November, 2008 Workshop
Gloucester City Hall, Gloucester , Mass.

Documents for the How Do Governments Work? Lesson

This lesson was designed to stimulate students’ interest in the basic functions of government by having them examine primary sources which are representative of a number of different aspects of government.

Hopefully students will begin to realize that “government” per se is a complex concept and by examining governmental documents from a variety of venues will realize that government is an important structure whereby citizens of a country derive identity, gain security, and are able to improve their quality of life. Students then match the “purposes of government” discovered in the local documents to the goals outlined in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

Documents ...from the Gloucester Archives, Gloucester, MA

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• Excerpt from By Laws, Gloucester, c.1824 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This transcription of the first page of the By Laws as set out in 1824, concentrates on areas of safety, particularly in regards to fires and regulation of "traffic" on roads.

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• Town Meeting Warrant, Gloucester, c.1800s (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This town warrant is a fairly typical one for a Cape Ann community of the early 19th century. It opens with a summons to male "freeholders" who are also property owners, to assemble at the Meetinghouse, and gives the major issues of the meeting. A noteworthy subject is whether the swine, and likewise the cattle, will "go at large" over the next year.

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• Town Meeting Minutes, Gloucester, 1780 - "Walking" Ratification of the MA Constitution
• (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• Following the writing of the Ma Constitution, each town was required to approve the document. In Gloucester a tradition of walking to one side of the meeting house or the other to signify your vote was used for several important decisions (it was also a method used to support the Declaration of Independence) This would be a fun activity to act out with students in a classroom. .

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• Estimate for Town Expenses, Gloucester, c.1860 includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• As Gloucester grew in the 1800s, town affairs became more complicated. This document shows a variety of anticipated expenses - from the fire department to snow bills and the care of the insane. By 1860 Gloucester has established itself as a large and thriving community.

Documents ...from the Peabody Institute Library

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• Transcript (pdf)
• South Danvers School Committee Records (1836)
• These pages explore whether the school committee should approve repairs to the school house or seek funding to build a new one. Of note are the prices and the listed priorities of repair. On the 2nd page use of the school building for outside lectures is discussed as well as note made of salaries for a male and female teacher.
  

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• Statement of the Accounts of the Town of Danvers (1855-56)
• The first page of this volume gives a summary of the money spent by the town on various services and materials. There is a salary list of Town Officers. A comparison to today's city budgets would be an interesting exercise!

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• Transcript (pdf)
• Petition for Name Change (c.1860)
• In the 1860s, the inhabitants of the Town of South Danvers asked he legislature to allow them to change the name of their city to honor George Peabody. They list their reasons as being "mistakes of travellers and misdirection of letters."

Documents ...from the Beverly Historical Society

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• Transcript (pdf)
• List of Town Offices (1836)
• This short handwritten list of town offices includes jobs such as fence viewers, selectmen, overseers of the poor, and tythingmen. It shows the importance of particular occupations that were relevant in the time when Beverly was both a farming and seaport community.

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• By Laws of the Town of Beverly (1836)
• The Town of Beverly, as many early New England villages, had a history of trouble with fires. Consequently, their town records are full of salety measures to protect from unwanted fires. The first page of this document, the beginning of a small book, makes clear that the use of fire by townspeople is to be closely monitored.

Documents ...from the Boxford Historic Document Center

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• Town Meeting Minutes, Boxford, c.1780, proposed ammendments to MA Constitution (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This town meeting includes a committee report concerning the ratification of the MA Constitution. Boxford citizens did not fully agree with the document as written and offered a number of proposals - not all of which were adopted. The transcript of this document could be highlighted to be usuable with elementary students. This set of minutes shows the degree to which avarage citizens believed they could influence the state legislature. Note also the part religion played in early constitutions.

Documents ...from the City of Salem Archives

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• Town meeting minutes, Salem, 1700 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• This short synopsis of a town meeting in Salem deals mainly with the building of a Ferry to Beverly. The rent of which is to provide support for a Grammar school. Also in these minutes are appointments for offices and the raising of a tax to build a new meeting house.

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• Town meeting minutes, Salem, 1725 (includes article and transcript as .pdf)
• These town meeting minutes concern appointments of men to offices, payments for a writing school, licenses for an inn, payments to townspeople for support of poor citizens, mending of the town house windows and a sum to be paid for spinning materials to put a girl who is in jail to work.