Lesson Plan - Last Best Hope

Lesson Plan: The Stamp ActNewspaperObjectives:The students will…• learn the reasons behind the implementation of the Stamp Acto British rationaleo Issue of the debt• understand the importance of the Stamp Act in contributing to the AmericanRevolution• be able to chronicle the colonial response to the Stamp Act including violentprotest, non-importation agreements, and the convening of the Stamp ActCongress• learn to conduct primary source research• understand the difference between revenue and regulatory taxes• be able to distinguish between news articles and opinion pieces• be able to write coherently and convincingly in different stylesLIBERTY AND NO STAMPS

Stamp Act Newspaper ProjectThe Stamp Act was one of the major factors that ultimately led tothe American Revolution. The British were surprised by theintensity of the reaction to this hated piece of legislation and wereultimately forced to repeal it in 1766. The colonists wereencouraged by the success of their protest and convinced that they had been vindicated inthis first major struggle over British authority in the colonies.Your group is to write a colonial newspaper from the Stamp Act era. It should containthe following items and articles:1. A detailed explanation of the provisions of the Stamp Act. i2. An “eyewitness” account of Patrick Henry’s speech in theVirginia House of Burgesses opposing the Stamp Act (includinghis “Tarquin and Caesar had each his Brutus…” speech and theproposal of the so-called Henry Resolves).3. A political cartoon protesting the Stamp Act in America.4. A petition (this is a mythical document that you create as if youwere living in the time period) appealing to the King to repeal thelaw.5. A factual account of the Stamp Act Congress in New York.6. An editorial protesting the Stamp Act written with a pseudonym.7. Another eyewitness account of the violence in Boston against the Stamp Act andagent(s). ii8. A series of advertisements typical of the period. iiiYour newspaper should include a masthead and motto. Colonial Williamsburg has someexcellent examples of the Virginia Gazette online. You can also see examples ofrunaway slave ads including those posted by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.i The entire bill is posted on the Avalon Project at Yale University.ii Andrew Oliver was the hated stamp agent in Boston.iii The Virginia Gazette is online and has representative examples.