Appendix_a_Mid_Term

Axia College Material Appendix A Midterm Exam • Access the Week Four Electronic Reserve Readings located under the materials section of your student website. • Read, watch, and listen to the media presented on the Boston Tea Party. • Write a paragraph of approximately 100 words for each section listed below. 1. Using the critical thinking skills you have gained so far and referring to the materials provided for this assignment, identify two possible strategies that Thomas Hutchinson or Samuel Adams likely used to develop and improve their thinking as those historical events unfolded prior to taking a stand and acting according to their beliefs. Thomas Hutchinson and Samuel Adams likely noted their own and those of other’s dissatisfaction with The Tea Act Crisis as a strategy to develop and improve there thinking skills prior to taking a stand with the Boston Tea Party. I am sure they also recognized the opportunity that the controversy of the Boston Tea Party would cause. I also think that they probably used other strategies when planning the Boston Tea Party. They needed to be observant so they could plan how the process was going to play out. They needed to be aware of any imperfections in their plan so they could fix them as they became evident. They also needed to be sensitive to the implications of the outcome of their plan and how it would affect others. 2. Explain the importance of building a foundation for critical and creative thinking when evaluating historical events such as the Boston Tea Party. It is important to build a foundation for critical and creative thinking on evaluating historical events because you can become motivated to approach problems critically if you affirm that you have control over what you say and do and if you believe that careful thinking can make a difference. This helps us to get to the “truth”. Thinking we know something is not the same a knowing. We need to have the foundation to get the real truth behind historical events so we can really understand why and how they were carried out. Without a firm foundation of creative and critical thinking we will be unable to see both side of a story and determine just what this historic events di d to make things better or worse in their time. 3. Explain the basis of the moral judgments made by Samuel Adams and Thomas Hutchinson. Thomas Hutchinson was neither weak nor arbitrary he hoped to restore balance between the British Authorities and colonial rights. This was the basis of his moral judgments he was sure this was what was responsible for the liberty and order that 18th-century Massachusetts had enjoyed. Samuel Adams’ basis of his moral judgments was to make America independent from the British. He wanted to defend colonial rights against the British. He urged the other colonies to join Massachusetts in resisting Britain by refusing to trade with it. He felt the British were taking advantage of the colonies by charging more taxes than was necessary 4. What steps do you believe Samuel Adams and Thomas Hutchinson took toward becoming individuals and which steps ultimately made them such important historical figures' Thomas Hutchinson took steps he believed would keep balance between British rule and colonial rights. He desperately wanted to restore that balance, but played a key role in ensuring that ships from East India Company bearing tea were not unloaded and forced to return to England. I think this event played a big role in Hutchinson becoming a historical figure because in the end he went against England. Samuel Adams started out writing articles on public affairs for newspapers to gain political influence. The two steps that Adams took toward becoming an individual came much later when he incited the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Adams’ fight to make sure the colonies were separated from England made him an important historical figure. 5. In this class, we have discussed common habits that hinder critical thinking. Which of these habits may have been a factor in how Samuel Adams and Thomas Hutchinson viewed the issues that led to the Boston Tea Party' How could they have overcome those habits' Thomas Hutchinson wanted to please the British and the colonies at the same time, I think this was one of his bad habits; he needed to think for himself and he would have been able to make better decisions when it came to issues with the Boston Tea Party. I also think that if he had learned to deal with his frustrations over the British and the colonies being at odd’s he would have been able to come up with better solutions to the problems that arose during that time. Furthermore, I think both Thomas Hutchinson and Samuel Adams may have jumped in haphazardly justifying first impressions instead of testing them and coming up with better solutions and they may have had a lack of critical attitude and took too much for granted. Maybe they should have used other means to keep the tea from being unloaded from the ships instead of throwing it into the water and ruining someone else’s product but this could have resulted from a lack of time to come up with better ideas. 6. What is one important distinction you could not overlook making when critically evaluating the information provided in these materials about the Boston Tea Party' Clarify the importance of that distinction. The one important distinction I found when critically evaluating the information on the Boston Tea Party was the dedication that Samuel Adams had in making sure the colonies were separated from British rule. The Boston Tea Party (incited by Samuel Adams) played a huge role in setting off the chain of events that lead to the Revolutionary War, which in turn created the United States. Without his actions we might still be under British rule and would have never become the country we are today. We might not have the freedoms we are allowed to have. Samuel Adams is one of several people in our history who helped to create and mold our country and make it what it is today. 7. What strategies of critical reading, listening, and viewing did you utilize when evaluating the provided materials' When reading, listening, and viewing the material provided on the Boston Tea Party and its participants I first skimmed through the material to get an overview of what was being offered in its contents. I then thought about what details I already knew about the Boston Tea Party and its participants. I gave some thought to how I might be biased on the subject so that I was able to control those feelings during my study of the material. I then read, listened, and viewed the material and took notes highlighting the important points to get a better understanding of what the Boston Tea Party was about and what the participants wanted to accomplish by those events. I then sat back and read over the notes I had taken so that I could reflect a little more on why Samuel Adams and Thomas Hutchinson and the others involved in the Boston Tea Party felt they needed to go to the measure they did to stop the ships from being unloaded that day. Then I came up with my own judgment on those events and wrote down some pros and cons of the decisions that were made and though about what other options they might have had instead of the ones carried out. 8. Considering what you have learned about the Boston Tea Party, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Hutchinson, apply your creativity to describe what could have been done proactively to avoid the incident. I believe that the actual act of throwing the tea into the bay could have probably been avoided. That was a lot of merchandise that was ruined that day. I think that if Samuel Adams, Thomas Hutchinson, and some of the others had taken more time, maybe, to figure out a better plan it would have worked out to their advantage. They could have stopped the unloading by staging a protest or forcing the ships to undock and go back to England by not allowing them to move the tea off of the ships. I also must commend them for standing up for what they believe in. They may have been trying to find better ways to handle the situation but ran out of time and had to go with the best plan at the time. Either way the end result was what Samuel Adams had wanted all along and that was for the United States to be formed and free from British rule. 9. What techniques could you use to regain a level of curiosity about history or other subjects you learned previously in school' Some techniques I could use to help me regain a level of curiosity about history or other subjects learned previously are to be observant, become familiar with the things that are important for that subject. Second, look for imperfections, the need to net expect things to be perfect and the quest for finding the imperfections will keep you curious. Next, note dissatisfactions whether they are my own or those of others this will keep me interested and trying to figure out why people have differences of opinion on certain subjects. Then, searching for causes on how things got to be the way they are and how they work. I also need to be sensitive to implications, find out what impact something has made on other things. Finally, recognize the opportunity in controversy, be adventurous, explore new perspectives, and enrich my understanding of things. 10. Explain at least two key elements for producing ideas that you believe led the American colonists to the Boston Tea Party and the eventual American Revolution. The two key elements that lead the American colonist to produce ideas for the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution are searching for challenges and investigating the problem or issue. When searching for challenges it did not take educated people to realize that the British were taking advantage of the colonist by imposing unjust taxes on them for goods. So the colonist went to investigating the issue and obtained information necessary to deal effectively with the issue of the taxes being imposed on them by the British and coming up with a plan to effectively resolve the issue. Using both of these elements lead Samuel Adams, Thomas Hutchinson, and the colonist to incite the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution, which later cause the forming of the United States.