Topic: Economics
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Stowage of the British Slave Ship
This image shows how captured Africans were to be stowed on British slave ships. Published in an abolitionist pamphlet, it was intended to evoke the horrors of the slave trade....
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Sugar Act
The Sugar Act of 1764 was a revision of the Molasses Act of 1733. The law lowered the duty on foreign molasses imported into the colonies but also tightened enforcement...
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Tea Act
The Tea Act was an effort to rescue the East India Company from bankruptcy. The law lowered the tax on East India tea and gave the Company a monopoly on...
Lesson Plan
The debate over the Assumption Plan and the Bank of the United States: Why did Jefferson disagree with Hamilton?
What are the components of a successful economy? How does an economic system deal with debt? Students will evaluate Jefferson’s ideas about how the early economic system of the United...
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The Examination of Dr. Benjamin Franklin
This document is a record of Benjamin Franklin’s testimony before Parliament in 1766. After colonists began to protest against the Stamp Act, political leaders in London asked Franklin to explain...
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The Federal Edifice, from the Massachusetts Centinel
This image is a political cartoon published during the debate over the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. It reflects the fact that by August 1788 eleven of the 13 states...
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The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions
James Akin’s earliest-known signed cartoon, “The Prairie Dog” is an anti-Jefferson satire, relating to Jefferson’s covert negotiations for the purchase of West Florida from Spain in 1804. Jefferson, as a...
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The Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith published his important book, The Wealth of Nations, in the same year that the American Revolution began. Smith’s work notes the importance of colonies in maintaining British prosperity...
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Tobacco Houses
This print shows how tobacco was produced and marketed. The leaves were picked, sorted, dried, placed in barrels, and then inspected and sold at a public warehouse. On large plantations...Lesson Plan