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Activity 4.1: Colonial Taxes in Song
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Lesson 4: Ttttaxes!

Activity 4.1: Colonial Taxes in Song

From 1973-1985, Saturday morning cartoons on ABC were interspersed with “Schoolhouse Rock”. This was a series of short, musical animations that were catchy AND educational. The best installments had to do with history!

Taxes are the money people must pay to the government. When people feel that the taxes the government demands them to pay are unjust, people get angry. From the earliest English settlement of the colonies, the taxes colonists were supposed to pay to England were rarely collected. Many colonists became involved in smuggling (secretly and illegally transporting goods) in order to avoid paying the taxes created by the Navigation Acts. Unfortunately in the 1760’s, the time came when England (now called Great Britain) NEEDED to collect taxes to pay its massive bills. King George III, leader of Great Britain, demanded the colonists start paying taxes. Not used to paying any taxes, American colonists were not pleased. In this activity, you will analyze history through a Schoolhouse Rock animated short from 1975 and learn how the feeling of the colonists changed towards England.

Benchmark:

5.1.4.7.3: Identify taxes and fees collected, and services provided, by governments during colonial times; compare these to the taxes and fees collected, and services provided, by the government today.

Learning Target:

I can...describe why governments create taxes and how collected tax money has been historically used.

Essential Question:

What types of taxes and fees were collected, and services provided, by governments during colonial times, and how do these taxes, fees, and services compare to those of our present government?

To complete Activity 4.1 please follow the steps below:

STEP 1: View the video No More Kings. Then watch the video again while you follow along with the lyrics to No More Kings.

STEP 2: Respond to the following question about what you have read and watched. When complete, submit ALL of your work in the ONLINE TEXT SUBMISSION BOX.

  1. In the first 3 stanzas (that’s paragraphs in lyrics and poetry), how do the colonist feel about England?

  1. What do they want from England?

  1. What happens in stanzas 4-7 that makes the colonists feel differently about England? Stanza 4 begins with the words They planted corn, you know…

  1. What happens in stanza 8-11? Stanza 8 begins with the words Gonna show you how we feel…

  1. According to everything that you have learned in this lesson, what was one of the main reasons that the American Colonies (The 13 Colonies) split from Great Britain (England)?