Teachers' Guide
to
Torture and the Truth:
Angélique and the Burning of Montréal
Website created by
Denyse Beaugrand-Champagne
Léon Robichaud
Teachers' Guide created by
Ruth Sandwell
Léon Robichaud
Denyse Beaugrand-Champagne
A Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History Project
Project Co-directors:
John Lutz
Ruth Sandwell
Peter Gossage
“Torture and the Truth: Angélique and the Burning of Montréal” Teachers' Guide
Table of Contents
Table of Contents — 2
Teachers’ Support — 5
THE UNIT — 6
Fitting this Unit into your Provincial Curriculum — 6
Introduction — 8
Unit Overview — 9
Instructional Outcomes — 9
Instructional Strategies — 9
Culminating Activity — 10
Recommended Time Frame — 10
Unit Overview — 11
The Lessons Summarized — 11
Lesson 1 — Building Students’ Background Knowledge: What Happened on April 10, 1734?- 13
Lesson 2 — Historical Contexts: Learning More about Montréal in 1734 — 17
Lesson 3 — Learning to Read Historical Documents — Changing Attitudes Toward Criminal Justice — 19
Lesson 4 — Whom Should we Believe? Evaluating the Credibility of Evidence — 21
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Lesson 5 – Developing Criteria for Evaluating Racial Relations — 23
Lesson 6 — Differences in Perspectives: Reading Official Documents — 24
Lesson 7 — Is this Event Significant? The Textbook Test — 27
Lesson 8 — How Does a Society Justify the Use of Torture? — 28
Lesson 9 — Writing Biographies — 30
Lesson 10 — Culminating Event: Point of View Panel Discussion — 31
SUPPORT MATERIALS — 33
Support Material 1, Briefing Sheet — 34
“Torture and the Truth: Angélique and the Burning of Montréal” — 34
Support Material 2, Activity Sheet — 36
Support Material 3, Activity Sheet — 37
Support Material 4, Activity Sheet — 38
Support Material 5, Activity Sheet — 39
Support Material 6, Activity Sheet — 40
Support Material 7, Activity Sheet – 41
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Support Material 8, Activity Sheet — 42
Support Material 9, Activity Sheet — 43
Support Material 10, Activity Sheet — 44
Support Material 11, Activity Sheet — 45
The Integrated Unit Option — 46
Some Suggested Grade Levels and Subject Areas — 46
Science Components — 46
Mathematical Components — 46
Geographical Components — 47
Language Arts Components — 47
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Teachers’ Support
and
The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History Websites
As the Teachers’ Support section of The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History websites outlines (http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/teachers/indexen.html), these sites provide five kinds of support for teachers:
— a summary of the Foundational Ideas of history teaching that informs the Mysteries Project;
— a detailed Teachers’ Guide for each of the sites;
— short MysteryQuest lesson plans;
— a series of scaffolding activities and briefing sheets to introduce students to Key Concepts in Historical Thinking;
— access to the password protected “Interpretations” portion of the website.
1. Foundational Ideas gives you a thumbnail sketch of the teaching philosophy behind the Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History websites, as well as a more detailed examination of the four different levels at which these sites ‘work’ as ways to teach and learn about history.
See: http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/en/foundationalIdeas.php
2. Teachers’ Guides contain detailed, graduated, multi-lesson, and age-appropriate unit plans as well as free-standing lessons for elementary and secondary students.
See: http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/teachers/guides/indexen.php
3. Short, focused, age-specific, single-lesson MysteryQuests include detailed lesson plans and teacher support relating to one or more of the Mystery sites. Each of the MysteryQuest lessons employs the popular and student-friendly Webquest format to present a lesson that uses The Critical Thinking Consortium’s “Critical Challenge” approach and a small selection of primary documents from the sites to create short but powerful lessons involving students in thinking critically about history.
See: http://www.mysteryquests.ca
4. Concepts in Historical Thinking provides activities and briefing sheets to introduce students to key concepts in historical thinking that they will be using as they work with these Mysteries. This part of the site is in active development at this time and currently includes three exercises: “What are Primary Documents?”, “History vs. the Past”, and “Testimony vs. Evidence”.
See: http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/teachers/keyconcepts/indexen.html
5. Teachers are also eligible to request access to the password-protected “Interpretations” part of each of the Mysteries Website allowing you to read historians’ interpretations of the documents on the site. This section is password protected in order to encourage students to develop their own interpretations of primary documents, rather than relying on other people’s interpretations.
See: http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/teachers/login/indexen.php
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THE UNIT:
Torture and the Truth:
Angélique and the Burning of Montréal
~ A unit of study designed to foster critical thinking
in the intermediate and junior secondary level Canadian history curriculum ~
Fitting This Unit into Your Provincial Curriculum
Our Teacher’s Guide team has done some research into provincial curricula across Canada; “Torture and the Truth: Angélique and the Burning of Montréal” can be used effectively in the following courses. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) are ones where the teacher may need to do a little improvising to ensure that the lessons – designed specifically here for intermediate and junior secondary students – are at the appropriate level.
