How to teach the causes of the American Revolution

Why this matters

A student who knows the colonists hated taxes can still decide Boston dumped the tea because it cost too much. In 1773 the Tea Act had just made the East India Company's tea cheaper, and Parliament's 3-pence tax was still on it. A worksheet marks "too expensive" wrong and moves on, so the student never finds the tax, and the teacher has to wait for quiz day to find out.

The causes of the American Revolution

Britain came out of the Seven Years' War in 1763 with heavy debts, and Parliament began taxing the American colonies to help pay them. The US State Department's Office of the Historian traces the steps from there to war:

• The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed newspapers, legal documents and playing cards. Colonists protested that Parliament had no right to tax them, because they had no representatives there (National Park Service).
• The Townshend Acts of 1767 added new taxes, and the colonists resisted those too.
• The Tea Act of 1773 gave the East India Company a monopoly on shipping tea, and colonists protested. On December 16, 1773, colonists boarded the company's ships in Boston Harbor and threw the tea overboard.
• In 1774 Parliament passed laws to put Massachusetts under direct British control.
• The war began on April 19, 1775, when British troops and colonists fought at Lexington and Concord.

In the Flint activity, students move the Tea Shelf in a 1773 Boston shop from before the Tea Act to after it and watch the East India Company's tea become the cheaper one, with Parliament's tax stamp still on the tin. Sparky then asks why Boston dumped tea that had just gotten cheaper. A student who says the tea cost too much gets sent back to the tax stamp, and a student who finds the tax gets a harder question: why Parliament kept such a small tax.

Ivy finds what's stuck on the tea tin

Ivy runs a lemonade stand with her brother. She knows the colonists were angry about taxes, but she thinks the protest was about prices, because cheaper is the reason she'd buy something.

Every student in the class gets the same greeting and the same Tea Shelf: a Boston shop shelf with smuggled Dutch tea and East India Company tea, and a slider from before the Tea Act to after it. The rest of the chat is each student's own. Sparky puts what the student buys or sells into its questions, and its next message depends on what the student just said.

Sparky uses Ivy's lemonade standSparky sends Ivy back to the Tea ShelfA right answer gets a harder question

I

Ivy

Interest: Her lemonade standStarting point: Knows the colonists were angry about taxesGets stuck: Thinks the protest was about prices

Sparky

Hi, history detective! It's 1773 and you're in a shop in Boston. Before we start: what's something you like to buy, or something you sell, like at a lemonade stand or a bake sale? Then move the slider on the Tea Shelf from Before the Tea Act to After the Tea Act and watch what happens to the prices.

Ivy

i have a lemonade stand with my brother

Sparky

A lemonade stand with your brother sounds like a great business! Now, slide the Tea Shelf slider from Before to After the Tea Act. Which tea gets cheaper?

Ivy

the company tea got cheaper and the dutch tea costs more now

Sparky

You're exactly right. If the East India Company tea just got cheaper, do you think the people of Boston will rush out to buy it? What's your prediction?

Ivy

yes. if my lemonade was cheaper more people would buy it so they will buy the cheap tea

Sparky

Cheaper prices usually do mean more buyers! But on December 16, 1773, a group of colonists snuck onto three ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 chests of that cheaper East India Company tea into the water. Why would people dump tea that just got cheaper?

Ivy

because the tea cost too much money

Sparky

Hmm, but wait. You just told me the company tea got cheaper after the Tea Act! Go back to the Tea Shelf and move the slider to After. Look closely at the East India Company tin. Do you notice anything stuck on it besides the price?

Ivy

a tax stamp from parliament. 3 pence a pound. the colonists didnt get to vote for parliament so they didnt want to pay it

Sparky

Now you've got it! Even though the tea was cheaper, that tax stamp meant Parliament could take money from the colonists without them ever getting a vote. Here's a harder question: the tax was only 3 pence a pound. So why would Parliament bother keeping such a small tax? Imagine someone you never picked put a tiny tax on every cup of lemonade you and your brother sell. Would you care?

Ivy

i would care. maybe parliament just needed the money?

Sparky

Think a little deeper! If Parliament just needed money, why did they cancel almost all the other taxes before this, but keep the tea tax? What does keeping that tax prove Parliament can do to the colonies?

Ivy

oh. if the colonists pay the little tax then parliament can tax them again and make it bigger. like if we paid the lemonade tax they could tax our cookies next

Sparky

Exactly! Paying that small tax meant accepting that Parliament had the power to tax them. Pay the lemonade tax once, and suddenly your cookies and your cups are fair game. Here's how it built up over time.

Understanding check

Parliament kept adding taxes and repealing most of them, but always kept the tea tax. In your own words: what does "No taxation without representation" mean? Can you explain it using your lemonade stand?

Ivy

it means if you dont get to pick who makes the rules they shouldnt get to tax you. like if the town put a tax on our lemonade but kids cant vote for the town

Said the tea cost too much, went back to the shelf, found the tax, then explained why Parliament kept it

Ivy is an example student, and Sparky's replies are shortened.

What Flint did for Ivy

• Sparky's greeting gave Ivy the Tea Shelf, where she moved the slider herself and saw the company tea become the cheaper one.
• Sparky asked Ivy to predict what Boston would do before telling her about the Tea Party.
• When Ivy said the tea cost too much, Sparky pointed out she had just said it got cheaper and sent her back to the tin, and didn't give her the answer.
• Once Ivy found the tax, Sparky asked why Parliament would keep a tax that small, using her lemonade stand.
• Sparky made a timeline of the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts and the Tea Act after Ivy explained why the small tax mattered.

A teacher can't do this by hand for 30 students at once. Sparky does it in every student's chat.

The activity page shows who blamed the price

While students work, Needs attention lists each student who is stuck and the message that showed it. Once three or more students submit, activity analytics sums up what the class understood and what to practice next.

Set up the activity for free

The Tea Got Cheaper. So Why Dump It? is in Flint's public library, with the Tea Shelf, the greeting, Sparky's guidelines and a rubric already set up. Open it, duplicate it into a free Flint account, and assign it to a class. Every student gets their own chat with Sparky and their own Tea Shelf, and the activity page fills in as they work.

For more history activities, see Flint for social studies.