This unit is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. By studying primary sources of a crucial turning point in history, students become aware that choices had to be made by real human beings, that those decisions were the result of specific factors, and that they set in motion a series of historical consequences. The First Amendment guarantees each citizen's right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Within months after Congress sent the Bill of Rights to the states for ratification in 1789, antislavery forces took full advantage of this fundamental liberty. By doing so, they provoked Congressional debates so stormy that within 18 months of the Constitution's ratification the House of Representatives already rang with the dire threat of civil war. The United States was born with the problem of conflicting sectional interests, and this unit is designed to reveal that the debate over slavery, the most heated example of sectionalism, began almost immediately after ratification of the Constitution. This unit documents the first Congressional debates over slavery and raises for students the fundamental political questions regarding this national issue which remained significant through 1860. At the same time, the debates themselves refer frequently to the key political controversies of the 1790's, demonstrating that slavery was not debated in a political vacuum. Lesson plans include: (1) predicting political behavior; (2) accounting for political behavior in the 1790 and 1800 debates; and (3) evaluation of arguments. Contains 5 references. (Author/DK)