Day 4 - Role Playing a Debate on the Fugitive Slave Act

I. Lesson Goals:

A. Students will understand the differences between northern and southern State laws on citizenship.

This relates to Social Science Content Standard (SSCS) # 8.7.4 - Compare the lives and opportunities for free blacks in the North with those of free blacks in the South.

B. Students will understand how these differences affected each states’ interpretation of the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850 in relation to African-American mariners.

This relates to part of SSCS # 8.9.5 - Which asks students to analyze the significance of congressional or judicial proceedings, one of which was the Compromise of 1850.

It also relates to SSCS # 8.9.6 - Describe the lives of free blacks and the laws that limited their freedom and economic opportunities.

II. Objectives:

A. Given a copy of the 1850 Senate Proceedings on Colored Mariners, students will be able to analyze the meaning of a proposed amendment with 85% accuracy by the end of the activity.

B. Given the accompanying copy of excerpts from the proceedings, students will be able to paraphrase and role play each state’s position on citizenship for African-Americans and the legal status of African-American Mariners with 85% accuracy by the end of the activity.

C. Given these stated positions, students will be able to predict what might have happened to Allen Light had he remained in the United States as a Mariner.

Time for entire lesson: 50 minutes

III. Materials Needed:

A. Copies of 1850 Senate proceedings on the Fugitive Slave Bill

B. Document Analysis outline (teacher’s guide questions)

Preparation Guidelines:

• Download and print out the 1850 Senate Proceedings excerpt. Make enough copies for students in class.
• Download the guide questions for the document analysis discussion.

IV. Lesson Presentation:

A. Introduction: (5 minutes) Today you will examine how different states viewed African American freedmen and how these conflicting viewpoints were translated into contradictory laws. Allen Light’s route to freedom took him from the East to the West Coast, into what was then another country. But what if he had chosen to work as a mariner in the United States? Would his sailor protection paper have guaranteed his freedom? Let’s pretend for a moment that he had stayed on the East coast, sailing on a ship from Boston that stopped in the slave-owning state of South Carolina. What do you think would have happened to him once his ship docked?

B. Reading comprehension/verbal document analysis (15 minutes) - Distribute copies of the 1850 Senate proceedings to groups of 3 students. Have a student read the amendment out loud. Discuss its meaning with the class, filling out a Document Analysis Sheet on the board.

C. Argument Interpretation (20 minutes): Then divide class into 2 groups - one side to interpret and paraphrase Massachusetts’s position on African-American citizenship, the other to analyze Southern Carolina’s opinion. Instruct each group to read through and outline the main points of their designated senator, paying close attention to:

• Any examples given to support an argument
• Specific laws on African-American citizenship
• Their relevance to African-American mariners such as Allen Light.

D. Role-Playing Debate (variable - see B under Guidelines) - Have groups choose representatives to play the senators from Massachusetts and South Carolina. The student senators will then explain their respective positions in their own words based on the group’s analysis of the text. You may decide whether or not to allow student observers to speak up if they believe their group’s representative has misinterpreted a point of argument. Students can then pretend they are all senators and vote on whether or not to pass the amendment to the Fugitive Slave Bill, based on the merits of the arguments presented.

V. Evaluation:

A. Class discussion on the meaning of the amendment

B. Written group outlines of senator’s main arguments

C. Debate

VI. Guidelines

A. For ESL classes, you may decide to extend the document analysis activity to half an hour, followed by a discussion on its meaning.

B. Depending on reading competency levels of class, the role-playing debate may be carried over as a follow-up activity the day after.

VII. Extension

A. After each representative’s position has been explained to the satisfaction of the class, instruct them to pretend that the colored sailor thrown into slavery in Charleston was Allen Light. How would the Senator from Massachusetts argued for his release? (Hint: use the sailor protection paper.)

B. Have students extend the role-playing debate and compose a resolution that they would have wanted to see in terms of amending the Fugitive Slave Bill.