Name:
Date:
THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY!
Using your Two Sides Organizer and your Two Sides Rubric, you will be asked to
complete one debate – IN CLASS. A debate is an issue that has two (or more) sides to it. This
debate will take the form of two letters exchanged between colonist Horatio Corndogsmith and
a British official (either George Grenville, Charles Townshend, or King George III). Your two
letters should explain the different issues and how each particular person/side feels about the
issues.
When writing your two letters (crafting your debates), please make sure that you include
enough historical information and explain the facts with detail. For example, explain the
specifics of the different tax acts and how each side is impacted by and feels about them. Also,
try to use voice and authentic language for the era (no modern phrases or slang), and try to take
on the two different personas who are writing each letter.
There are three debates, but you will only write one. However, you should be prepared to
write about any of them, and will find out which debate you will write on the day you write it.
Review your organizer thoroughly at home, so that you feel confident enough in the knowledge
to write once it is revealed which debate you are addressing. Yes, you should use the Two
Sides Organizer and the Two Sides Rubric when writing your two letters.
THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY!
Debate # 1: The Proclamation of 1763, The Sugar Act, and The Stamp Act
The year is 1763. Your name is Horatio Corndogsmith. You are a male English Colonist who left
Boston in 1755, traveled westward over the Appalachians, and settled in the Ohio River Valley. You fought
long and hard in the French and Indian War. You are thriving as a planter in new, fertile land, but have just
received word of the Proclamation of 1763, which requires you to give up your land and move back east, as
well as to support the British troops with new taxes. How do you feel about this proclamation? Why do you
think this? What does it say exactly? If you could tell your side of the story to the British Parliament and Prime
Minister George Grenville, what would you say?
Now you are British Prime Minister George Grenville. In 1765, you convinced Parliament to enact two
tax laws, the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. First, what do you have to say to Mr. Corndogsmith to justify the
Proclamation of 1763? Then, please explain to Mr. Corndogsmith what is taxed under each of these acts, and
why you feel they are necessary as a result of this proclamation?
THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY!
Debate # 2: The Townshend Acts, Taxation without Representation,
Boycotts, Protests and the Boston Massacre
It is May of 1767. Now you are British Parliamentarian Charles Townshend. You have just been
manipulated by George Grenville into implementing some seriously harsh tax laws in the American Colonies.
Of course, you named these laws The Townshend Acts. Please explain to our colonist friend Horatio
Corndogsmith what items are to be taxed, and what motivated you to crack down so hard.
You are Horatio Corndogsmith again, and you have moved back to Boston. You and your fellow Sons of
Liberty are SEVERELY OUTRAGED with Parliament over the tax situation! In fact, Parliament just passed an
extreme tax act called the Townshend Acts. Please explain your viewpoint on taxation without
representation, and tell us what forms of protest the colonists have used in response to the tax acts, such as
boycotts, nonimportation agreements, as well as more violent acts, such as those that led to the Boston
Massacre.
THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY!
Debate # 3: The Tea Act, The Boston Tea Party, The Intolerable Acts
And The Shot Heard Round the World!
It is May of 1774. Now you are King George III of England. You have had ENOUGH of this
insubordination from your colonial subjects in America! You are in a tizzy, that’s for sure. Please explain to us
why you are so angry over the colonial response to the Tea Act? How did the revolt at the Boston Tea Party
motivate you to punish Boston with the Intolerable Acts? What are the pieces to the Intolerable Acts and how
do you think this will keep the colonists in line?
You are Horatio Corndogsmith again, and it is the 20th of April, 1775. Please tell us about the colonial
response to the Intolerable Acts – what steps have the colonists taken to prepare for rebellion against the King
in the last year or so? From your perspective, were these steps necessary? We heard of a big event that
happened on the 18th of April, 1775, called The Shot Heard Round the World. What was that and how will
this change life in Colonial America?