactment. 

The goal was to try to recreate that feeling in the reenactment. Students were assigned a delegate and dressed up, acted, and answered questions as that delegate. This gave students the experience to participate in  the arguments presented by “delegates” in a genuine manner and to be spontaneous in their points. To prepare for this, students watched the movie “1776” which portrayed how lively and heated the debates were in the Constitutional Convention. 

“In AP US History, you must learn in a quick manner, and the material we cover is often repetitive,” Ms. Aronson explained. “This experience allowed students to get better memories rather than just reading it,” she said.

Students collaborated with other students that represented the same state in the reenactment, and in many cases, with those outside of their classroom. This provided opportunities for them to think under pressure and improvise.

“Well, at first I was super nervous,” admitted sophomore Lina Kim, “but as the convention went on, I just went with the flow and found myself enjoying it. It was a little silly and maybe a little embarrassing too, to dress up and to wear wigs, but it gave me a really good perspective of my person,” Lina added.

Other sophomores said they also were nervous to start but enjoyed the project, and Ms. Aronson plans to run another Constitutional Convention project next year.