Alberta
— Social Studies 9 – IOP
— Social Studies 10 – Canada in the Modern World
British Columbia
— Social Studies 11 – Canadian Identity *
Manitoba
— Senior 1 Social Studies – Canada Today
New Brunswick
— Grade 9 – A Global Perspective Through Understanding
Newfoundland
— Grade 9 – Canada: Our Land and Heritage
Nova Scotia
— Grade 7 – Social Studies
— Canadian History 11*
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Nunavut & NWT
— Grade 9 – The Growth of Canada
Ontario
— Grade 8 – Compulsory History and Geography
— History 10 – Canadian History in the 20th Century
— Civics 10
Prince Edward Island
— Grade 9 – History 300
— Canadian Studies 401 (Grade 10)
Québec
— History of Québec and Canada, Secondary 4
— History of Québec and Canada, New Curriculum, Secondary 3 and 4
Saskatchewan
— Social Studies 8 – The Individual and Society
— Social Studies 9 – The Roots of Society
— Social Studies 10 (unit 3)
Yukon
(see British Columbia)
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Introduction
“Torture and the Truth:
Angélique and the Burning of Montréal”
You may think that the fire that destroyed Montréal in 1734 happened so long ago that it has little relevance to Canadians today. On the contrary: this fire, and the trial that followed, not only relate to key themes and issues in Canadian history, but these events are the stuff of everyday media coverage in contemporary Canada. The public desire to find a scapegoat after a traumatic event – particularly one involving illicit social and sexual relations – and the use of torture to extract information from suspects are issues which regularly make headlines in both Canadian and international newspapers, as the public, the media and the authorities try to identify who and what is to blame for the tragedy. Often, rumour spreads that “others” are responsible – people of a different race, of a different religion, of a different class, of a different value system – in effect, people who do not conform to a certain norm. Once the potential culprits are identified as “others,” many people accept that they should no longer be given the same rights which protect “average” citizens from abusive judicial procedures.
Angélique was a Black slave who lived in Montréal, a French colonial town, in the eighteenth century. Following a major fire which destroyed part of the town, rumour spread that she had set her mistress’ house on fire to cover an escape with her White lover. The public rumour led to her arrest, as allowed by French criminal law at the time, and witnesses testified to what they had heard, but no one could prove that she had set the fire. Faced with inconclusive evidence, the judge was about to stop the trial when the prosecutor brought forth a final witness, a five-year-old girl, who testified that she had seen the slave go upstairs carrying fire in a shovel. Angélique was therefore found guilty, tortured so as to obtain a confession, and executed. Someone had been punished, justice had been served and Montréalers could focus on the task of rebuilding their houses and their lives.
While Angélique's fate has been deemed normal by the standards of the time (capital punishment was accepted as a sentence for arsonists), recent observers have revisited her case. Was she the victim of a judicial error? Was she in fact guilty and was rebelling against her servile status? Is this type of outcome only possible under an early modern justice system which does not allow for the presumption of innocence? Are we still sometimes quick to pass judgment on potential suspects and are authorities under pressure to find a culprit?
In this fascinating and challenging unit, students will work through a series of tasks designed to tease out clues as to what happened, why Angélique was executed and what the attitudes and expectations towards race relations were in New France. They will have the opportunity to study first hand primary-source documents from the trial and from eighteenth-century philosophers’ reflections on the justice system. In order to better understand Angélique and the world in which she lived, students will be drawn into a broader study of life and culture in New France, including the existence of slavery. In the culminating activity, students will conduct panel discussions on Angélique’s possible motives and guilt, her relationship with her fellow Montréalers, and the appropriateness of her sentence.
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Unit Overview
Concepts:
— Acquire an understanding of the challenges and issues facing people living in a town in New France
— Develop a sensitivity to the differing points of view concerning the role of women and the status of slaves in New France in comparison with the present day
— Confront evidentiary challenges, including incompleteness and interpretative errors, differentiate the quality of evidence and observe inconsistencies in testimony
— Evaluate the quality and fairness of judicial process
— Acquire an understanding of the broader social and historical contexts of New France
Instructional Outcomes
- Identify and clarify a problem, an issue, and an inquiry
— Develop a vocabulary for historical documents analysis
— Plan and conduct research using primary and secondary sources and electronic sources
— Generate and critique different interpretations of primary and secondary sources
— Assess and defend a variety of positions on controversial issues
— Construct a narrative from pieces of evidence that are non-sequential
— Plan, revise, and deliver formal presentations using a variety of media
— Demonstrate leadership by planning, implementing, and assessing a variety of strategies to address the problem, issue, or inquiry initially defined
— Refine abilities to construct and defend an argument
Instructional Strategies
Need for Computer Lab Time:
While this entire unit is fully integrated with the Angélique Website, most tasks can be completed if the requisite documents are printed ahead of time and given to students. In this way, classes with limited access to computer lab time can still complete the unit.
Assessment & Evaluation:
Because assessment and evaluation standards vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, only generalized guidelines have been included here. Instructors may wish to assign process marks for completion of the various tasks, or not, if their students are sufficiently mature enough to recognize that the successful completion of the various tasks is crucial to successful completion of the culminating activity.
The characteristics of A/A+ in critical thinking for specific tasks:
(Look for evidence of appropriateness to grade level)
— documents and sources are read and interpreted in depth;
— issues are analyzed seriously and thoughtfully;
— presentations and talks are given carefully, with material well-prepared and organized, and points well thought out;
— results are expressed cautiously and are supported with reference to appropriate evidence;
— opinions are reasoned
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Culminating Activity
Students will participate in panel discussions and consider the following questions:
Was Angélique guilty?
Why were changes dropped against Claude Thibault, her lover?
Were there aspects of Angélique ‘s character that made people conclude that ‘she had done it’?
Were the Montréal authorties searching for a scapegoat? If so, why?
In panel discussion A, student participants will take on the roles of various individuals involved in the case, including the mistress, the judge, the slave next store, the servant, the children in her care, and the neighbours and will present their perspectives of the 1734 case.
In panel discussion B, students participants will take on the role of present-day historians and journalists. They will debate the questions above, but will also consider the question of how Angélique’s story should be told today, in a fair-minded and balanced fashion.
Accurate, detailed notes from the completion of all tasks will prove invaluable to students as they complete the culminating activity.
Recommended Time Frame
If you intend to include all instructional strategies, allow 20 periods for this unit in a junior secondary level course. Adjust as appropriate to meet the needs of different learners and instructional time limitations. Many of the tasks also stand independently and can be pulled out and used as single lessons if required.
