RUNKLE SCHOOL 7 T H GRADE SIMULATION

The Election of 1800

The Players and Their Parts

Candidate 7-A 7-B

Thomas Jefferson Lanie, Emma, Henry M., Skye

Jordon, Maya M., Gideon, Patrick

Charles Pinckney Giliana, Alex, Sam, Wolf

Patricia, Maya W., Adri, Loren, Wilkania

John Adams Josh, Isaac, Brian, Jasmine

Elyana, Nicholas, Maddie, Fiona

John Jay Matthew, Ruby, Conor, Katie S.

Carson, Kayla, Anita, Anna

Aaron Burr Henry S., Thomas, Phoebe, Devin

Pablo, Evan, Justin, Sofi, Katie B.

The Steps for the Simulation

Register to vote Campaign prep for primaries in groups Hold Primaries (Select a candidate from each political party) Hold National Conventions for both parties (Candidates announced) Eighth graders will “register to vote” and choose political party General/Popular Election (Eighth grade will vote within their political party

based on posters and pamphlets) Electoral College Votes (7/8 teachers will represent the Electoral College- each

of the 16 states will be weighted based on how many Electoral Votes those states had in 1800)

Each party will prepare an Inaugural Address for its candidate (choose one member from the group to read the speech)

Inauguration Day (January 6 in real life) where the certificates will be handed in by the Electoral College to the President (Ms. Hubert!) and I will read them aloud.

New President Elect (the winner!) will read their Inaugural Address to the class We will discuss and compare and contrast our results to what really happened

historically- in other words who was the real third president!

Register to Vote

Each state has a different set of directions for registering to vote and participating in Primaries

In Massachusetts you do not need to declare a political party when you register

If you do declare a political party to align with, you can only vote in the Primary Election of that political party (If you register as a Democrat, you can only vote in the Democratic Primary)

The system of only being able to vote in the Primary of your registered party is called a “Closed Primary” and it is the system used by most states

Eighth graders in this simulation MUST choose a political party before voting and may ONLY vote in the Primary Election of that political party (This is a “Closed Primary”)

The Primaries

There are many people who would like to become President. Each of these people has their own ideas about how our government should work. Some of these people can belong to the same political party. That's where primaries and caucuses come in.

In these elections, party members get to vote for the candidate that will represent their party in the upcoming general election.

Primaries Preparation

Your goal is to get your candidate chosen- FIRST to represent their political party and SECOND- to become the third president of the United States.

As a group please complete the following steps for this initial phase of the process: Identify political party of candidate (Use your book this needs to be accurate) Find relevant personal information about candidate:

Family, religion, political history, etc. Things that would be good publicity Things opponents might say that you should be prepared to defend or rebut

Identify position of candidate on key issues of the election: The desire to have a closer relationship with France or Britain The legality of the Alien and Sedition Acts States rights versus Federal power

Identify advantages of your candidate over other candidates in your political party (think what the American people would want)

Create a campaign poster or pamphlet that may include some or all of the above. Write a speech for your candidate that may include some or all of the above.

** REMEMBER that the above should be COMPELLING pieces of campaign material as well as informative.

Who’s Voting and When

General Election

All 8th Graders will

vote

Democratic-Republican Primary Only 8th Graders who chose this political party will vote One winner will be chosen

Federalist PrimaryOnly 8th Graders who chose this political party will voteOne winner will be chosen

Electoral CollegeTeachers

representing the 16 states will

vote

The Primaries- Choosing a Political Party

Less Central Government, more States Rights

Support of France, who helped us in our Revolution, and is going through a similar Revolution

The Alien and Sedition Acts are Wrong

Rebellions are a good thing

Democratic-

Republican Platform

Strong Central Government

Support of Great Britain, our Mother country and financial partner

The Alien and Sedition Acts are Right

Rebellions weaken our country and create divisions

Federalist

Platform

The Primaries

There are 53 8th graders voting in our electionAccording to the very first census (organized by

Secretary of State at the time Thomas Jefferson: The population in 1800 was just under 4,000,000 people

How many people do you think voted in the real election of 1800?

