Fact, opinion and loaded words in writing about the past

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   The shooting on King Street, Boston, March 5, 1770. Card A, a print (Paul Revere, a Boston silversmith and Patriot, based on a drawing by Henry Pelham; published within weeks; for Boston and colonial readers; to win sympathy against British troops). Its title: "The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King-Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a Party of the 29th Regt." Card B, a summary in our words: Captain Thomas Preston, the officer in charge of the soldiers, wrote from jail in March 1770 that he did not order his men to fire and that the crowd was threatening them. Card C, a summary in our words from the National Park Service and the Massachusetts Historical Society: on March 5, 1770, British soldiers fired into a crowd on King Street in Boston, and five colonists died. A jury found Preston not guilty in October, and in December 1770 six soldiers were found not guilty and two were found guilty of manslaughter.

2. 1.

   Which choice best describes what the loaded title of card A does, Ari asks?

   • Record what the soldiers themselves claimed about the crowd
   • Frame the shooting as a slaughter before any trial
   • State the court's verdict on what happened that night
   • Give a neutral count of the people who lost their lives
3. 2.

   Revere made card A to win sympathy; Preston wrote card B to defend himself. What do the two sources share, Bo asks?

   • Each was written by a neutral person who had no stake
   • Each is false because it shows just one side of events
   • Each came from someone with a stake in the verdict
   • Each was written by a soldier who fired that night
4. 3.

   Card C says Preston and six soldiers were found not guilty. How should Jun use that with card A's title?

   • It shows that Revere invented the shooting for his print
   • It shows that no one lost their life on King Street that night
   • It shows verdicts were mixed, though five lost their lives
   • It shows the soldiers were innocent of any wrong in the matter
5. 4.

   Which statement is best supported by all three cards, Kira asks?

   • People described it differently, but five lost their lives
   • The crowd alone was at fault for what happened that night
   • The soldiers alone were at fault for what happened that night
   • The three sources agree about who was to blame that night

6. Use this

   The trial, December 1770. Card D, a speech (John Adams, a Patriot lawyer who agreed to defend the soldiers, speaking to the jury in December 1770; spelling modernized): "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." Card E, a summary in our words: at the trial, witnesses did not agree about the crowd. Some said people threw snowballs, ice and sticks at the soldiers. Others said the crowd was not violent.

7. 5.

   What does 'Facts are stubborn things' mean in card D, Milo asks?

   • Facts tend to favor the side with the better courtroom lawyer
   • Evidence stays as it is, whatever people feel
   • Facts change as people's feelings and wishes change
   • Facts are hard to find, so juries should simply guess
8. 6.

   Adams was a Patriot defending British soldiers. Why is that useful to a historian reading card D, Noah asks?

   • It makes him worthless as a source, being on the soldiers' side
   • It shows Patriots agreed as a group on the soldiers' innocence
   • He argued against local anger, so his plea carries weight
   • It shows that the soldiers were innocent on each of the counts
9. 7.

   Card E says witnesses did not agree. What should a historian do, Pia asks?

   • Throw out the conflicting testimony as useless to history
   • Use just the account that blames the soldiers for it
   • Compare accounts and find where they overlap
   • Pick the account that matches the historian's guess
10. 8.

    Which statement fits cards D and E together, Ren asks?

    • Despite a call for facts, witnesses gave different accounts
    • Adams proved to the jury that the crowd had been violent
    • The trial ended the dispute about the event for good in 1770
    • Witnesses agreed on each detail of what happened that night
11. 9.

    Some people called the crowd a 'mob' and others called it 'citizens.' What does the choice of word do, Tala asks?

    • It shows the date and hour on which the crowd had formed
    • It settles whether the crowd threw objects at the soldiers
    • It gives the exact number of people who were in the crowd
    • It tilts the reader toward one side or the other
12. 10.

    Which source would best check what the crowd did that night, Zee asks?

    • Adams's speech, since it quotes the facts of the night
    • Testimony from several witnesses at the trial
    • Revere's print, since it shows the scene as it happened
    • A school poster about the shooting, made around the year 1970