Mr. Coleman’s junior students in AP US History spent time participating in a mock trials between federalists and antifederalists. The trial taught students about the formation and ratification of the constitution and lasted for three days. Students were either lawyers or witnesses, and some students got into the role by dressing up.

One junior class in particular, Mr. Coleman’s third period, presented a strong case.   The two lawyers for the federalists were Jack Aragona and Carson Brizzee, and the antifederalists were Hannah Mevi and Parker Smith. 

The trials consisted of opening statements from the federalists first and then the antifederalists.  The federalist brought forth their witnesses and the antifederalist cross examined them. The first witness, Quentin Barcellos, started off the chain of events that would lead to an astounding trial.

The second witness, Anthony Torres really started the tension between the federalists and antifederalists, as the argument grew from the confirmation of the constitution being a set of laws. The federalist lawyers became increasingly hostile against the antifederalist lawyers, to the point of stepping out the time setting to confirm a fact. It was the first of the heated argument.

As the trial proceeded, the witnesses were cross examined by the antifederalist lawyer and had effectively dragged the witnesses down from their prepared questions, into facts that witnesses did not know. One witness, Bianca Rocha, however did remain calm during a cross examination from Smith.

The second phase became the center ground of intense arguments, and the crowd became increasingly involved with the performance. The judge Mr. Coleman, even had to calm the crowd before they became louder because they felt the arguments were irrelevant, and the cross examination questions were too getting difficult to answer from the witness. The lawyers were the most vocal of the arguments with fact checks every chance they got.

The third and final phase had the lawyers give their closing statement, with the antifederalists giving the statements first. After the antifederalists, the federalists gave their closing statement, both had a tough tie and became a close vote based on the jury and judge. The federalists were ultimately the winners of a long heated trial on the ratification of the constitution.

Mr. Coleman seemed satisfied with the trials, and said third period was,  “A close one” and students with trials over were relieved of the project they accomplished.