State Standards

Kansas

  • Mathematics
    • 4NC3
    • 4A1
    • 5NC4
    • 5A1
    • 5A2
    • 6A2
    • 7A5

Missouri

  • Mathematics
    • 4AR2A
    • 6,7AR2A
    • 6NO3D

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Lesson 10: So What Can I Buy for $600 in Gold?

Background

This lesson examines the purchasing power of $600 in gold that John Brown was given. He needed the money to obtain pikes and other weapons to take to Kansas in order to fight the Missouri Border Ruffians and keep Kansas a free state.

Students will compare the purchasing power of $600 in gold in Brown's day to the purchasing power today using their calculations from the previous lesson $600 in Gold.

Objectives

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

  1. Compare the purchasing power of $600 in gold today and in the 1850s;
  2. Calculate today's purchasing power from historical amounts of money.

Materials

Answers to the problems in the lesson, $600 in Gold.

Access to computers linked to the Internet for these Web sites:
Cost of living index for other years:
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/Research/data/us/calc/hist1800.cfm

Information about pikes:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=508

Cost of today's spear points:
http://www.by-the-sword.com/acatalog/Pole_Weapons_and_Spears.html

Time

1 class period

Procedure

  1. In the lesson, $600 in Gold, students determined how much gold John Brown was given to purchase pikes and other weapons. Tell them that they will continue to compare the costs in1858 to those in 2007 by looking at the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI is an index that tracks the changes that an urban consumer pays for select goods and services.

    Using a formula incorporating the CPI from the year you want and this year, you can do a direct conversion. Using 1858 as an example, go to the chart at http://www.minneapolisfed.org/Research/data/us/calc/hist1800.cfm. This chart has the CPI (annual average) for years from 1800 to 2007. Find the CPI for 1858 (26) and that for 2007 (615.2).

    Insert it into this formula:

    2007 Price = 1850 price x (2007 CPI/1858 CPI)

    Use our example of John Brown's $600 of gold, find the equivalent price in today's dollar.

    2007 Price = $600 x (615.2/26)
    2007 Price = $600 x 23.66
    2007 Price for the same amount of Gold = $14,196
    That was quite a gift to John Brown!

  2. Have students solve this problem:
    If a pound of sugar costs $2.50 today, what would it have cost in 1858?

    2007 Price = 1850 price x (2007 CPI/1950 CPI)
    $2.50 = 1850 price x (615.2/26)

    $2.50 = price x 23.66
    $0.11 = 1850 price for pound of sugar

  3. Have students select an item that they have recently purchased. It can be food, clothing, an iPhone or anything they choose. Using the formula, find out what it would have cost in 1858 - if it had been available. Share these results with the class.

  4. John Brown wanted to use his money to purchase pikes (Pikes are similar to spear heads.). He ordered 1000 pikes at $1/pike from Charles Blair, a blacksmith in Collinsville, Connecticut. (See http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=508) for information on pikes.)

    Find out what the cost of a pike would be today (today's costs for spear heads - comparable to pikes - can be found at http://www.by-the-sword.com/acatalog/Pole_Weapons_and_Spears.html) Costs range from $45 to $90 per spear point without the pole. Ask students how many spear points John Brown would be able to purchase if he had today's equivalent of $600?

Extension

Students can talk with several adults about the cost of living when they were the students' age. Students can ask the adults to think about the cost of an item in the year when they were the students' age. Using that price and the CPI chart, calculate what that item might cost today. Then check the cost of the item to see how close your calculations are to the actual price.

Conversely, students can select an automobile that they are interested in. They can calculate what it would have cost when their parents or another adult was their age. Then the students should ask the adults if they remember what an automobile cost when they were the students' age. Students should check their calculations against the adult's memory of the cost. Students may share with the adults what they found when they calculated the cost. If there are differences, discuss where they may have occurred.

Older students can extend their learning through this activity. Tell students to assume they will be graduating from high school and are getting ready to set up an apartment. Tell them they have $500 (in 1858 dollars). Within that budget they will have to pay rent at $500/month (2007 dollars), buy food, pay utilities at $150/month (2007 dollars), and whatever additional expenses they can think of. This money will have to last for 3 months until they get a job with income.

Students should make out a budget. They can work in a group and then share their reasons for making the budgeting choices they did. Students should be assessed on their ability to convert the money into 2007 dollars and stay within their budget. They should not be assessed on their ability to anticipate everything they will need but this should be included in the discussion.

For teachers: You may want to investigate this link to find out how teachers in 1853 taught these mathematics skills. A link to a common book used in school mathematics classes in 1853 is at http://tides.sfasu.edu:2006/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/EastTexRC&CISOPTR=312&REC=17.

Essay Contest

Encourage your students to participate in the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Essay Contest. You can find more about it by visiting www.kcopera.org/About/johnbrowneducation/essay.

Lesson created by Martha A. Henry and Keith S. Murray, M.A. Henry Consulting, LLC.