Harpswell’s historic meetinghouse, completed in 1759, came into existence at a time of upheaval, a time when tempers ran high, a time when the widening gap between a new breed of patriot and those who remained loyal to King George III was becoming untenable, a time in which a new country was on the verge of being formed.
One of the most contentious topics during that period in history involved taxes imposed by the British government, particularly the Tea Act of 1773.
That tax and the passions it aroused were brought to life again on May 30 when students from Harpswell Community School and Bowdoin Central School came together in the heart of historic Harpswell to reenact a debate originally held in the Old South Meeting House in Boston — a debate that ended with more than 90,000 pounds of English tea at the bottom of Boston Harbor.
According to Dave Hackett, president of the Harpswell Historical Society, the town’s meetinghouse would have served a vital role for residents in the period just prior to the Revolutionary War. Citizens would have gathered there to hear and discuss the news of the day. The Declaration of Independence was likely read aloud to the townspeople from the dark green pulpit with its commanding view of the building’s interior.
“You can have a tea tax debate with fifth graders in any building, but to have one that is from the time period? That makes it a whole lot more meaningful,” Hackett said.
Abby Svenson, who teaches fifth grade at Harpswell Community School, agreed.
“Going to the Old Meeting House and dressing up makes it more of an event than if we just did it in our classroom,” she said. “Kids get way more into it. I mean, they are not going to yell ‘Huzzah!’ in my classroom.”
The atmosphere in the meetinghouse is more conducive to raised voices, so yell “Huzzah!” they did — loudly and often as each student stood and made their case, either for loyalty to the king or for revolution.
The fifth graders portrayed historical figures, both loyalist and patriot. They crafted their own debate points based on character sketches and summaries from the lesson materials.
Arguments ranged from demands for just and fair taxation to accusations of abuse of power to pleas for peace. Some spoke of a fear of violence from the Sons of Liberty, a patriot organization whose members had been known to tar and feather those who disagreed with them, while others were equally fearful of reprisals from the king and his redcoats.
Several Bowdoin Central students invented characters — wives or mothers or sisters to stand in for the Colonial women who would not have been allowed to attend the original meeting in Boston.
“It’s really important to us as educators to make sure that girls have their voices heard,” said Steve Crowe, who teaches fifth grade at Bowdoin Central with Jessica Theberge. “Even though those voices weren’t allowed to be heard necessarily in history.”
Enthusiasm among the students was high before, during and after the event.
Saige Leemna said she “thought it was really cool” to stand in a building where such debates occurred, and to do so in a building older than the country itself.
Vanessa McClenahan appreciated how the building’s acoustics magnified the volume of the debate, giving it a raucous energy that felt true to the spirit of the time.
“They were loud because everyone was so enthusiastic about it,” she said. “They really felt their part.”
For Eva Chase, being in costume inside an actual meetinghouse from the period made the experience feel authentic.
“It’s cool to see their take on it, what they come up with,” Svenson said about the variety of costumes that were found at thrift shops, pulled from the backs of closets, ordered online or created at home. Pulling socks over baseball pants mimicked Colonial knickers. Strategically pinning a floppy hat echoed the tricorne hats of the time.
The schools have staged the tea tax debate for years, but it had not been held at the meetinghouse since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowe said he was happy to return the lesson to its previous state as a site-based learning experience.
“It was pretty robust and then it wasn’t,” he said, citing the past inclusion of music and art in the lesson. “The goal is to get back to how we were before.”
The lesson plan for the debate itself presents an array of educational opportunities. Students learn about Colonial history, political history, the history of protest. They conduct research, write speeches and learn how to argue a point. They participate in public speaking, debate, even performance.
For Crowe, it’s also important that his students learn that “you have to be an active participant” in a democracy.
“And if you’d like for things to be different, you have to do things about it, and you have to do them in a way that’s public and in a way that people will understand and support your opinion if you articulate it the right way,” he said.
Svenson wants her students to gain a sense of the uncertainty that existed in the past. “When you study history, you know how it turned out,” she said. “But when these people were in history, they didn’t know what was going to happen. I think the tea tax debate brings to light that it could have gone the other way. It was pretty far-fetched that the patriots would go to war with England and win eventually.”
She hopes her students come away from the debate with an understanding that there are at least two sides to every issue.
“It’s also just fun,” she said. “They love the huzzahs.”
The meetinghouse in Harpswell Center was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968. For more information about the building, go to harpswellhistorical.org.