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Unit Overview
The Lessons Summarized
Key Question
What do the Burning of Montréal and the trial of Angélique reveal about attitudes towards slaves in New France?
Lesson 1:
What Happened on the night of April 10, 1793?
Determining the Evidence of the Case
2 classes
Students are introduced to the details of the burning of Montréal of 1734 and the subsequent trial, conviction and execution of Angélique, a Black slave. In the first day of the two-class lesson, the teacher encourages students to think of two kinds of questions – questions about the particular circumstances and questions about the general contexts in which the events occurred – which they would need answered in order to understand how the fire could have started. In the second class of this lesson, students narrow their focus and work through detailed worksheets to answer two questions: How do we know what happened on the evening of April 10? What evidence is there that Angélique should be charged with arson?
Lesson 2:
Historical Contexts:
Learning More About Montréal in 1734
3 classes
In this three-class Lesson, students work in groups to explore one of six areas that provide a broader context for understanding the event: global issues; North American issues; Canadian issues; society in New France; daily living and new technology; and life in the households of New France. They create a poster that represents their research, and present it to the class.
Lesson 3:
Learning to Read Historical Documents:
Changing Attitudes Toward Criminal Justice
1 class
Students begin the class with a discussion of contemporary expectations of the due process of justice. Students then explore a series of documents, noting the inferences that they can make about the presumption of innocence, the rights of the accused and the search for evidence, more specifically in comparing the French inquisitorial system and the English adversarial system.
Lesson 4:
Whom Should we Believe?
Evaluating the Credibility of Evidence
1 class
The Lesson is designed to help students develop criteria for judgment about the context surrounding this case by inviting them to read some of the documents on the site, and collectively create a set of criteria for evaluating the credibility of evidence.
Lesson 5:
Developing Criteria for Evaluating Race Relations
1 class
In this Lesson, students develop criteria for evaluating racial relations in the present and in New France, and discuss these issues in relation to the Angélique case.
Lesson 6:
Differences in Perspective:
Reading Official Documents
2 classes
In this lesson, students are introduced to some of the factors that shape the writing of official documents. Students begin by examining the intendant’s account of the trial, and writing a critical assessment of it. In the second class, students work in groups with those who read depositions from the trial, comparing different accounts of the same events in the Angélique trial. The lesson concludes with a class discussion to explain the discrepancies.
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Lesson 7:
Is this Event Significant?
The Textbook Test
1 class
In this class, students examine their textbook to explore the kinds of issues covered by school history. Using the textbook and other kinds of historical writing, students then debate whether or not this is a historically significant event.
Lesson 8:
How Does a Society Justify the Use of Torture?
2 classes
After discussing Canada’s contemporary policy regarding torture, students read the regulations and correspondence related to torture. Students are given a position for or against the use of torture in a colonial setting which they must support in a debate that takes place in the second class of this lesson.
Lesson 9:
Writing Biographies
2-3 classes
In this lesson, students are invited to write a fair-minded biography of one of the three main actors in the Angélique case.
Lesson 10:
Culminating Event:
Point of View Panel Discussion (a one-period event)
4 classes
In this lesson, students take on the persona of either a present-day observer of this trial (as a historian or journalist) or of one of the key historical characters in the case. In this persona, students will participate in one of two panel discussions of key questions about this case.
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Lesson 1:
Building Students’ Background Knowledge — What Happened on April 10, 1734?
Determining “The Facts” of the Case
Days 1 and 2 of unit
(Two classes, assuming 75-minute periods)
Overview:
Students are introduced to the details of the burning of Montréal of 1734 and the subsequent trial, conviction and execution of Angélique, a Black slave. In the first day of the two-class lesson, the teacher encourages students to think of two kinds of questions – questions about the particular circumstances and questions about the general contexts in which the events occurred – which they would need answered in order to understand how the fire could have started. In the second class of this lesson, students narrow their focus and work through detailed worksheets to answer two questions: How do we know what happened on the evening of April 10? What evidence is there that Angélique should be charged with arson?
Support Materials used in this Site:
Support Material 1: “The Historical Context of the Fire” (Briefing Sheet)
Support Material 2: “What Else Do You Need to Know?” (Activity Sheet)
Support Material 3: “First Document: Class Jigsaw” (Activity Sheet)
Support Material 4: “How Did the Fire Begin?” (Activity Sheet)
Suggested Documents on the Website to use in this Lesson:
Secondary Sources
“Welcome”
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/accueil/indexen.html
“The Fire, Saturday, April 10, 1734”
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/montrealbrule/10avril1734/indexen.html
Primary Sources
Court Documents:
— Petition by the King's prosecutor for the arrest of Angélique and of Claude Thibault, 11 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1867en.html
- Report of the arrest of Angélique by bailiff Jean-Baptiste DeCoste, morning, 11 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1869en.html
- First interrogation of Angélique, afternoon audience, 12 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1872en.html
- Deposition of Marie dit Manon, 4th witness, audience of 2 in the afternoon, 14 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1880en.html
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- Addition of information by Amable Lemoine Monière, 23rd witness, 5 in the afternoon, 26 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2045en.html
- Interrogation under torture (ordinary and extraordinary), audience of 7 in the morning, 21 June 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2065en.html
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Lesson 1, Class 1
(Day 1 of unit)
Activities:
1. Tell students that what they are about to study for the next 20 classes will deal with how a town reacts to a disaster. They will be exploring a society divided by birth and by class, where slavery, torture and capital punishment are accepted. They will need to understand this society in its own terms before trying to quickly judge individual behaviours.
