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Boston Tea Party Report
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Summary and Objective
Students will understand about the Boston Tea Party through examining primary sources and historical documents which represent the story of the Tea Party from three different points of view. They will use The American Centuries website, the Boston Tea Party website, and a firsthand description of the events by Robert Session, a Wilbraham, MA native, who participated in the Tea Party.
Teaching Plan
Step 1.
The students will access The American Centuries website, www.memorialhall.mass.edu, and read the Boston Tea Party Report by David Field. Lower elementary students can read this report together as a class.
Step 2.
The students will access the Boston Tea Party website, www.bostonteapartyship.com, and read the section of The Boston Tea Party Gazette of December 16, 1773, which chronicles the events of the evening. Lower elementary students can read this account together as a class.
Step 3.
The students will read a first hand account of the event written by Robert Session, a Wilbraham, MA native and participant in the Tea Party. It is taken from a booklet called "Tea Leaves" compiled by Francis S.Drake and published in Boston by A.O.Crane in 1884. (See next step.) Lower elementary students will read this account as a class.
Step 4.
"I was living in Boston at the time, in the family of Mr. Davis, a lumber merchant as a common laborer. On that eventful evening, when Mr. Davis came in from the town meeting, I asked him what was to be done with the tea. "They are throwing it over board," he replied. Receiving permission I went immediately to the spot. Every thing was as light as day; by the means of lamps and torches, a pin might be seen lying on the wharf. I went on board where they were at work and took hold with my own hands. I was not one of those appointed to destroy the tea, and who disguised themselves as Indians, but was a volunteer, the disguised men being largely men of family and position in Boston, while I was a young man whose home and relations were in Connecticut. The appointed and disguised party proving too small for the quick work necessary, other young men similarly circumstanced with myself, joined them in their labors. The chests were drawn up by a tackle, one man bringing them forward, another putting a rope around them, and others hoisting them to the deck and carrying them to the vessels side. The chests were then opened, the tea emptied over the side and the chests thrown overboard. Perfect regularity prevailed during the whole transaction. Although there were many people on the wharf, entire silence prevailed - no clamor, no talking. Nothing was meddled with, but the teas on board. After having emptied the hold, the deck was swept clean and everything put in its proper place. An officer on board was requested to come up from the cabin and see that no damage was done except to the tea. At about the close of the scene a man was discovered making his way through the crowd with his pockets filled with tea. He was immediately laid hold of and his coat skirts torn off, with their pockets, and thrown into the dock with the rest of the tea. I was obliged to leave the town at once, as it was of course known that I was concerned in the affair."
Step 5.
The class will create a T chart poster which will identify the similarities and differences of the three accounts. The poster will be hung in the classroom.
Step 6.
As a class, we will then discuss how one event can be seen from different points of view. Children will be asked to reflect on how point of view can effect the retelling of a playground problem thus making a connection between history and their everyday lives.
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