Economics and Geography Lessons

The Chester Town Tea Party

MCPS Status of Book as of 4/4/96:
Approved as Library Book for Grade 4

Title: The Chester Town Tea Party by Brenda Seabrooke with illustrations by Nancy Coates Smith, (Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Maryland, 1991)

Lesson Developed by Patricia King Robeson

Literature Annotation:
This book is about the Wetherby family who lived in Chester Town, Maryland, in 1774 at the time when people voted not to buy, use or sell teas in order to show their support for the colonists in Boston. Amanda, the nine year old daughter, decides to dress as a boy so she can join her brother and other men and boys of the town to attend a "tea party just for men". Amanda was surprised by what she found out about the tea party.

Grade Level: 4 or 5

Duration: 2 class periods. This lesson could be used with lessons about Maryland's history or with lessons relating to events which led up to the writing of the Declaration of Independence.

Economic Concepts: Scarcity, Consumption, Opportunity Cost

Geography Themes: Location, Place, Movement

MSPAP Outcomes and Indicators:

Economic Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the historical development and current status of economic principles, institutions, and processes needed to be effective citizens, consumers, and workers in American society.

Indicators:

• Explain how the exchange of goods and services connects Maryland with the world.
• Examine examples of various types and uses of taxes.
• Analyze historical and economic factors which have contributed to the growth and development of Maryland's economy.

Geography Outcome: Students will develop an understanding of geographic concepts and processes as needed to examine the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location and distribution of human activities.

Indicators:

• Locate features of the school and community by interpreting and constructing maps using simple grid systems, cardinal directions, relative distances and sizes, and symbols explained in a legend (key).
• Predict the effects of living in a given geographic setting on people's lives.
• Describe how transportation and communication networks link communities.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

• Identify physical features which provide for a good settlement site.
• Identify opportunity cost for William Geddes.
• Identify types of land use.
• Explain why Marylanders opposed paying taxes.

Vocabulary: taxes, abomination, repeal, boycott, barter

Materials:

• Book: The Chester Town Tea Party
• Map of Maryland
• Map of the Eastern Shore of Maryland
• "Trading Cards" worksheets
  • Blank cards
  • Sheet 1
  • Sheet 2
• "Chestertown Walking Tour Map" worksheet
• "Who Lived in Chester Town?" worksheet
• "Chester Town" worksheet
• "Maryland Gazette" transparency
• On-Line Resources
  • Chestertown, Maryland Visitor's Guide

Teacher Background:
Knowledge of Maryland's history and events which led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence

Lesson Development:

Review/Motivation:

1. Place students in groups of four and give each group a copy of the attached maps of Maryland and the Eastern Shore. Tell them that the story you are going to read to them took place in Chestertown, Maryland. Instruct the students to locate Chestertown on their map and to discuss among themselves physical features of the land which made this town a good settlement site.

2. Make a web on the chalkboard and write "Chester Town" in the middle of it. Explain to the students that today Chestertown is one word, but in the 1770s it was two words. Ask the students to identify natural resources and physical features of the land which made Chestertown a settlement site and complete the web with information provided by students.

3. Ask students to name the event that took place in Boston in 1773. (Boston Tea Party.)

4. Ask students to explain what happened at the Boston Tea Party and why. (Colonists dressed up as Indians, silently boarded ships and threw all the tea on board into the Boston harbor. The colonists did this to protest paying taxes without representation in the English Parliament.)

5. Explain to students that several tea parties also took place here in Maryland during the same time period. The book you are going to read is about the Chester Town tea party.

6. Read the book to the students.

Activities:
Discussion Questions:

1. How were the chores children had to perform in the 1770s similar or different than ones you do today?. (In the 1770s, girls did the household chores of cleaning the house, mending, helping in the kitchen and working in the gardens. Boys helped their fathers with farming jobs, worked in stores, or fished for a dinner meal. Today boys and girls do many of the same jobs, but there may be different jobs, too, such as mowing the lawn, changing light bulbs, and washing the car.)

