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Suggestions for Student Questions re: The Gaspee Incident
by John Ryder
Library Science
Classical High School
Providence, RI
A
Few questions
- Was Lt. Dudingston justified in using such
heavy-handed tactics? Do you think he may
have gotten better results with a lighter touch?
- Were the Colonists justified in attacking the Gaspee?
- Did John Brown have an economic motive in burning
the Gaspee?
- Do you think Captain Lindsey was actually in on the
plot? Do you think he deliberately
provoked Lt. Dudingston?
- Why did the crew of the Gaspee
surrender so quickly? Could they have
offered further resistance,
perhaps with Gaspee’s cannon?
- Why is it that when one bunch of colonists tosses
some tea into Boston Harbor, it’s remembered throughout the nation, yet
when a similar group of colonists enacts a complex plan to trap,
pillage, and burn a ship of the Royal Navy, it’s only known by a few
Rhode Islanders??
Social
Studies
- How does the Gaspee Incident fit into
the larger history of the Colony/State of Rhode Island?
- How does the Gaspee Incident fit into
the larger history of the American War of Independence?
- Is the use of violence in protest ever justified? Compare the Gaspee Incident with nonviolent
protests such as the March on Washington.
- How does smuggling affect the local economy?
Was the Gaspee
attacked so that smuggling could continued unabated?
English
- Write your own play/story about the
Gaspee Incident. Who would you cast as the
hero? Who would you cast as the villain?
- Should the Gaspee Incident be
mentioned in the same breath as the Boston Tea Party?
Write a persuasive essay defending your opinion.
- When we say that Dudingston was “court-martialed” for the
loss of the Gaspee, we tell a
half-truth when we fail to mention that this was standard procedure in
the British Navy of the day for any incident when a captain lost his
ship. Give another example of how telling
a half-truth can lead the listener to believe something quite different
from the actual circumstances.
Mathematics
- Figure out how much wood, metal, and
other materials were onboard. What was the
approximate weight of the fully laden Gaspee?
Ecology
- Do an environmental impact study on the effects of the
burning of the Gaspee.
Chemistry
- Describe the emissions that would
have resulted from the burning of the Gaspee.
Music
- Using a period tune (ex: “Yankee
Doodle”) write a song about the Incident from the perspective of the Hannah.
- of the Raiders, or
- of Gaspee’s
crew.
Forensics
- As a crime scene, what challenges are
present in water environment that are absent on land?
- If the Crown investigators had access
to a 21st century crime lab, what tools would they have been
able to use that were not available in 1772?
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