Lesson Plan
The debate over the Assumption Plan and the Bank of the United States: Why did Jefferson disagree with Hamilton?
What are the components of a successful economy? How does an economic system deal with debt?
AP 12th Grade Economics or Government
Standards: AP Macroeconomics I, II, III, IV
Author Information:
Deborah Painter-Plimley
Arizona College Prep-Erie
Chandler
Arizona
Time Needed:
This will vary with the expertise of your student population. My AP Seniors will be assigned the lesson on a Friday and given that weekend and the next week to work on it in class (2 regular and 2 block class periods) and then present formally to the class the subsequent week (1 regular class periods). My students will all have taken AP U.S. History prior to my class.
Overview:
Students will evaluate Jefferson’s ideas about how the early economic system of the United States should function and assess the viability of his ideas about how debt should be handled against the contrast of Hamilton’s Assumption Plan and plan for creating a Bank of the United States while interpreting the constitutionality of Hamilton’s ideas.
SWBAT: analyze and evaluate primary source documents; determine how a successful economic system operates; make predictions and infer outcomes using evidence and critical-thinking and look at the practical application of certain Constitutional clauses as they relate to economics.
At the end of the lesson, students will know:
STEPS: (students will be given the four essential questions to answer over the weekend prior to this warm-up)
Groups will not be critiqued by the same group that they critique.
MATERIALS:
Hamilton’s Papers:
Jefferson’s Papers:
Constitution:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
ASSESSMENTS:
Formative: group critique
Students must successfully answer each point of the four questions
5 points will be given for each successful completion of question requirements
20 points possible; no partial points will be given
Summative: class presentation
Students will be given a copy of the presentation rubric and I will grade them during their presentation
Partial points can be assigned, as the rubric indicates
NOTES/ACCOMMODATIONS:
You may have to adjust the number of class periods used depending upon the size of your classes (mine are small) and/or the level of expertise of your students (mine are all AP college-bound), or due to your curriculum (mine is AP). For on-level students, make the excerpts short and specific. The first class warm-up is for scaffolding and also it is a great time to frontload any unfamiliar vocabulary. It’s the time for you to determine what they need your help with before you turn them loose. This lesson will make some of them uncomfortable because the emphasis is on them and what they can do, but it’s a good intro to Economics and a good review of some Government principles.
You can take two days on the scaffolding and frontloading, if your students need it and you can make the entire process an in-class activity, simply preface with a lecture and discussion and then do the annotations as a class. Skip the final presentation and have groups grade one another with the rubric.
I always assign a reflection as an exit ticket. If you do this, decide what you want to assess. Some examples:
You can give students the option to present in a SHORT Power Point format, but I prefer to allow them to use 7 slides with a visual that correlates with what they are discussing. It keeps them from reading the slides and they can put a 60 second timer on each slide to keep them at 7 minutes. A visual helps them and the class focus.