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Salutary Neglect

Guiding Question:

  • What practices and institutions did colonists create to govern themselves?

Objectives 

  • Students will explain how salutary neglect contributed to colonies governing themselves.  

Student Resources:

  • Device with internet capabilities 

Teacher Resources:

  • Device with internet capabilities and smart board to display, if doing whole-group instruction  

Facilitation Notes

  • This lesson plan asks students to use Artificial Intelligence or AI. If your school allows students to use AI independently, students can work individually or in small groups. If students need adult supervision, this can be done as a whole class or with the help of a co-teacher, adult or older student volunteers. 

Engage

  • Post the following scenario “Eric’s parents don’t strictly enforce a bedtime, trusting him to manage his own sleep.” Then ask the following questions, discussing each with the class.  
    • How might this “hands-off” approach affect Eric’s behavior? 
    • Are there benefits or drawbacks to this type of supervision? 
    • Now imagine his parents start to take his phone, enforce a lights-out time, and say no TV or video games after 9pm, how do you think Eric will respond? 
  • After a brief discussion, say to students “Today we will look at a similar scenario that happened in history with the colonists and Great Britain. There was a time when Great Britain, the parents in this scenario, left the colonists, Eric, alone to do their own thing and then the British started enforcing rules. As we discussed, it was not popular and caused many disagreements.”

Explore 

  • Before class begins, prepare the classroom smart board or projector to display your AI searches for students. 
    • If students are working independently or in small groups, prepare them (see Facilitation Note).  
  • Begin by asking AI “What was salutary neglect?”  

Teacher note: If this is the first time using AI, it is helpful to tell the system the answers need to be generated for a middle school classroom so “Please explain what salutary neglect was for a middle schooler” is a good place to begin.  

  • Read the answer, have students record the question and summarize the answer into their own words on a plain piece of lined paper. 
  • Formulate the next question with a stem of “who, when, where, why, or how” based on any information not given in the AI generated answer.  

Teacher note: Requiring students to create a question based on AIs answer will challenge students to read the answers thoroughly and think creatively to formulate a new question.  

  • Continue by reading the answer to the new question and asking another question with a stem not already used (who, when, where, why, or how) until all the stems are used or students can create and answer questions from the responses generated by AI for each stem.  
    • Sample questions: 
      • When did salutary neglect end? 
      • Who governed the colonists if the British were not ruling them? 
      • How did the colonists respond to the end of salutary neglect?  
      • Why did colonial self-governance bother Great Britain? 
      • Where did the end of salutary neglect have the biggest effect?  

Assess & Reflect

  • Have students complete the following sentences, after putting away their devices if necessary. 
    • Great Britain ended salutary neglect because… 
    • The end of salutary neglect upset the colonists because… 

 AND/OR 

  • Collect student question and answer pages to review their summaries and provide feedback.  

 

Extend 

  • Have students analyze this quote by British politician Edmund Burke from a speech he gave in front of the British parliament in March 1775.   

 “[W]hen I know that the Colonies in general owe little or nothing to any care of ours, and that they are not squeezed into this happy form by the constraints of watchful and suspicious government, but that through a wise and salutary neglect, a generous nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection: when I reflect upon these effects, when I see how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the pride of power sink,” 

  • What does he say the colonies owe Great Britain? 
  • Why does Burke say the colonies are in a “happy form?” Was it because of a “watchful and suspicious government” OR “wise and salutary neglect”?  
  • In Burke’s opinion, had the colonies been selfish, perfect, or profitable to Great Britain?