Name:	HR/IG: 	

Date: __________________________________________________________________

Dear fifth graders,
Today, you will prepare one of your position papers for our Mock Constitutional Convention.  Our topic today will be voting rights.  As you write, think about the following questions:
•	Who should be allowed to vote?  Should wealth, gender, race, age, or other issues matter?
•	How long should you have to live somewhere to be permitted to vote?
•	Should the government take away a person’s right to vote as a punishment for crime.
Please think carefully about these issues and choose one as a focus for your position paper.  Complete the t-chart and other activities on the reverse of this paper; they will be collected at the end of class.  To help you, I have included a sample below.  I look forward to hearing your ideas next time we meet.

Take care,
Mr. jeda

Part I: Choose topic focus
Topic Focus: 	
Who should be allowed to vote?	

Part II: List pros and cons (i.e. good points and bad points)
Pros	
Cons	

•	Only white men with property should be allowed to vote because:
o	They have a better education
o	They pay more taxes
o	Many of them have also served in the army

•	Women, non-property owners, people of color, and teenagers should be allowed to vote because:
o	It is more fair
o	The Declaration of Independence states that we are all created equal
o	Many of these people also pay taxes and serve in the army	

Part III: Explain how your delegate might feel about this issue
My delegate is George Washington of Virginia.  Although I disagree with him,	

he would probably have wanted only white men who owned property to vote.  	

He was wealthy and owned slaves, himself.  He also came from Virginia,	

which was a large slave state.	

	

Part IV: Outline my main points
George Washington would argue that only white men with property should	

be allowed to vote for the following reasons:	

•	He had a lot of trust for farmers and business people	

•	He believed that serving in the army was an important part of citizenship	

•	People who pay taxes should do most of the voting	

Part I: Choose topic focus
Topic Focus: 		

Part II: List pros and cons (i.e. good points and bad points)

Pros	Cons	

		

Part III: Explain how your delegate might feel about this issue

	

	

Part IV: Outline my main points