Review from preparatory lesson the distinction between primary and secondary sources:
a. Secondary sources are those written or created some time after the event/issues you are studying occurred. Examples include history books, textbooks and movies depicting historical events. They are the attempt of a person or persons to interpret the events/issues etc. that are being studied, usually in the historical context established in part by other historians writing on the same and related topics.
b. Primary sources are the records that are created at or close to the time being studied. Examples include letters, diaries, census reports, newspaper reports, shopping lists, government reports. They may or may not have been created for the benefit of posterity, and they may or may not have been created to answer the questions you might find interesting or relevant (for example, a personal journal may have been written to help an individual clarify their thoughts about their upcoming marriage. As a historian, you might find and use evidence in this journal about dietary habits of young women, as well as finding evidence of what at least one person thought about marriage. Keeping a record of food was not the journal author’s intent, and neither was it their desire to create a record for historians about marriage, but you might read it for either or both kinds of evidence.)
2. Paraphrase Support Materials 1: The Historical Context of the Fire to students to set the stage. Then, arrange students in pairs, distribute copies of the documents below, and ask them to read
— “Welcome”
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/accueil/indexen.html
- “The Fire, Saturday, April 10, 1734”
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/montrealbrule/10avril1734/indexen.html
3. Explain that in this unit, thanks to a special project called Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History, we are going to explore the mystery of Angélique’s trial following the Montréal fire of 1734. Primary source material relating to her case has been gathered and digitized, including the transcripts of her trial, and the testimony of witnesses. What happened on that Saturday evening? Who set the fire? Could it have been an accident? What does the Angélique case tell us about the evolution of criminal justice? What can we learn from her case about what daily life was like so many years ago? What can we learn from her case about attitudes towards slavery? In working through this unit, we will also be learning the skills historians use to write history. You will work with the materials historians work with, and you will see for yourself the difficult choices historians have to make when they write their histories, including what gets chosen to appear in your textbooks.
4. Explain to students that our first step as historians is to “define the scope of our inquiry” – to figure out what we need to learn more about in order to understand this case. After reading the two documents referenced in the second step, ask each pair of students to generate a list of items or questions for further inquiry. What questions are raised in your minds? What do you need to know more about? (Give examples of 5Ws and How, and also the broader social and historical contexts). Give students 10-15 minutes to generate a list of questions under the two heading areas, Specifics of the Event and Historical Contexts found on Support Material 2: What Else Do You Need to Know?.
5. Share step A: Move the students into groups of six, their home groups for the unit. Ask each group to generate one list from the three pairs. The pairs will have some common questions and some original contributions (this should be quick – it’s even faster if they begin the class with the desks already organized into “home” groups of six). (Part of the purpose of this exercise is to generate appreciation for the varying perspectives that different people bring to the same problem).
6. Share step B: Each group shares with the class. Generate one master list of areas of inquiry either on the overhead or a protected board area. Teachers can flesh out the questions if necessary, but encourage students to see potential gaps for themselves.
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7. Whole group discussion: Leave the areas of inquiry list up and explain how it will provide a frame of reference for the class during the unit.
8. Homework: Ask students to familiarize themselves with the project Website http://canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/home/indexen.html and/or to re-read the documents distributed in class.
Lesson 1, Class 2
(Day 2 of unit)
Activities:
Jigsaw
1. Set the stage: Students have two key questions to answer today. How do we know about the fire? What evidence is there that Angélique should be charged with arson?
2. Move students into expert groups: Students are put into expert groups (five expert groups). Each group is given one document from the list below and asked to complete the following charts (each student will need a copy of the chart to take back to their home group).
3. First, students determine what information from each document purports to be factual or what instead gives us a window into the social and cultural world of New France. Support Material 3: “First Document: Class Jigsaw” Step 1.
4. Second, now that students have sorted out facts/information from testimony/opinion, they complete the chart below. Support Material 3: “First Document: Class Jigsaw” Step 2.
5. Students return to their home group (each group of six will have two from one expert group) to combine the evidence from all five documents, completing Support Material 4: How Did the Fire Begin?”
6. Whole class discussion
a. Was your group able to determine how the fire began from just one document? Why?
b. What happened when you combined documents? Could you determine how the fire began? Why or why not?
c. Historians know and expect that different primary-source documents, as you have seen here, reveal different interpretations of the same events. Documents also contain different kinds of truths: the world as the author or speaker sees it and clues about the broader social and cultural world in which the author or speaker lived – what they valued, what they thought was important. What do these documents tell you about Angélique’s world?
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Lesson 2:
Historical Contexts
Learning More about Montréal in 1734
(Three classes)
BOOK LIBRARY TIME FOR THIS CLASS
Overview:
In this three-class lesson, students work in groups to explore one of six areas that provide a broader context for understanding the crime: global issues; North American issues; Canadian issues; society in New France; daily living and new technology; and life in the households of New France. They create a poster that represents their research, and present it to the class.
Group presentations/poster:
Depending on students’ background knowledge and level of historical awareness, you may wish to take an extra period for this activity.
Supplies needed:
Bristol board and markers/glue sticks
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Lesson 2, Class 1
(Day 3 of unit)
Activities:
1. Organize students into their home groups again. Each group will research and create a poster on one of the following topics, which will hang in the classroom until the completion of the unit. As these are junior-level secondary students, they will need some direction with respect to research strategies and sources. To expedite matters, the instructor/librarian can identify and/or set aside appropriate textbooks and reference works (the Canadian Historical Atlas is invaluable for demographic information).
a. Global Issues (1715-1744): World population? What main events were happening outside of Canada? (e.g. Things like the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, a period of peace between France and Great Britain, the development of great empires by France and Great Britain, the growth of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, etc.).
b. North American Issues (1715-1744): What was happening outside the Saint Lawrence valley? (construction of a fortress at Louisbourg, exploration of the interior of the continent, war between the French and the Fox, economic and demographic growth of the Thirteen Colonies, etc).
c. Canadian Issues (1715-1744): What was life like in the Saint Lawrence Valley, then called Canada? (Demographic statistics. Major cities? Who was governor? Who was intendant? What were the major exports?).
d. Society in New France: What were the social groupings in the urban society (civilian and military officers, merchants, craftsmen, labourers, soldiers, domestics, slaves)? What were the attitudes of the elite towards the lower classes (day labourers, domestics and slaves)?
e. Daily Living and New Technology: How did people live? (aristocracy, bourgeoisie, craftsmen, peasants, labourers, soldiers, domestics, slaves). What technology was available to people for communication? transportation? food preservation and storage? heating and lighting? Was technology evolving?
f. Life in the Households of New France (rural/urban): Contrast and compare urban and rural life in New France. What role did the Catholic Church play in everyday life? What career options were available to both men and women? How much education did people have and where was it available?
