Maura Bisceglia Collegiate Lower School Richmond, Virginia Maura Bisceglia teaches third grade at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia. She has developed economic education lesson plans and teaching activities.

Objectives Students discover that people become resentful when they feel that their rights as citizens are not respected. Students learn the history and attempted enforcement of the English legislation to reduce England´s debt and to pay for ongoing administration and protection of the Colonies. Students discover the effects of English legislation and describe the forms of protest that occurred in the Colonies. Students provide examples from the 1760s to show their understanding of the following economic concepts: import, export, interdependence, tax, debt, profit, monopoly, scarcity, expense, and boycott. Time Required One week Materials Plastic bag of coins equaling one dollar for each student — either real money or student-designed Classroom chart with new rules for the class (for use in the simulation) Additional chart paper Rubber stamp and stamp pad Collection basket (with coins to make change) Pencils A few pieces of wrapped candy A snack for each child Liberty! How the Revolutionary War Began, by Lucille Recht Penner, Random House, July 2002 Handout 1 — It Happened Because … Cause and Effect Chart Handout 2 — Economic Terms Card Game

Overview

Economic issues are often the catalysts for war. This point can be illustrated by reference to the American Revolutionary War. Before the French and Indian War (1755-1763), people in England's American Colonies generally felt a strong bond of allegiance to the British crown. This feeling was especially strong after the defeat of the French and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. But the mood in the American Colonies changed rapidly when the English Parliament enacted legislation to tax the colonists to reduce England's enormous war debt and to pay for ongoing maintenance and protection of the Colonies. Cries of protest, vandalism, smuggling, riots, and boycotts erupted throughout the Colonies as patriots reacted to each increasingly intolerable English law. In this lesson, students participate in a simulation activity that allows them to gain insight into the frustration and injustice felt throughout the Colonies as Americans were forced to accept taxation without representation.

Teaching Activities

Day 1 — No Taxation Without Representation — A Simulation
Prepare the students by explaining that they will be participating in a pretend activity in order to learn how people who lived in Colonial America might have felt. Instruct the students to bring a plastic bag of coins equaling one dollar, or design their own money as a class activity. Write a letter to parents and send it home to explain the simulation.

On the morning of the simulation, tell the students that there will be new rules in the classroom. These rules are being enforced to help cover the costs of paving and repairing roads that are used by students to get to school each day. The new rules are listed on a chart and should be placed in the front of the room. Read the new regulations as a class and require the class to follow the directions of the new rules before continuing with the usual lessons.

As the usual lessons continue through the morning, the teacher will collect fees, stamp papers, and enforce fines. During the morning, the teacher will give out a few pieces of candy to “loyal” students who are following the rules cooperatively. (Watch carefully to notice if a student is becoming frustrated with the activity, and take him aside to reassure him that this is just pretend.)

Ask a colleague to call on your class and announce the placement of a new student. Place an extra desk or seat in the front of the room, and ask the students to give supplies from their desks to prepare for the new student. Ask one student for her pencil, and require her to purchase a new one for her own use.

At snack time, provide a snack that is not a child-friendly favorite and enforce the new policy. (Some students will refuse to purchase a snack.) By the time the students have experienced the enforced snack, they will be tired of the new rules and you will be tired of enforcing them. End the simulation and allow the students to eat the snack brought from home. Lead the class in a discussion about how the new rules made them feel. The students will tell you they thought it was fun in the beginning to pay for a stamp or a pencil, but it soon became tedious and annoying. They began to question why they had to follow these rules and felt many of them were unfair. (The teacher should acknowledge that it was also hard to enforce the rules.)

List positive and negative reactions on chart paper. One student may point out that he can bring a better and cheaper snack from home. Another student may have forgotten his snack and may therefore have been happy to have one to purchase. Some students may have felt resentment toward those receiving candy as a special treat. Others may have tried to please the teacher in order to receive special privileges.

Explain to the students that what they experienced was similar to some of the feelings the colonists felt after the French and Indian War. People were confused and angry about the decisions of Parliament. They were not sure whether they should obey the new legislation, try to change things by talking to leaders, or fight against unjust laws. In the next lesson, the students will read about this time period and relate it to the simulation.

NEW RULES FOR THE DAY All students must purchase pencils for 25 cents from their teacher to complete any assignments. No other writing tools will be allowed. If pencils are lost, new ones must be purchased. All students must pay one cent for a stamp on each paper that the students give the teacher for academic credit. This includes seatwork, homework, and notes from parents. Students will also need to sign a log and pay for a stamp when they use the restroom or the water fountain. All students will cheerfully provide materials, when asked (from their own desks) if a new student is assigned to their classroom. All students will purchase and eat a snack provided by the teacher. No other snacks will be allowed. All students will pay a fine of one cent for any complaints or outbursts about the new rules. Students who run out of money will be considered in debt and listed on the Most Wanted poster.

Day 2 — Colonial Research
Hang charts across the front of the classroom with the following headings: Purchasing Teacher’s Pencils, Purchasing Stamps for Papers, Providing Materials for New Student, and Purchasing Teacher’s Snack.