What percentage of the population votes today?After the 8th graders vote, we will have one

Democratic-Republican candidate and one Federalist candidate

National Conventions

At our National Conventions the candidates that won in the Primaries should: Give a speech accepting the nomination and declaring

what the party platform is and what you would do as president

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Democratic-Republican National Convention

Winner of the 7-A Group: Thomas JeffersonThe 7-B Group had a tie in their Democratic-Republican

Primary. (Thomas Jefferson OR Charles Pinckney) When there is a tie SUPER DELEGATES DECIDE the candidate Super Delegates in our simulation will be members of the team whose

candidate was not nominated. Super Delegates are simply "unpledged voters." Their vote

represents their own choice, rather than the wishes of the voters, and these unpledged delegates can pledge their votes as they see fit.

Super Delegates have to consider how to use their votes carefully. They may: Vote in step with how the voters in the majority of states voted Vote in line with Democratic voters nationwide Vote in favor of the candidate with the most pledged delegates, even if it

is just a slim majority.

Democratic-Republic Tie Results

After the Super Delegates voted, the winner of the Democratic-Republican Primaries was Charles Pinckney

Federalist National Convention

Winner of the 7-A Group: John AdamsWinner of the 7-B Group: John Adams

The General Election

Now all of the 8th graders will vote for one of the two candidates

In the General Election, it doesn’t matter what political party you align with, you can vote for either candidate

Your campaign prep should include Selling your candidate and all of their positive things Showing why the other candidate is not what’s best for the

country

The ELECTORAL COLLEGE WILL CONSIDER THE OPINION OF THE MAJORITY WHEN MAKING THEIR DECISION

The States and Their Representation in the Electoral College

The number of Electors each state sends to the Electoral College is based on the number of Representatives they have in the House plus their 2 Senators in Congress

The number of Representatives in the House is determined by the state’s population

The higher the number of Electoral Votes a state has the more important it is in the overall outcome of the election

In 1800 there were 138 Electoral Votes, in our election there are 16 Based on the Electoral Votes from 1800 each state in our simulation

has been assigned a certain number of Electoral Votes In order to win our election you have to get at least 9 Electoral

Votes (the majority) The Electors must consider the following to decide their vote:

The outcome of the popular election The campaigns of each candidate

The Math Behind the Simulated Electoral College

VT- had 4/138 Electoral Votes in 1800=3%; 3% of the 16 Electoral Votes in our simulation is 0.5

NH-6/138=4%; 4% of 16=0.75 MA-16/138=12%; 2 RI- 4/138=3%; 0.5 NY- 12/138=9%; 1.5 CT-9/138=7%; 1 PA- 15/138=11%; 1.75 NJ- 7/138=5%; 0.75 DE- 3/138=2%; 0.25 MD- 10/138=7%; 1 VA-21/138=15%; 2.5 KY-4/138=3%; 0.25 TN-3/138=2%; 0.25 NC-12/138=8%; 1.25 SC-8/138=6%; 1 GA-4/138=3%; 0.5

Electoral Votes of 2012

Electoral Votes of 1800

General/Popular Elections Results to be Considered by Electoral College

7-A Election: John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson Popular Vote Winner: Thomas Jefferson Jefferson: 21 Votes Adams: 13 Votes

7-B Election: John Adams vs. Charles Pinckney Popular Vote Winner: John Adams Adams: 13 Votes Pinckney: 6 Votes

The States and the Electoral College

VermontBrady

0.5 Electoral Votes

New HampshireWeiss

0.75 Electoral Votes

MassachusettsPelton

2 Electoral Votes

Rhode IslandLown

0.5 Electoral Votes

New YorkMurphy

1.5 Electoral Votes

ConnecticutSneider

1 Electoral Votes

PennsylvaniaBoyle

1.75 Electoral Votes

New JerseyBrown

0.75 Electoral Votes

DelawareGaston

0.25 Electoral Votes

MarylandOrtiz

1 Electoral Votes

VirginiaLass

2.5 Electoral Votes

KentuckyMcTaggart

0.5 Electoral Votes

TennesseeHubert

0.25 Electoral Votes

North CarolinaSchultz

1.25 Electoral Votes

South CarolinaSnyder

1 Electoral Votes

GeorgiaGalanopoulos

0.5 Electoral Votes

Electoral College

The winner needs to obtain at least 9 of the 16 Electoral Votes to win the Presidency

Each state is weighted differently and some are worth more than others

Winner Announced

7-A Electoral College Votes: Jefferson 12.25 Adams 3.75

7-B Electoral College Votes: Pinckney Adams

Inauguration Day