Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015

Learning Focus

Intolerable Acts

Administration

Mark the roll

WRITE ON WHITEBOARD: Reminder about holiday homework
due this week; Reminder about essay due on Monday.

Key Teaching
Focus

1. Better guide the students using questions/scaffolding

2. Ensure that each student contributes to the work
3. Better use of instructions

Duration

1 lesson

Essential
Question

What was the reaction of the British to the Boston Tea Party?

Background

Parliament replied to the "Boston Tea Party" with the Coercive Acts of
1774. The colonists dubbed them the "Intolerable Acts."

5 mins

They were an important factor contributing to the American

Revolution. Colonists felt that this legislation violated their rights as
Englishmen and their Natural Rights as human beings.
Lesson 1

As a class, read out loud the text pp 85-86 on the 4 Intolerable Acts.

10 mins

1. The Boston Port Act: The first of these closed the port of Boston
until the East India Company was paid for the lost tea. This created a
great hardship for the people of Boston whose livelihood depended on
trade.
2. Massachusetts Government Act: The second modified the
Massachusetts Charter of 1691, taking away many of its rights of selfgovernment. It was aimed at punishing Boston and forcing it out of
resistance. Almost all positions in the colonial government were to be
appointment by the governor or directly by the King. Activities of town
meetings were limited. Massachusetts was very proud of its
independence and was angry at this infringement on its rights.
3. Administration of Justice Act: The third measure provided that
British officials accused of committing crimes in a colony might be
taken to England for trial. Because it would mean witnesses would be
forced to travel, the practical effect was thought to be that the British
officials would escape justice.
4. The Quartering Act: The fourth measure allowed the British to
quarter British soldiers in colonial buildings at the expense of the
colonists, including colonists' homes, if there were insufficient space
in other buildings.

Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015
Activity 1
15 mins

Work individually to complete Activity 8 p90. Set aside the information

on the Quebec Act for the time being.
Instructions:
Create a table in an excel file and complete the cells. You are to keep
a record of this for your own study purposes.
Focus:
1. Give the instructions in one set, upfront and then let them do the
work.
2. That all students complete the table for their own records.

Activity 2

Working in groups of 3, complete Activity 6 p87.

10 mins

Instructions:

5 mins

Find a copy of The Able Doctor online, and cut/paste it youre your
work. Attach notes to the relevant parts of the picture, explaining the
people, symbols, events and ideas depicted. Be prepared to discuss
your ideas with the whole class.
Focus:
1. Give the instructions in one set, upfront and then let them do the
work.

Guiding questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Who are the two females in the picture?

Who is holding down America (Liberty)?
Why do you think he is dressed as a judge?
Who is feeding America? Why does he hold her by the throat?
What is in his back pocket?
2

Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015
6.
7.
8.
9.

What is the Boston Port Bill?

Who are the two characters on the left (standing together?)
What role does France and Spain have in all of this?
Ignoring all of the people in the drawing, what can you see in the
foreground, and in the background?
10. Who do you think this cartoon was designed to appeal to?
Notes on
Activity 2

America, a partly-draped female figure, is being held down by Lord

Mansfield (r.) in judge's wig and robes, while North, holding her by the
throat, pours the contents of a tea-pot down her mouth. America ejects
the tea in a stream directed at North's face. From his pocket hangs a
paper inscribed "Boston Port Bill". Sandwich (l.) kneels, holding
America down by an ankle, while he lifts the edge of her draperies and
peers beneath them. Behind Mansfield (r.) stands Bute in Scots cap
and kilt, holding a drawn sword, its blade inscribed "Military Law",
pistols are thrust through his belt. Behind America stands Britannia
resting one hand on her shield; she averts her face and covers her
eyes with her hand. Behind Sandwich (l.) stand two men dressed in
the French and Spanish fashions and representing France and Spain
or the monarchs of France and Spain; the order of the Golden Fleece
hangs from the neck of Spain. They stand close together, pointing
towards America with expressions of interest and concern.
In the foreground is a torn document inscribed "Boston petition". In the
background is the sea; on the horizon and on a minute scale are the
spires of a town surrounded by ships, above is engraved, "Boston
cannonaded"
The print illustrates a report of the debates on the Boston Port Bill: the
text of the Bill is given in full because it is "of vast importance to the
mercantile part of the nation and indeed to the whole British Empire",
pp. 165-85. The Boston Port Bill became law on 31 Mar. (one of the
"five intolerable acts") passed as a punishment for the 'Boston teaparty' (16 Dec. 1773): the port of Boston was closed and its rights
transferred to Salem till compensation should be made for the
destruction of the tea. Boston, of course, was not cannonaded, Gage
was its military and civil governor and he closed the harbour in
accordance with the Act on 1 June. The "Boston petition" is
presumably the petition of Americans in London to the House of
Commons against the Boston Port Bill.
Creator

British political cartoonists

Context

For several years, from the 1760s into the 1770s, Great Britain tried to
establish that it had the right to tax the colonies.

Audienc

Great Britain's public

Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015
e
Purpose

Wrap up
5 mins

To illustrate political debates

The information that you gathered in your summary table will be very
useful in helping you to study later.
Covered 4 key acts. Next lesson will be looking at the Quebec Act and
the Colonialists reaction. (pp. 91-94.)

Resources

From Liberty! Teachers Guide

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/tguide_1.html
Primary Sources web library:
http://www.historywiz.com/primarysources/americanrevprimary.html
British Museum Collection: The Able Doctor
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_obj
ect_details.aspx?objectId=1452655&partId=1

Extension Work
Homework

500 word essay on the Boston Tea party. Due Monday 19 th April before
class P1.

Assessment
Absent