Lesson by John McNamara and Ron Nash
Essay by Kevin Kenny, New York University
Grade Level: 7–12
Number of Class Periods: 4
Primary Era: Colonization and Settlement, 1585–1763
About this Lesson Plan Unit
The four lessons in this unit explore a massacre in colonial Pennsylvania in which the Paxton Boys—immigrants from Ulster, Northern Ireland—murdered twenty Conestoga people. Students will examine the form and scale of murders, how the Paxton Boys explained their actions, and the ways in which internal disputes between Quakers and other groups shaped unfolding events. You will assess students’ understanding through a mock news conference staged by the students.
Lesson Plan Author: John McNamara and Ron Nash
Historical Background Scholar: Kevin Kenny, New York University
Additional Information About This Unit
Common Core State Standards
Common Core State Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.6: Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
What did the Paxton Boys do in 1763?
What was the central debate between Pennsylvania colonists on Native American policy? Who was on which side?
How did the Paxton Boys’ political rivals respond to pleas, demands, and threats?
Why is the Paxton Massacre historically significant?
Documents
Documents
[James Claypoole or Henry Dawkins?], “The German Bleeds and Bears Ye Furs,” 1764
Henry Dawkins, “The Paxton Expedition, Inscribed to the Author of the Farce, by HD,” ca. 1764
Anonymous, “The Apology of the Paxton Volunteers Addressed to the Candid & Impartial World,” 1764
Benjamin Franklin, A Narrative of the Late Massacres, in Lancaster County, of a Number of Indians, Friends of the Province, by Persons Unknown. With Some Observations on the Same, 1764
A Declaration and Remonstrance of the Distressed and Bleeding Frontier Inhabitants of the Province of Pennsylvania, Presented by Them to the Honourable the Governor and Assembly of the Province, Shewing the Causes of Their Late Discontent and Uneasiness and the Grievances under Which They Have Laboured, and Which They Humbly Pray to Have Redress’d, 1764
A Dialogue between Andrew Trueman, and Thomas Zealot; About the Killing the Indians at Cannestogoe and Lancaster, 1764