2. Homework: Complete researching questions assigned to individuals by group members, if necessary.
Lesson 2, Class 2
(Day 4 of unit)
1. Students return to their home groups and assemble their poster on Bristol board for the group presentation.
Lesson 2, Class 3
(Day 5 of unit)
1. Presentations are short (eight-minute news flashes) and then the posters are affixed to the classroom walls for the duration of the unit.
Optional assessment
Posters can be assigned a group mark, group members can also evaluate their own and others’ contributions to the project.
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Lesson 3:
Learning to Read Historical Documents — Changing Attitudes Toward Criminal Justice
Inference versus Direct Observation
(One class)
Overview:
Students begin the class with a discussion of contemporary expectations of the due process of justice. Students then explore a series of documents, noting the inferences that they can make about the presumption of innocence, the rights of the accused and the search for evidence.
Support Material:
Support Material 5: “Rights and Due Process” (Activity Sheet)
Support Material 6: “Rights and Due Process in New France” (Activity Sheet)
Suggested Documents:
Primary Sources
1. Court Documents
— Re-examination of Ignace Gamelin son, Jeanne Nafrechoux, Marguerite César dit Lagardelette, Charlie dite Charlotte Desrivières, Alexis Lemoine Monière, Jeanne Tailhandier dit Labaume, 13 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1906en.html
- Addition of information by Amable Lemoine Monière, 23rd witness, 5 in the afternoon, 26 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2045en.html
- Confrontation of Amable Lemoine Monière, last witness, with Angélique, 8 in the morning, 27 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2050en.html
- Legal opinion by Charles-René Gaudron de Chevremont, counsellor and judge, second interrogation on the criminal seat, 4 June 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2060en.html
2. Books
— Procedure relative to the interrogation of witnesses
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/books/2126en.html
- Proof by common knowledge.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/books/2137en.html
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Lesson 3, Class 1
(Day 6)
Preparation:
Ask students to work individually and consider society’s present-day expectations regarding the due process of criminal justice. Complete Support Material 5: Rights and Due Process before class
Activities:
1. Assign one document from the list below per group. Each group should skim the document and get a sense of the overall testimony. Then the group should divide the document into thirds. Each pair should analyze a third of the document, looking for statements from which they can infer information about the judicial process (as in Task 4 above) in New France.
Books:
— “Procedure relative to the interrogation of witnesses”
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/books/2126en.html
- “Proof by common knowledge.”
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/books/2137en.html
Court Documents:
— Re-examination of Ignace Gamelin son, Jeanne Nafrechoux, Marguerite César dit Lagardelette, Charlie dite Charlotte Desrivières, Alexis Lemoine Monière, Jeanne Tailhandier dit Labaume, 13 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1906en.html
- Addition of information by Amable Lemoine Monière, 23rd witness, 5 in the afternoon, 26 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2045en.html
- Confrontation of Amable Lemoine Monière, last witness, with Angélique, 8 in the morning, 27 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2050en.html
- Legal opinion by Charles-René Gaudron de Chevremont, counsellor and judge, second interrogation on the criminal seat, 4 June 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2060en.html
2. In groups: Each pair should then share their findings with the group, so that students have a sense of the entire document.
3. Whole class: Have groups present their findings to the class, and generate a class list from the documents of statements and inferences.
4. Homework: Students should complete Support Material 6: Rights and Due Process in New France
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Lesson 4:
Whom Should we Believe?
Evaluating the Credibility of Evidence
(One class)
Overview:
The Lesson is designed to help students develop criteria to make a judgment about this fire by inviting students to read some of the documents on the site and collectively create a set of criteria for evaluating the credibility of evidence.
Support Material
Support Material 7: “Who Said What?” (Activity Sheet)
Support Material 8: “Criteria for Evaluating the Credibility of Testimony” (Activity Sheet)
Suggested Documents to use in this Lesson
- Deposition of Étienne Volant Radisson, 1st witness, audience of 2 in the afternoon, 14 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1876en.html
- Deposition of Marie dit Manon, 4th witness, audience of 2 in the afternoon, 14 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1880en.html
- Second interrogation of Angélique, audience of 3 PM, 3 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1892en.html
- Deposition of Marie-Louise Poirier dit Lafleur, 9th witness, audience of 2 PM, 15 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1885en.html
- Deposition of Marguerite César dit Lagardelette, 7th witness, audience of 8 AM, 15 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1883en.html
- Fourth interrogation of Angélique, audience of 5 PM, 14 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1909en.html
- Addition of information by Amable Lemoine Monière, 23rd witness, 5 in the afternoon, 26 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2045en.html
- Interrogation under torture (ordinary and extraordinary), audience of 7 in the morning, 21 June 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/2065en.html
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Lesson 4, Class 1
(Day 7)
In this lesson, students develop criteria for evaluating racial relations in the present and in New France, and discuss these issues in relation to the Angélique case.
Activities:
1. Assemble students in their home groups. Each group should have three of the depositions listed below, along with the relevant biographies (from the Context/Reference/Cast of Characters section of the Website).
