by Kate Melchior, MHS, and Patrick McGravey, North Andover MS

Every year, the MHS awards the Kass Teacher Fellowship to one or more K-12 educators. The is designed to offer K-12 teachers the opportunity to focus on historical research that will support their classroom efforts, discovering new primary sources to use in their classroom and deepening their understanding of history and humanities.

In 2021, Patrick McGravey of North Andover Middle School in North Andover, MA was awarded a Kass Fellowship to pursue research into North Andover resident William Symmes Jr and his role casting what was possibly the key vote that led to the ratification of the US Constitution. Patrick spent several months pouring through the MHS archives discovering primary sources for educators to use when teaching the history of civic action in Massachusetts.  Read about Patrick’s research experience and his findings at the MHS:

Civics in Action from the William Symmes Jr. Experience

Patrick McGravey, Grade Eight Civics, North Andover Middle School

In the fall of 1996, I began my teaching career at the North Andover Middle School which is in a New England community chock full of history from the colonial, revolutionary, and constitutional time periods. As I walked into the building that had just been newly renovated, I noticed a large banner that said, “Symmes House” which was obviously the name of the wing where my first classroom would be located named after someone of great importance. Growing up in this town, I had never heard of this name and as I asked around no one could tell me its overall significance including the building principal. It was twenty years later when I was reading an article about the annual Town Meeting where I saw that name again as the Manager of Town Meeting was dedicating part of the program to this man that had eluded me decades ago. It turns out that William Symmes Jr. was a representative at the Massachusetts 1788 Nomination Convention for the US Constitution who went against his constituents and voted yes for its approval. This became part of something that historians call the “Massachusetts Compromise” which was made up of an addition of a Bill of Rights combined with the US Constitution that eventually led to its unanimous adoption by all thirteen states.

This ratification process would eventually become part of my new curriculum in 2018 when my grade eight course went from U.S. History I to an intensive year of Civics based on a change in the Massachusetts History and Social Science Frameworks. It was a very exciting time for my students and I as we were creating something new together that would eventually have great meaning to them as civically engaged adults. Part of my instruction was to have various civic actors come into my classroom including the Town Manager who told the story of William Symmes Jr. to all of my students who were riveted with the overarching question of was this man a hero that helped bring about the ratification of the US Constitution by leading a group of voting members to change their positions impacting history forever or was he a villain who went against the wishes of his fellow townspeople who had instructed him to vote no on this crucial issue?

It was just a few years later that I received an email from the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) about offering the 2021- 2022 Kass Teacher Fellowship which would “offer an opportunity to focus on historical research that would fill a knowledge gap and address a need in the curriculum.” After my application and eventual acceptance, I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to explore this topic further and have a wide variety of resources available directly connected to the 1788 Massachusetts Ratification Convention for the US Constitution and possibly the story of William Symmes Jr. What follows is a story that truly impacted me as a civic educator and strongly presents evidence that the MHS is one of the best places for all educators to learn from materials and resources that are easily accessible which can be used in multiple ways to interact with students learning both Civics and U.S. History.

After having my preliminary meeting with staff from the MHS, I immediately found two online resources created by them which were websites dedicated to the 1788 Massachusetts Ratification Conference. This was an amazing place to start with a detailed examination of this process which is not always covered in such an impressive manner. The website was so user friendly with a multitude of artifacts digitized and only a click away for the researcher. I was able to find a map of communities across Massachusetts that detailed their votes on ratification, newspapers from the week on the Ratification Convention, and a voting register with all of the members that were present including Symmes. I was so excited to not only be researching Symmes but also gaining knowledge about the ratification of the US Constitution process which will now become an integral part of my Civics course.

After just a few hours of research, I was able to find North Andover which was called Andover on the map detailing the overall votes (unrecorded due to a clerical error), a newspaper article from this time period that actually quoted Symmes, and the voting register with his “Yes” vote written in black ink. This was such an exciting and quickly developing process and personalized all that I was doing within my research of this topic as well as this man. At this point, I realized that William Symmes Jr.  was not just an isolated learning topic and experience for my students but rather an integral part of my curriculum unit on the ratification of the US Constitution. I could now literally bring Symmes into my classroom showing my students that he played a huge role in this process as he was quoted on the front page of the newspaper and went on record as voting for ratification going against his constituents at the Massachusetts convention.

In addition, I was able to find his speech against ratification at the beginning of the convention and a second speech a few days later advocating for approval with the stipulation that a Bill of Rights would be added to the US Constitution which eventually became a development in other states’ ratification deliberations. This could not be more clear evidence that this organization not only knows its history but is on a mission to make it accessible to educators and students in interactive and meaningful ways which I was experiencing throughout this fellowship.

In the fall of 2021, I was actually able to visit the MHS library and do authentic research with the artifacts themselves which was a huge highlight for me especially with the COVID 19 restrictions over the past year and a half. The staff was so diligent both before and during my visit. The ABIGAIL request system was such an efficient experience and I was able to find even more resources including books about this topic, newspapers from this time period which actually quoted Mr. Symmes and the official voting ledger from the Convention with his signature and “Yes” vote right in front of my eyes. I was able to take a video of this that I will share with all of my students to deeply personalize this moment. I strongly encourage all of my fellow educators to not only use the resources of the MHS but to also apply for all of these multiple fellowships where you will have rewarding experiences and opportunities like the one I went through and be treated like a historian with access to so many resources along with the impressive knowledge and expertise of the staff.

I was also able to find more information about William Symmes in follow up research within college textbooks about this time period where actual chapters were dedicated to this man that I had no knowledge of years ago. I also found a periodical that documented a series of lectures in Andover and North Andover entitled a “Memorial Discourse on William Symmes, Esq” that took place in the winter months of 1859- 1860 asking history to take another look at this historical figure. The central theme of these highly attended talks was that Symmes was someone that was courageous who did the right thing for his community and should be revered in the history of the Andovers not vilified as someone that went against the wishes of his constituents.

In addition, I made a new connection with the North Andover Historical Society to learn even more about this topic and controversial local historical figures. One important part of this story was the reaction of Symmes’ constituents to his voting change which was described in one publication as “for his perfidy, Symmes’ constituents retired him from public life.” In my research, I learned that he left Andover with his successful law practice to move up north to Portland, Maine which was then part of Massachusetts. This then led me back to the MHS where I was able to find two speeches that Symmes had made to his new community with one being on the twenty third anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1797 which was a few years before his death in 1807. Once again, an opportunity presented itself for my students to learn the “What Happens Next ” as part of this remarkable story of history where Symmes was able to move on, form another successful law practice and proudly serve as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives as well as a School Committee member for his new community in Portland.

As I wrap up my research for this fellowship, I am now working on a curriculum unit about the ratification of the US Constitution making Symmes the centerpiece of this historical event. I am also inviting the Manager of Town Meeting back into my classroom to facilitate a debate on the legacy of William Symmes Jr for  my students. In addition, my students and I are going to work together on a mini Civic Action Project to rededicate the Symmes wing in a more meaningful way to guarantee that all members of our school community now know who this man was and the impact that he had not only on the community of North Andover but on the legacy of the United States. These meaningful and engaging experiences for my students and I could not have taken place without this fellowship as well as the impressive work of the Massachusetts Historical Society as an organization. They clearly want to not only keep history alive in all of our minds but also make it accessible for all, proving that we are all “historians” and deserve to be treated in this manner with access to incredible resources in a way that is both welcoming and meaningful at the same time.