July, 2009 & 2010 Summer Institute Workshop
House of Seven Gables, Salem, Mass.

Documents for the Let's Make a Deal, Commerce in Essex County, MA Lesson

This lesson was designed to encourage students to find out more about how local trading became nationally and internationally based. In the heyday of the Far East trade, Salem and to some extent Beverly, Gloucester, Marblehead and Newburyport were important shipping areas. In the early national period, vessels sailed to far off ports and brought back exotic and interesting items. Similarly, the fishing and farming occupations were equally evident in this rich county. Later manufacturing, specifically in the area of textiles and shoes, played a significant economic role. In this lesson, students will begin to understand the complexities involved in trade, barter, accounting and merchantilism. They will see that Essex County epitomizes the many types of occupations evident in New England and the new nation.

Initially students will examine an impost account primarily used to post customs duties. Later they will examine currency from local banks. Then using a game constructed for this lesson, students will see the interconnectedness of commerce on a local and national level.

Documents from the... National Archives, Waltham Mass

Impost books were accounts of vessels entering a port, their port of origin,information about the goods they brought in and, most importantly, the duties (taxes) they paid to the U.S. government on those commodities. Duties could be calculated based on a percentage of the value, or as a direct fee. Salem was a major shipping port during this period and brought in considerable revenue for the country as a whole.

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• Transcript (pdf)
• Salem Impost Book - July 17, 1801 -
• This page shows ships coming from Surinam, Manilla, Guadaloupe, Calcutta, and Sumatra. (Note the amount of pepper coming in from Sumatra. Salem was a leading exporter of pepper at that time) These ships carried a large variety of merchandize ; molasses, sugar, pepper, coffee, indigo (a blue dyestuff), tea, and cotton.

Primary Sources ...from the Beverly Historical Society

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• Bank Note, 1858, Bass River Bank
  
• Prior to the end of the Civil War, there was no national currency. Each bank produced their own "notes" (similar in some ways to checks) to represent their "hard currency" - gold or silver. The Bass River Bank was based in Beverly MA.

Primary Sources ...from the Andover Historical Society, Andover, MA

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• Bank Notes, 1856, Andover Bank
• Tthree and ten dollar notes from the Andover Bank.

Primary Sources ...from the Haverhill Historical Society, Haverhill, Mass.

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• Bank Notes, 1850s, Haverhill and Union Banks
• Bank notes were not just for dollar amounts. These notes are for one and five dollars and one for ten cents. The images on the notes show some of the important cultural and economic symbols of the time.Multiple bank notes are included in the image.

Resources created by our museum educator, Rebecca Zimmerman

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• Game board - contact museum educator for resource file
• Working in Essex County is a monopoly type game that uses, local and national cards to highlight events of significance from the founding of the towns through the pre-Civil War period. Students can choose to be a fisherman, farmer, ship owner, shoemaker, merchant or spinner. They get a set amount of money and travel around a game board that has images from various occupations and towns around Essex County. Upon landing on certain blocks they are required to pick up a local events or national events card. The goal of the game is to travel around the board twice and whoever gets to the end with the most money “wins”. After playing, students are asked to write down 3-5 new “facts” they learned about local and/or national history and how it affects “working”.

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• Background paper on Indigo
• Created from information obtained from website research, this background paper on indigo, which was an important trading commodity raised in the southern colonies, can be used to explain to students the nature of thr product that they will find on the impost accounts of good brought into the New England region

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• Background paper on Molasses
• Created from documents below (all of which were obtained through the generosity of the National Archives in Waltham, Massachusetts), this collage of eagle images can be used in a "concentration" type matching game for young elementary students. This lesson directly links to the Massachusetts frameworks by helping students recognize the "eagle" as a symbol of the United States government. Additional photos of the Customs house and City Hall eagles from Salem were taken by our museum educator, Rebecca Zimmerman.

Additional Teacher Resources...

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• Salem Merchants, Patriots and Privateers ...from the National Park Service, Salem, MA
• In this 16 page National Park Service lesson, students examine primary source documents to learn about the role of privateering during the American Revolution. Students discover why citizens became involved in privateering and how privateers helped the new nation during the war.

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• What a Dollar Would Buy in 1830 - ...from the Old Sturbridge Village website
• Many times people ask what the value of money was historically. This paper written by a scholar at Old Sturbridge Village details what one dollar would buy. Also included are what ten cents would buy and what one cent would buy. This source is also valuable to show the kinds of goods were available in New England at the time.