2. In pairs: students take one of the depositions and biographies. Each pair identifies features (either of what people saw or who they were in terms of their relationship to the accused, their training and/or personal motivation) that either enhances or reduces the credibility of the testimony. Does this testimony contain any information regarding relations between racial groups? Have students fill out Support Material 7: “Who Said What?”
3. In groups: Based on their work, each group should generate a list of criteria to apply when evaluating the evidence in primary-source documents.
4. What questions should they ask of the documents? The list should include the following: Is there any reason to believe that the evidence was tampered with? Is there any reason to suspect that the witness is lying? (If so, what reasons?) Is there any reason to think that the witness is exaggerating unduly? Is the testimony internally consistent (or does witness contradict him/ herself)? Does the testimony contradict testimony of other witnesses? Is the testimony consistent with what you know of the historical contexts (culture, economy, politics etc.)? Have students fill out Support Material 8: “Criteria for Evaluating the Credibility of Testimony”
5. Class discussion: When the groups have completed their task above, ask groups to share their findings with the class. Ask students to reflect on their findings.
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Lesson 5:
Developing Criteria for Evaluating Racial Relations
(One class)
Overview:
In this Lesson, students develop criteria for evaluating racial relations in the present and in New France, and discuss these issues in relation to the Angélique case.
Support Materials:
Support Material 9: “Evaluating racism” (Activity Sheet)
Lesson 5, Class 1
(Day 8)
Activities:
1. In groups, develop criteria for evaluating the race relations using Support Material 9: “Evaluating racism”. In one column, develop contemporary criteria. In another, develop standards for New France. Use the headings, Intermarriage, Slavery, Segregation.
2. As a class, discuss the following questions:
a. What was the relationship between Thérèse de Couagne and Angélique? Was Madame de Couagne a “good slave owner?”
b. What was Angélique’s opinion of Frenchmen in general and of her mistress in particular?
c. What was the relationship between Angélique and Marie dite Manon, the Pawnee slave who lived next door?
d. Was Angélique’s love affair with a White man accepted?
e. By the standards of New France, was it appropriate to execute Angélique?
f. Were gender, race and class factors in determining Angélique’s fate?
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Lesson 6:
Differences in Perspectives:
Reading Official Documents
(Two classes)
Overview:
In this lesson, students are introduced to some of the factors that shape the writing of official documents. Students begin by examining the intendant’s account of the trial, and writing a critical assessment of it. In the second class, students work in groups with those who read depositions from the trial, comparing different accounts of the same events in the Angélique trial. The lesson concludes with a class discussion to explain the discrepancies.
Support Materials:
Support Material 10: “Comparing Versions” (Activity Sheet)
Suggested Documents to be used in this Lesson
— Sentence by the Conseil superieur against Marie Joseph Angélique, negress, for the crime of arson in Montréal, 12 June 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/proces/jugementetappel/2064en.html
- First interrogation of Angélique in the criminal seat in the presence of counsellors Adhémar dit Saint-Martin, Gaudron de Chevremont, Guillet de Chaumont and Lepailleur de Laferté, audience of 10 in the morning, 27 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/proces/surlasellette/2051en.html
- Extract of a letter from the governor and the intendant to the King: abandonment of legal action against Thibault.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/proces/tortureexecution/2067en.html
- Report of the arrest of Angélique by bailiff Jean-Baptiste DeCoste, morning, 11 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1869en.html
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Lesson 6, Class 1
(Day 9)
Activities:
1. In pairs: give each pair different perspectives on Angélique’s presumed motive for setting the fire. Ensure that half the class reads the Superior Council’s verdict and Angélique’s defence while the other half covers the intendant’s account to the minister and Angélique’s arrest report. Each student reads one article.
2. Each pair uses Support Material 10: Comparing Versions to compare how the different documents present the same events.
3. Individually: (complete for homework/assessment) Write a one-page assessment of the document you examined. Do the official accounts reflect the events or take into account the accused’s version? Support your opinion directly with evidence from the documents.
Documents to Use:
Pair
— Sentence by the Conseil superieur against Marie Joseph Angélique, negress, for the crime of arson in Montréal, 12 June 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/proces/jugementetappel/2064en.html
with
— First interrogation of Angélique in the criminal seat in the presence of counsellors Adhémar dit Saint-Martin, Gaudron de Chevremont, Guillet de Chaumont and Lepailleur de Laferté, audience of 10 in the morning, 27 May 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/proces/surlasellette/2051en.html
Pair
— Extract of a letter from the governor and the intendant to the King: abandonment of legal action against Thibault.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/proces/tortureexecution/2067en.html
with
— Report of the arrest of Angélique by bailiff Jean-Baptiste DeCoste, morning, 11 April 1734.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/courtdocument/1869en.html
Lesson 6, Class 2
(Day 10)
Activities:
1. Rearrange partners. Partner students who reviewed the Council’s verdict and Angélique’s defense with students who covered the intendant’s report and the arrest report. Each person should share their findings. Together, each pair should assess the quality of the reports. Did the colony’s main judicial body and its top civilian official minimize or gloss over certain aspects of the case? Why would they be interested in treating this as a closed case? Support your opinion with evidence from the documents.
2. Select pairs to present their findings to the class.
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3. Class discussion: Why do the reports differ from the facts? Show students some examples from the Echoes section of popular culture interpretations of Angélique’s case. Discuss with students the concept of scapegoating and historical rehabilitation and have students brainstorm ways in which Angélique might have been a convenient target for popular fury in 1734 while she has become an iconic figure for some authors. What can this tell us about how people react to disasters and how a person’s character can be redefined in history? Does scapegoating still happen? Are there other historical figures who have been presented in a more favourable light?
