Lesson Plans:
Town Meeting
Lesson Content
Essential Questions
Overview
Students will explore how society provides for the poor in early 19th-century rural New England as they prepare to participate in the democratic process. The information in this lesson has been developed to use in the classroom prior to a field study at Old Sturbridge Village where students will participate in a mock town meeting.
The material provided is intended as a supplement to a lesson on civic responsibilities and town government. An understanding of how government functions at federal, state, and local levels is helpful and can be used to compare similarities and differences between early nineteenth century government and today’s.
Using primary source documents and information gathered through interviews at Old Sturbridge Village, students prepare for a discussion and vote on whether to continue with the vendue system or to build or purchase a poor farm or workhouse for the poor. Using an 1834 town meeting warrant from Sturbridge, Massachusetts, students synthesize the information they have learned as they put themselves in the place of the local citizens and decide what is best for the town and its poor.
Skills
Students will utilize the following skills:
Grade Level
Upper Elementary, Middle, High School
Goals
Focusing on one issue, poor relief, students explore town government and the issues surrounding the need to provide for those individuals who could not provide for themselves. Students will gain understanding of how democratic values have evolved and the responsibilities the government has for its citizens as well as the responsibilities the citizens have to their government. The link between economics and government becomes evident as student citizens have to think about the costs the town incurs with either system that it employs.
Objectives
Students will:
Assessment
National Standards
- What is the function of a town meeting?
Overview
Students will explore how society provides for the poor in early 19th-century rural New England as they prepare to participate in the democratic process. The information in this lesson has been developed to use in the classroom prior to a field study at Old Sturbridge Village where students will participate in a mock town meeting.
The material provided is intended as a supplement to a lesson on civic responsibilities and town government. An understanding of how government functions at federal, state, and local levels is helpful and can be used to compare similarities and differences between early nineteenth century government and today’s.
Using primary source documents and information gathered through interviews at Old Sturbridge Village, students prepare for a discussion and vote on whether to continue with the vendue system or to build or purchase a poor farm or workhouse for the poor. Using an 1834 town meeting warrant from Sturbridge, Massachusetts, students synthesize the information they have learned as they put themselves in the place of the local citizens and decide what is best for the town and its poor.
Skills
Students will utilize the following skills:
- Interpret and analyze primary source documents
- Develop research skills
- Conduct interviews
- Develop historical understanding
Grade Level
Upper Elementary, Middle, High School
Goals
Focusing on one issue, poor relief, students explore town government and the issues surrounding the need to provide for those individuals who could not provide for themselves. Students will gain understanding of how democratic values have evolved and the responsibilities the government has for its citizens as well as the responsibilities the citizens have to their government. The link between economics and government becomes evident as student citizens have to think about the costs the town incurs with either system that it employs.
Objectives
Students will:
- Understand responsibilities of citizenship.
- Learn the function of town meetings through primary source documents and participation in a mock town meeting.
- Become familiar with the options towns had for taking care of their poor in early nineteenth-century New England.
Assessment
- Class participation.
- Written paper supporting a selected method of caring for the town poor.
- Student participation at the mock town meeting.
National Standards
- NSS-C.5-8.1
- Civic Life, Politics, and Government
What are Civic Life, Politics, and Government?- What is civic life? What is politics? What is government? Why are government and politics necessary? What purposes should government serve?
- What are the essential characteristics of limited and unlimited government?
- What are the nature and purposes of constitutions?
- What are alternative ways of organizing constitutional governments?
- NL-ENG.K-12.8
- Developing Research Skills
- Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
- NL-ENG.K-12.7
- Evaluating Data
- Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
- NL-ENG.K-12.6
- Applying Knowledge
- Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
- NL-ENG.K-12.3
- Evaluation Strategies
- Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
- NL-ENG.K-12.2
- Understanding the Human Experience
- Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
- NL-ENG.K-12.1
- Reading for Perspective
- Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
- NSS-C.5-8.5
- Roles of the Citizen
What are the Roles of the Citizen in American Democracy?- What is citizenship?
- What are the rights of citizens?
- What are the responsibilities of citizens?
- What dispositions or traits of character are important to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy?
- How can citizens take part in civic life?
- NSS-C.9-12.1
- Civic Life, Politics, and Government
What are Civic Life, Politics, and Government?- What is civic life? What is politics? What is government? Why are government and politics necessary? What purposes should government serve?
- What are the essential characteristics of limited and unlimited government?
- What are the nature and purposes of constitutions?
- What are alternative ways of organizing constitutional governments?
- NSS-C.9-12.5
- Roles of the Citizen
What are the Roles of the Citizen in American Democracy?- What is citizenship?
- What are the rights of citizens?
- What are the responsibilities of citizens?
- What dispositions or traits of character are important to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy?
- How can citizens take part in civic life?
- NSS-EC.5-8.16
- Government in the Economy
At the completion of Grade 8, students will know the Grade 4 and 8 benchmarks for this standard, and- Understand if a good or service cannot be withheld from those who do not pay for it, providers expect to be unable to sell it and, therefore, will not produce it. In market economies, governments provide some of these goods and services.
- Understand most state and local government revenues come from sales taxes, grants from the federal government, personal income taxes, and property taxes. The bulk of state and local government revenue is spent for education, public welfare, road construction and repair, and public safety.
- NSS-USH.5-12.3
- Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
- Understands the causes of the American Revolution, the ideas and interests involved in forging the revolutionary movement, and the reasons for the American victory.
- Understands the impact of the American Revolution on politics, economy, and society.
- Understands the institutions and practices of government created during the Revolution and how they were revised between 1787 and 1815 to create the foundation of the American political system based on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
- NSS-USH.5-12.4
- Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
- Understands United States territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans.
- Understands how the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions.
- Understands the extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800.
- Understands the sources and character of cultural, religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period.
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