2. Show the students pages 6 and 7 from the book and ask them to identify the natural and capital resources they see in the picture and explain how they are used. (Crabs,, peas and buttermilk for food; plates, cups, bowls, and silverware to set the table for dinner; fireplace for cooking food and keeping it warm; large black cooking pot for cooking or boiling water for washing; coffee grinder for grinding coffee; jars and crocks for storing food; candlesticks for lighting, iron for ironing clothes, cooking utensils for cooking)

3. Why did Amanda's family boycott tea? (They were showing support for the people of Boston. They were angry with Britain because they were taxed without representation in Parliament, and the British government was closing ports which stopped the trading of goods.)

4. Why did Amanda dress up as a boy? (She liked tea and missed not having it to drink. She thought that her brother was going to be drinking tea and eating cakes at the tea party.)

5. How did the Chester Town tea party help the people in Boston? (The Chester Town tea party showed sympathy for the people in Boston and also showed the British that Maryland also would not tolerate taxation without representation.)

6. The kind of England closed the Boston port to shipping, but among Maryland's historical papers today is a letter sent to the people of Chester Town from Samuel Adams thanking them for their help and supplies. How did Marylanders get their supplies to Boston? (Food, clothing and other supplies had to be carried by horses and wagons over land.)

7. William Geddes owned the ship, the Geddes, which contained the load of tea. He was the customs collector for the port of Chester Town. What was his opportunity cost for doing his job as custom collector? (Mr. Geddes was doing his job, as he had been told to do by Britain's king. His opportunity cost was what he could have purchased with the income from selling the tea he lost.)

Trading Activity:
Note to the Teacher: Cut out the trading cards and place them into two separate piles (natural resources and artisans' products) before doing this activity.

1. Explain to the students that Maryland and the other colonies were alarmed because England passed laws taxing them. The people of Maryland refused to pay the Stamp Tax. Marylanders were especially angry because they said that the charter given to the First Lord Baltimore by King Charles in 1632 stated that no taxes were to be paid to the English king. The colonists traded items and resources among themselves to help them meet their needs and wants since many of them were boycotting imported items.

2. Tell the students that they are going to participate in an activity in which they will barter for items and resources as the people of Maryland did in the 1770s. Ask if anyone knows what the the word "barter" means. Explain that to barter is to trade goods and services without money.

3. Divide the class into two groups: "farmers" and "artisans". Explain to the students that each colonist has been able to grow crops or produce goods. Distribute trading cards to the students. Explain that each group has items the other group wants. Have each of the "farmers" and "artisans" tell what he or she has to trade so that all students will know what items or resources are available.

4. Tell the students to try to find someone who has a resource or product they need or want and who is willing to trade with them for resource or good they have. Allow five minutes for trading.

5. Discuss what happened by asking the following questions:
   • Was each of you able to trade for something you wanted or needed?
   • If you were able to trade, how did you do it?
   • Are there other items you wanted or needed which were not available?
   • If you were unable to trade for something you wanted or needed, how might you have been able to get what you needed or wanted?
   • Why weren't items available?

Conclusion/Closure:

1. Have students work in their groups of four. Show the students a transparency of the Maryland Gazette newspaper heading. Tell them to think about what they know about the Stamp Act and discuss among themselves what the colonists might have said to each other when they saw this newspaper heading.
2. Instruct the groups to write a script for a short skit about the colonists' reaction to the Stamp Act and the newspaper heading.
3. Allow time for groups of students to act out their skit.

   Thoughtful Application:

   1. Continue to have students work in their roups and give each group the "Chestertown Walking Tour Map" , "Who Lived in Chester Town?" and "Chester Town" worksheets.
   2. Instruct the students to study the map, read "Who Lived in Chester Town?" and think about what they know about Maryland and what they learned from the story, to answer the "Chester Town" worksheet.
   3. Discuss answers with the students when their work is completed.

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   Last updated on March 12, 1997
   Maintained by John L. Day
   <jday@umd5.umd.edu>