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Lesson 7:
Is this Event Significant? The Textbook Test
(Day 11 of the unit)
Overview:
In this class, students examine their textbook to explore the kinds of issues covered by school history. Using the textbook and other kinds of historical writing, students then debate whether or not this is a historically significant event.
Activities:
1. In pairs, have students examine the coverage of the history of New France in their textbook. Note the presence (most likely absence) of Anglélique’s story. What topics are given attention in the 1730s?
2. In groups, ask students: Is Anglélique’s case an important historical event?” Why/why not? Does your textbook cover it? Should your textbook cover it? Do you think any other history books cover issues like this?
3. From this discussion, students can generate criteria of what makes an event or an issue historically significant.
4. Students can debate the following question: should all historically significant issues and events be taught in school?
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Lesson 8:
How Does a Society Justify the Use of Torture?
(Two classes)
Overview:
After discussing Canada’s contemporary policy regarding torture, students read the regulations and correspondence related to torture. Students are given a position for or against the use of torture in a colonial setting which they must support in a debate that takes place in the second class of this lesson.
Support Material:
Support Material 11: Finding Evidence (Activity Sheet)
Suggested Documents to be used in this Lesson
Books:
— Torture or the 'question'
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/contexte/lajustice/procedure/2140en.html
- Torture with the ‘boot’
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/contexte/lajustice/procedure/2136en.html
- Procedure relative to torture.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/contexte/lajustice/procedure/2128en.html
- Reflections on criminal procedures in England and in France.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/contexte/lajustice/procedure/2120en.html
- Reflections on crimes and sentences.
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/archives/books/2145en.html
Correspondence
“Hocquart to the Minister: Major criminal sentences imposed in the year 1735.”
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/angelique/contexte/lajustice/sentences/2144en.html
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Lesson 8, Class 1
(Day 12 of the unit)
Activities:
1. Lead a discussion on the use of torture as a theme in the case. Discuss the history of torture in the French and English criminal systems. Torture was abolished in Canada when the British introduced English criminal law. It was abolished in France in 1789 at the beginning of the French Revolution.
2. Ask students to read the selected documents that represent different perspectives on torture in the Angélique case and the types of sentences handed out for major crimes.
3. Divide students into groups of two to complete Support Material 11: “Finding Evidence”.
4. Assign students a position in favour of, or in opposition to torture. Tell students to prepare for the debate the following day by studying the reasons for or against torture, using arguments and evidence expressed in New France and in France.
Lesson 8, Class 2
(Day 13 of the unit)
Activities:
1. Ask students to work together to prepare for the debate. Agree on the formal structures of the debate, and clarify the criteria. Make sure to include the requirements/conditions that
a. every position/reason be supported by evidence or argument
b. students will be disqualified if they speak disrespectfully to each other
2. In preparation for the debate, students might find it useful to consider the following questions:
— Do you think the judge made the right decision in sentencing in this case in the end? Explain your opinion.
— Explain using specific examples from the historical context discussed in class and the primary documents you have read. Explain your opinion.
— Would the outcome have been different if Angélique had been a man? Explain your opinion.
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Lesson 9:
Writing Biographies
(Three classes)
Overview:
In this Lesson, students are invited to write a fair-minded biography of one of three individuals deeply embroiled in the case.
Lesson 9, Class 1
(Day 14-16 of the unit)
Activities:
1. Based on the evidence you have read and analyzed to date, write a fair-minded, balanced and well-reasoned 400-500-word biography of one of the following individuals. Incorporate evidence from the primary-source documents into your biography, and include citations where appropriate. Give, as an example, an entry from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, (University of Toronto Press) or equivalent reference work of biographies.
a. Angélique
b. Thérèse de Couagne
c. Claude Thibault
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Lesson 10:
Culminating Event: Point of View Panel Discussion
(Four classes)
Overview
In this lesson, students take on the persona of either a present day observer of this trial (as a historian or journalist) or of one of the key historical characters in the case. In this persona, students will participate in one of two panel discussions of key questions about this case.
Lesson 10, Class 1 to 4
(Day 17 to 20 of the unit)
Activities:
1. Students will participate in panel discussions and consider the following questions:
a. Was Angélique guilty?
b. Why were charges dropped against Claude Thibault, her lover?
c. Where there aspects of Angélique’s character that made people conclude that “she had done it?”
d. Were Montréalers searching for a scapegoat following a terrible disaster?
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2. In panel discussion A, student participants will take on the roles of various individuals involved in the case, including the mistress, the judge, the slave next door, the servant, the children in her care, and neighbours and will present their views from the perspective of the 1734 case.
3. In panel discussion B, student participants will take on the role of present-day historians and journalists. They will debate the questions above, but will also consider the question of how Angélique’s story should be told today, in a fair-minded and balanced fashion.
4. Allow three days for students to research and prepare their roles, and one day for the panel discussions. Students should also be able to pull from the context posters hanging in the room. Be sure to invite your administrators and other interested personnel.
5. Note: Students ready for more advanced intellectual work will find the potential for more challenges in Panel Discussion B.
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SUPPORT MATERIALS
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Support Material 1, Briefing Sheet
“Torture and the Truth: Angélique and the Burning of Montréal”
Historical Context
Who was Angélique? She was a Black slave, born in Portugal, who lived with her mistress, Thérèse de Couagne, in Montréal. She was known to be outspoken and had tried to escape in February 1734 with Claude Thibault, her White lover. In the evening of April 10 of that year, a fire broke out at Thérèse de Couagne’s house and quickly consumed 45 houses as well as the town’s hospital. The following morning, rumour spread that Angélique, the slave whose lover had just been released from prison, had set the fire to cover a new escape attempt. Asleep with other Montréalers who had found refuge in the hospital nuns’ garden, guarding what she had saved from Madame de Couagne’s belongings, Angélique was woken by the bailiff and brought to the town jail.