Read and discuss Liberty! How the Revolutionary War Began to learn about the economic causes of the American Revolution. Encourage the students to point out parallels between events occurring in the 1760s and aspects of the simulation. Encourage them to see similiarities among people, events, and emotions. As the students make observations, write their observations on the appropriate chart. The students will feel empathetic about the frustrations and sense of injustice the colonists felt.

Incorporate economic concepts into the discussion. Make sure that the students see a relationship of interdependence between England and the American Colonies. Use the following questions for class discussion.

1. What crop did farmers grow in Colonial Virginia that was exported to England? (Tobacco.) If farmers sold their crop for a profit, what could they import from England? (Cloth, china, furniture, tea.)

2. Why was America considered a land of opportunity for the colonists? (People had a chance to work hard and become wealthier and more respected.)

3. What did England send to the Colonies to help win the French and Indian War? (Many soldiers and supplies, which cost them a great deal of money.)

4. Who do you think should have paid for all of the soldiers and supplies needed to defend the Colonies? (Students’ answers will vary.)

5. Why do you think some colonists became angry when they had to provide food and shelter for British soldiers? (Students’ answers will vary.)

6. If you were a British merchant, would you think it was fair that the Colonies had to buy your goods — even if they could be purchased more cheaply from another country? (Students’ answers will vary.)

7. If you were a Colonial merchant, would you have done business with a smuggler? (Students’ answers will vary.)

8. How does the government tax a good? (Legislation is passed to tax goods.)

9. Where did England use the profits from taxed molasses? (Profits from taxed molasses paid back war debt from the French and Indian War.)

10. Why were the colonists so angry with the Stamp Act? After yesterday’s simulation, how do you think you would have felt? (Students’ answers will vary.)

11. What did the colonists decide to do to fight the Townshend Acts? (The colonists boycotted British products such as cloth and tea. The colonists made their own products, e.g., “liberty tea.”)

12. If you were a merchant in England, what would you tell the king to do about the boycott of your goods? Why? (Students’ answers will vary.)

13. If you were a wealthy plantation owner who had family in England, would you be a loyalist or a patriot? Why? (Students’ answers will vary.)

14. If you were a cabinetmaker in Boston who wanted to sell furniture to wealthy colonists, would you be a loyalist or patriot? Why? (Students’ answers will vary.)

Day 3 — It Happened Because …
Organize the students into small groups to work cooperatively to complete the Cause and Effect Chart, HANDOUT 1. This activity will help the students understand that each decision the English Parliament and the colonists made had repercussions, which changed history.

Day 4 — Trading Pairs
Play a game to evaluate the students’ understanding of the economic issues in the 1760s. Cut the cards with the following terms from HANDOUT 2 and place them in a bag: monopoly, interdependence, expense, scarcity, import, export, tax, debt, boycott, and profit. Cut the cards with the clues giving examples of each term and place them in another bag. (Make enough sets so each student has a bag.) Group the students in pairs and give each student a bag. One student reads the clue card describing an event from the 1760s. The other student finds the economic term that matches the event.

When the students have successfully completed matching the cards, they could extend the activity by making up events from modern times which match the economic terms. They could exchange their newly created cards with another pair, and play the game again.

Day 5 — Colonial Creations
Each student should choose to create one of the activities listed in order to demonstrate his or her understanding of the economic causes of the American Revolution.

• Design an ad for tea or another product that would encourage Colonial shoppers to purchase this good, despite the boycott.
• Write a news article about a smuggling incident; describe what occurred when the ship was caught, including the punishments imposed on the smugglers.
• Design a quilt pattern using fabric shapes that might have been made by a Colonial American woman to show her patriotism.
• Design a British stamp and an American stamp. Write instructions to explain how each should be used.
• Make a poster from the Sons of Liberty that describes what will happen to a loyalist who purchases British goods or works to help enforce British laws.
• Write a letter to the royal governor explaining what you have had to provide for the British soldier in your home, and why you think the Quartering Act is fair or unfair.

Allow the students to present their work; proudly display the students’ projects.

Conclusion

Using a simulation activity to introduce concepts immediately engages children’s interest. They are able to relate their experiences to events that occur in a different time or place, and begin thinking analytically about the issues they have confronted. In this lesson students learn that taxation without representation caused conflict; however, in other lessons students learn why people pay taxes. History and economics come alive, and students relate the importance of what they have discovered to their own world.

 

Economic Concepts Boycott   Refusal by consumers to buy the goods or services of a firm (country). Debt   Something owed, especially money. Expense   A cost incurred. Export   Goods or services produced domestically and sold abroad. Import   Goods or services produced abroad and sold domestically. Interdependence   Mutually dependent. Monopoly   A market with only one seller. The single seller makes all of the price, quantity, and quality decisions concerning goods and services. Profit   Income earned by a business. The extra money a business keeps from sales after paying all its costs. Scarcity   The condition that results because people’s wants are relatively unlimited and the resources available to satisfy those wants are relatively limited. This condition forces people to make choices. Tax   A contribution for the support of a government required of persons, groups, or businesses.