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Chapter 3 Debates

 

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Chapter 3 Debate:
What is the Relationship Between Parliament and the Colonial Legislatures?


Introduction
Teachers can use class debates to help students understand conflicting perspectives of a past time and place. This often involves dividing the class into two or more parts and assigning each group a role. Students are then encouraged to take on that role and argue their position. They need to argue the position they are assigned, regardless of whether or not they agree with that position. Sometimes, teachers may encourage students to know both sides of the argument and have the two sides switch roles midway through the debate.

Objectives of This Debate

  • Students will be able to explain the opposing colonial and British views on the meaning of representation.
  • Students will be able to explain the opposing colonial and British views on taxation.
  • Students will be able to explain the opposing colonial and British views on the virtues of mercantilism.
  • Students will be able to explain the opposing colonial and British views on the relationship between Parliament and the colonial legislatures.
  • Students will describe how these opposing views contributed to a break in the Empire and ultimately the American Revolution.


Background
Historians have noted that before the French and Indian War, England largely let the American colonies go their own way – a policy of "salutary neglect." This was largely a practical manner – the colonies were just too far away to closely rule. The impact of this neglect was a sense in the colonies that their colonial legislatures were sovereign within each colony, and in fact, equal to Parliament within and empire that they viewed as a type of "commonwealth."

This all changed in the aftermath of the French and Indian War. The English government was in deep debt. From Parliament’s perspective, it was time for the colonies to "pay their own way." The war, after all, had been fought for their benefit. A vast expanse of land had been added to America. British troops would need to remain there to protect that land. The colonies would have to foot the bill.

It was in this context that Parliament dramatically tightened regulations on the colonies, increased taxes, and began to actually enforce laws that had been on the books for a century (The Navigation Acts). This came as a shock to the colonies and began a debate that culminated in the Revolutionary War. It explains how many colonists were transformed from a people who in 1763 were PROUD members of the British Empire, to people who only twelve years later took up arms against that very empire.

Procedure
This debate can be done in one class period, or broken into segments, with each issue debated separately – perhaps one per day as the unit is being taught.

The teacher should divide the class into two parts. One section will role-play members of colonial legislatures. The other group will represent members of Parliament (M.P.s). Students should be reminded that they should stick to their role and argue passionately for their position, despite what they personally may believe. They need to argue as if they are living in the world of the late 1760s, just as the debate over the relationship between the colonies and the mother country is heating up.

Each side of the debate should research their position on each of the key sources of contention between the colonies and Britain. Those were:
- The meaning of representation
- The right of Britain to tax the colonies
- The right of Britain to regulate colonial trade (and the benefits of mercantilism)
- The legal relationship between Parliament and the colonial legislatures

Students should be able to use America: The Last Best Hope to find dual perspectives on these issues, but teachers will also need to provide background through short lectures or explanations. Students can also do research on their own to find arguments to support their point of view. Primary sources from the period can be particularly valuable as a side builds its case.

The following chart represents basic points that should be covered by both sides. Teachers should not immediately give students these points. They might be offered to each side after students have had time to research on their own, or they might be withheld until after the debate and used as a summary or to debrief the debate.

A blank version of the chart is offered at the end of this debate. Students may use this blank chart to take notes as they research their positions in the debate.

When the debate takes place, arrange student desks or chairs with the two debate factions on opposite sides of the classroom facing each other. The teacher should serve as a moderator, beginning the proceedings, laying out the key question involved in each issue, and calling on members of each side in alternating order. If the debate begins to lag, the teacher may call a short break and have each side “caucus” to rethink their positions and prepare responses to arguments made by the other side.