François Foucher, the king’s prosecutor had requested her arrest based on the public rumour. His task was then to find enough evidence for the judge to find her guilty. Witnesses testified that they had not seen Angélique go to the attic that evening but most were either certain that she was guilty (was she not “mean” and outspoken?) Or had heard that she had set the fire. After five weeks of proceedings without any direct evidence, Pierre Raimbault, the judge, was ready to stop the trial when the prosecutor brought forth a five-year-old child, Amable Lemoine Monière. She declared before the court that she saw Angélique put some fire in a shovel and take it upstairs the day of the fire. This was enough to secure a verdict of guilt and a death sentence for the Black slave. Her original sentence was to have her hand cut off and her body burnt alive. Following an appeal to the Superior Council in Quebec City, her sentence was reduced to death by hanging followed by the burning of her corpse. Before her execution, she was to be tortured so that she would admit her guilt and name her accomplices. Under torture, she screamed that she had set the fire by placing coals in a chafing-dish but the public executioner could not extract the names of any partners in crime. The intendant was able to report to the king that Angélique had set the fire to cover her escape and that the case was now closed.
Given that both Montréal and Quebec City suffered from several fires, these events were not considered to be of much significance. Historians readily accepted the courts’ verdict and the intendant’s summary of the events. As historians became more interested in ordinary people and in their surroundings, Angélique attracted attention both as a woman and as a Black slave. Was she rebelling against slavery? Was she Canada’s first Black hero? Was her tragic end typical of women who refused norms of behaviour? Did her accusers target her because she was Black, because she was a slave, because she was outspoken or because she provided a convenient scapegoat? Did she really set the fire? Was she trying to escape from New France? What about Claude Thibault, her lover? Why was he able to disappear from the colony?
As Angélique’s story is taken up by different authors, parallels are made with slave narratives from the southern United States. Was Canadian slavery the same as American slavery? Did Angélique try to flee because she was a slave or because she did not want to be sent to the West Indies where she knew life would be more difficult? While New France was once depicted as a simple, homogeneous society, the story of Angélique shows the social divisions and the tensions that existed in the colony.
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The Integrated Unit Option
This unit has been designed to be flexible in its application. The suggested social sciences lesson plans have been designed to stand alone, in connection with each other, and readily lend themselves to an expanded unit at the individual teacher's discretion. The integrated components are presented as suggestions only, and will depend upon the availability of time, space, and educational resources. While students are sometimes invited to imagine themselves living in the Canadian past, rarely are they presented with the opportunity to experience elements of this life. Audio visual material and field trips to sites to witness historical re-enactments can facilitate students’ development of historical empathy, but these resources are not always accessible or relevant to the issue at hand. Adopting an integrated approach facilitates students’ experiences of the various realities of a historical existence.
Any truly integrated unit will develop each component so that it contributes toward the overarching unit goals. In this case, the goal is to exercise critical and informed judgment as to why this event was both neglected and misinterpreted by historians and how it has been re-appropriated in an attempt to improve knowledge about immigrants’ experiences in Canada. Was the event significant at the time, and what is its significance now? Additionally, students will be invited to develop a critically informed awareness of the constructed nature of historical narratives. In pursuing these goals, students will simultaneously broaden their knowledge of the Canadian past, be introduced to the use of historical primary documents, and learn to exercise skills of critical analysis, evaluation, and thinking. This unit offered in the Teacher’s Guide is only partially integrated in that not every suggestion offered here directly engages students in resolving the issue. Students at the senior elementary and junior secondary stages of their education cannot be expected to have the time and academic resources to re-examine every proffered piece of evidence from interdisciplinary perspectives. Nevertheless, each exercise and lesson suggested here draws students further into the case itself, encourages a personal engagement with history, and generates an opportunity to examine history and the social sciences in a more critical and informed manner.
Some Suggested Grade Levels and Subject Areas:
The integrated approach to this unit incorporates a range of subject areas. However, the complete lesson plans offered here have been geared to a narrower student body:
Science Components
Forensic sciences and criminology are educational fields that are becoming increasingly popular. While the forensic aspects of modern arson investigations were not available in 1734, this unit nevertheless provides an excellent opportunity to draw students into scientific learning using forensics as a “hook.” How was fire used in New France? What were the possible causes for this fire?
Mathematical Components
Statistics: Introduction to the PRDH Website, to look at demography in New France (http://www.genealogie.umontréal.ca/fr/). Uses elementary statistics skills, practices manipulation of numerical data, graphing skills. Students can create a time line for the case history, reconstructing the events of April 10 or can create a time line for the trial proceedings. Uses negative and positive equations to chart numerical data in chronological order. Practices conversion of word data into numerical data for an exercise in applied mathematics.
Geographical Components
This case could be used to explore the physical, urban or human/cultural geography of New France. Online (and on-site) materials can be used to create or analyze charts, maps and graphs concerning population demography, religious, ethnic, and class composition of Montréal or of New France as a whole.
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Language Arts Components
The lesson plans listed in the Social Sciences lessons below strongly emphasize literacy and reading skills. Some of the lesson plans even culminate in an evidence-based creative writing exercise which could easily be expanded. Additionally, examining how this case has been presented in a film, a book or in a play offers an arena to expand into the dramatic and literary arts. Students could perhaps be required to view a documentary on slavery or on Blacks in New France, and then write a critical film review, incorporating their own knowledge of the case derived from the primary sources.
Both through the education system, and through popular culture, most students will have been exposed to a range of literature and audio-visual media genres which depict the life of Black slaves, particularly in the southern Anglo-American colonies and later in the southern United States; Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Roots, Amistadt are some notable examples. Students can either read or view French justice in action in The Return of Martin Guerre. Short stories, novels, and poetry which touch upon slavery lend themselves well to this unit.
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