Mt. Carmel - St. Anthony School

Ms. Melone

Grade 5

Picture it, Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 1770’s. You are a part of a community that is trying to forge a new nation. Even though your government is made up of the British monarchy of King George III, it doesn’t seem to matter, because to you, everyone seems to be working toward creating a new way of life and the freedoms that go along with it. As colonists, you have been loyal to England’s rule, but recently your friend has been arrested for an unexplainable act of treason. All of a sudden, it has become clear that the British have been making laws that affect your freedom. You and your friends have decided to wage a protest in response to your friend’s conviction to let the British know that these laws are an invasion of your rights as citizens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Your fellow colonists called these laws The Intolerable Acts.

Help defend the civil liberties of your fellow citizens!

As you begin to ponder this information, you ask yourself the following questions, “What made the British impose these laws?” and “How did the colonists feel when the Intolerable Acts violated their civil liberties?” Your role is to assume the identity of a Massachusetts Bay colonist during the 1770’s and create a front-page newspaper story reporting on the injustices that are taking place. You will also evaluate how well the actions of the colonists provided a solution to the enforcement of these laws.

Your task will be to create a front-page newspaper story that reports on the lack of civil liberties during this time period. You will use Sierra Print Artist to create a template for the news article, as well as images that depict historical protests during the 1770’s.

You will gather your information from the Internet, textbooks, notes or any other reference material that is available to you in order to create one of the following projects listed below:

A factual news article: this article describes a major news event from the time. The article should outline what happened in detail, who was involved, where it happened and what the causes of the event were. The article must be written from the viewpoint of a person who actually witnessed or took part in the event. Did Samuel Adams actually take part in the Boston Tea Party? If so, what article would he have written about it?

An editorial on the event: An editorial expresses a person opinion on an event or topic. The opinion should be based on historical fact. The opinion should reflect what people actually thought at that time rather than your own personal opinion on the topic. The opinion you express may reflect what actually comes true as history unfolds, or it can reflect an alternate history that did not come true. The opinion must be based on some historical document.

The Biography: This article sheds some light on the role individuals played in the development of our government. The person would be considered one of the founding fathers and mothers of our nation. It must include a statement on his or her role in the way the event took place. It should not tell when the person was born or died since the newspaper writer of the time would not have known when the person died. You should include a list of Internet links on your biography so that web page viewers can find other resources on the person you discussed. You should also include hand-drawn or publicly available web graphics as part of the newspaper. You might want to call this section “Colonist In the Spotlight” or something like that.

An advertisement: This article can be a drawing or an announcement that is appropriate to the event or the time period. It can also take the form of a tabloid article that spreads rumors or sensational information about an event or person. Such an article might target the British or Loyalists, or it may rail against the views of the Anti-federalists or Federalists. Your ad can include some thing that has been drawn, traced, or developed on the computer. It should use a font that looks like old-time writing used during the colonial or revolutionary period.

All of the articles should be written in the English used at the time, and we will be looking at newspapers to see how they report the news and include ads and editorials.

You will use the information gathered in your research to complete the steps listed in the American History Public Policy Analysis (AHPPA). These steps will help you to identify the causes of the Intolerable Acts, as well as the actions that the colonists took in response to them, and help you to organize your research. To access the steps, click on the following categories below:

1. Identify the Problem

2. Gather your Evidence

3. Determine the Cause of the Problem

4. Evaluate the Policy

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/intolerable.htm

http://www.kidport.com/RefLib/UsaHistory/AmericanRevolution/IntolerableActs.htm#The%20Acts

http://www.usfca.edu/fac-staff/conwell/revolution/congress.htm

http://www.historywiz.com/intolerable.htm

http://www.cyberlearning-world.com/lessons/ushistory/rev.reading.notes/rev.reading.notes4a.htm

http://www.sfsocialstudies.com/

http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Use of Primary Sources	Reading of primary source material was thorough.	Reading of primary source material was fairly thorough.	Reading of primary source material was incomplete.	Reading of primary source material was not done.
Articles - Purpose	90-100% of the articles establish a clear purpose in the lead paragraph and demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic.	85-89% of the articles establish a clear purpose in the lead paragraph and demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic.	75-84% of the articles establish a clear purpose in the lead paragraph and demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic.	Less than 75% of the articles establish a clear purpose in the lead paragraph and demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic.
Articles - Supporting Details	The details in the articles are clear, effective, and vivid 80-100% of the time.	The details in the articles are clear and pertinent 90-100% of the time.	The details in the articles are clear and pertinent 75-89% of the time.	The details in more than 25% of the articles are neither clear nor pertinent.
Articles - Interest	The articles contain facts, figures, and/or word choices that make the articles exceptionally interesting to readers.	The articles contain facts, figures, and/or word choices that make the articles interesting to readers.	The article contains some facts or figures but is marginally interesting to read.	The article does not contain facts or figures that might make it interesting to read.
Layout - Headlines & Captions	All articles have headlines that capture the reader's attention and accurately describe the content. All articles have a byline. All graphics have captions that adequately describe the people and action in the graphic.	All articles have headlines that accurately describe the content. All articles have a byline. All graphics have captions.	Most articles have headlines that accurately describe the content. All articles have a byline. Most graphics have captions.	Articles are missing bylines OR many articles do not have adequate headlines OR many graphics do not have captions.
Graphics	Graphics are in focus, are well-cropped and are clearly related to the articles they accompany.	Graphics are in focus and are clearly related to the articles they accompany.	80-100% of the graphics are clearly related to the articles they accompany.	More than 20% of the graphics are not clearly related to the articles OR no graphics were used.
Requirements	All of the required content was present.	Almost all the required content was present.	At least 75% of the required content was present.	Less than 75% of the required content was present.

New York State Learning Standards:

Social Studies #’s 1,4 5

Language Arts #’s 1,2,3

Art #’s 1,2

At the end of this project, you will be an expert on The Intolerable Acts and their impact upon the civil liberties of early Americans. You will also be more fluent with different computer programs and how they are used to create classroom projects.