Sign the Articles

One sheet, folded like a book. Cover: your name, "Day 9," the date. Then:

Leave the bottom corner of OUR ARTICLES empty. Something gets glued there today. Yes, real wax. Day 1 made you a promise. Today it gets paid.

The Whydah's crew had written Articles. The crew signed. We know because survivors swore to it at the Boston trial. But the paper itself is gone. The sea took the ship. Time took the words.

So we read the closest set that survives: the articles of Bartholomew Roberts' crew, written around 1721. Hear this clearly. These are not the Whydah's words. They are the same world's words. A stand-in, not a photograph. Even these reach us through a 1724 book that may have polished them up.

Scroll to the box called "Read it yourself: a real pirate crew's Articles." No Chromebook? They are up on the big screen too. Read them from there.

Read all eleven. Then answer three things on your THE OLD RULES page:

1. Which rule surprises you most? Write its number and one line on why.
2. Which rule protects the weakest person aboard? The hurt sailor. The outvoted voice. The lowest rank. Number and why.
3. Which one rule would you strike? Strike means cross it off the books. Number, then one line: why does it go?

One more thing to hold. These rules gave every man a vote. The captain earned only two shares to a sailor's one. A Navy captain could earn fifty times a sailor. Records say some crews paid Black and white pirates the same share. Some historians trust those records. Some doubt them. Hold both. And hold this too: the same page maroons a thief and shoots a deserter. Fair and brutal can share one sheet of paper.

Yesterday you voted like a pirate crew. Today you do the other half. A crew that votes also writes its rules down. Your job: articles for a modern classroom crew. This room. This summer. Us.

The rules of the rewrite:

1. 5 to 7 articles. No more. A rule nobody remembers is not a rule.
2. Every voice writes one. Each crew member authors at least one article.
3. One article must protect the least powerful person in the room. The new kid. The quiet kid. The one who just got outvoted. Roberts' crew wrote injury pay. What do we write?
4. Vote every article in. Majority carries. If it fails, redraft it or drop it.
5. Number them like the old ones.

Stuck? Good articles usually cover these:

When your crew's list is voted in, pick your one best article. You will offer it to the whole class. The class votes each offer aboard, majority carries. That becomes the master copy. The one we all sign.

Articles were also a paycheck. Roberts' rules split the loot in shares, and the injured man still got paid. Work it on the back of your THE OLD RULES page. No worksheet needed.

1. Add up all the shares. Hint: 2 plus 2 plus six 1s.
2. Divide 100 coins by that number of shares. What is one share worth?
3. So what does the captain walk away with? What does each sailor get?

Done early? Whydah’s Voyage awaits. Quiet sails only. When the signing starts, everything stops.

On Day 1 this crew wrote its own Articles, together, on the board. And you were promised: in Week 3 you sign for real, wax and all. Today is that day. A signed promise has a name. It is called a covenant.

How it goes:

1. The master copy hangs up front: the articles this class just voted aboard.
2. Your name gets called. Walk up. Read the articles one more time.
3. Sign with the good pen. Sign it like you mean it. This is the only copy there will ever be.
4. Your teacher melts the wax. You press the stamp. Count three. Lift.
5. When your seal is cool, glue it to the corner of your OUR ARTICLES page. Your rules. Your name. Your seal.

One honest thing, because this crew tells the truth. The signing is history: survivors swore the Whydah's crew signed their articles. The wax is ours. Divers did find wax seals in the wreck, but those came from a captain's ring, not a signing day. So the signature is the past. The seal is us, making our own mark on our own promise.

While you wait for your name: finish your copy, answer the question below, write your Captain's Log, chart your course. When the last name is signed, we press one big seal on the master, all together, and it goes on the wall until Showcase.

A crew that signs together stands together. One ring. When your turn comes: say your name loud, like it just went on the paper. Then one line: which article would you actually stand on?

Pass on the line if you want. Your name still gets said. A muster counts everyone.

Roberts' crew offered a vote, injury pay, fair shares, music on Sundays. The same crew offered marooning, duels on the beach, death for deserting. Now answer in writing, under your own articles:

Would you sign on to articles like these? What would worry you?

This is your ticket out the door: 5 to 7 articles on your page, plus your answer. Both or it is not done.

Your adopted ship runs on rules too. Somewhere aboard is a paper the crew lives by. Watch schedules. Safety drills. Pay.

Your lists should be down to two people and two formats by now. Today, put them on trial:

1. Take your top person. Would they have signed articles like these? What would they demand first? If you cannot answer, you do not know them well enough yet. Browse their story.
2. Put a star on the one person and the one format you would defend out loud. That star is your pitch taking shape.

Pitch Day is Thursday, July 30. It is closer than it feels. You signed a covenant today. The pitch is a promise too.