Student Resources

• Engage: Infamous Cards 
• Benedict Arnold and Dishonor Narrative

Teacher Resources

• Analysis Questions
• Virtue in Action
• Journal Activity
• Sources for Further Reading
• Virtue Across the Curriculum

• Dishonor: Failing to demonstrate good character and integrity, and acting deceptively.
• Integrity: To tell the truth, expose untruths, and keep one’s promises.
• Self-deception: Acting on a belief that a false idea or situation is true. Being deluded or deceived by ideas that endanger the humanity of others and movements that are unjust. 
• Treason: The crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign citizens or overthrow the government.
• Conspiracy: A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.
• Sunshine patriots: A soldier who only supports a cause when it is winning and not through challenging times. This phrase comes from an influential pamphlet by Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. 1, written in 1776.
• Infamous: Being famous for doing something bad or treacherous.
• Turncoat: Another word for traitor.
• Courier: A person who carries messages.

Procedures

• The following lesson asks students to consider the vice of dishonor and how it affects individuals and society.
• Students will engage with the story of Benedict Arnold and his acts of honor and dishonor, as they consider these essential questions: Why is acting dishonorably destructive to a healthy political system and civil society?
• The main activity in this lesson requires students to read and analyze a narrative that explores how Benedict Arnold made decisions that led him to dishonor. Students may work individually, in pairs, or in small groups as best fits your classroom. The analysis questions provided can be used to help students comprehend and think critically about the content. As the teacher, you can decide which questions best fit your students’ needs and time restraints.
• Lastly, the lesson includes sources used in this lesson for further reading and suggestions for cross-curricular connections.

Anticipate

• Scaffolding Note: You may use this activity to prepare your students and introduce the vocabulary and ideas discussed in this lesson.
  • Essential Vocabulary:
    • Dishonor: Failing to demonstrate good character and integrity, and acting deceptively.
    • Integrity: To tell the truth, expose untruths, and keep one’s promises.
    • Self-deception: Acting on a belief that a false idea or situation is true. Being deluded or deceived by ideas that endanger the humanity of others and movements that are unjust. 
    • Treason: The crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign citizens or overthrow the government.
    • Conspiracy: A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.
    • Sunshine patriots: A soldier who only supports a cause when it is winning and not through challenging times. This phrase comes from an influential pamphlet by Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. 1, written in 1776.
    • Infamous: Being famous for doing something bad or treacherous.
    • Turncoat: Another word for traitor.
    • Courier: A person who carries messages.
  • Action Steps
  • Before class, ask students to come up with a list of 3-4 examples of people who are infamous, or remembered for doing something bad or treacherous. Remind students they have to explain who this person is and why they are a good example of an infamous person. You may want to review the definitions of the glossary terms.

Engage

• Assign students to groups of 3-4. Give the groups a few minutes to share their lists of infamous people they created before class.
• Have groups share their best example of an infamous person and create a class list. Alternatively, provide students with the Engage: Infamous Cards  and proceed with the activity with the provided examples. Each group should get one card.
• Ask students:
  • What patterns do you see? What do you think motivated this person to act the way they did?
• Introduce vocabulary words from the glossary terms in the Anticipate section. Ask students if any of these terms apply to their choices of infamous people and to explain why or why not.

Explore

• Transition to the Benedict Arnold and Dishonor Narrative. Students will learn and discuss the story of Benedict Arnold to understand how one can act dishonorably.
• Scaffolding Note: It may be helpful to instruct students to do a close reading of the text. Close reading asks students to read and re-read a text purposefully to ensure students understand and make connections. For more detailed instructions on how to use close reading in your classroom, use these directions. Additional reading strategies are provided for other options that may meet your students’ needs.
• Essential Vocabulary:
  • Dishonor: Failing to demonstrate good character and integrity and acting deceptively.
  • Integrity: To tell the truth, expose untruths, and keep your promises.
  • Self-deception: Acting on a belief that a false idea or situation is true. Being deluded or deceived by ideas that endanger the humanity of others and movements that are unjust.
  • Treason: The crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign citizens or overthrow the government.
  • Conspiracy: A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.
  • Sunshine patriots: A soldier who only supports a cause when it is winning and not through challenging times. This phrase comes from an influential pamphlet by Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. 1, written in 1776.
  • Infamous: Being famous for doing something bad or treacherous.
  • Turncoat: Another word for traitor.
  • Courier: A person who carries messages.
• Transition to the analysis questions. Have students work individually, with partners, or as a whole class to answer the questions.
  • Scaffolding Note: If there are questions that are not necessary to your students’ learning or time restraints, then you can remove those.
• Analysis Questions
  • How did Benedict Arnold serve his country in the Revolutionary War?
  • Why did Arnold grow frustrated with his fellow Patriots?
  • Should Arnold have joined with his fellow officers in lobbying Congress to better support their services? Should he have fought alone for the pension of one man killed in action? When that failed, should he have used his own money to help that man’s family? Explain.
  • Make a list of all the betrayals you note in the story. Were any merely imagined?
  • In your judgment, what is the very worst thing Arnold did? Why?  Which of his actions are understandable, but still flawed? Why?
  • Can we come closer to understanding a virtue by examining its opposite? How did Arnold’s actions evidence dishonor, dishonesty, and cowardice? What virtue(s) does his story help you understand?
  • Do you think Benedict Arnold believed he was acting with integrity?
    • What is to keep people who believe they are doing right from hurting the people they believe they are protecting?
    • Explain the danger of self-deception in relation to civic virtue.
    • What is the importance of integrity in a constitutional republic such as in the United States?
    • Describe a situation in which you may be susceptible to self-deception about your own integrity.

Assess & Reflect

Virtue in Action  

• Have students reflect on the vice of dishonor by engaging in a game of “Would You Rather?” Use the following prompts or create your own. Ask students the “Would You Rather?” questions.
  • You found a wallet with money in it. Would you rather keep or return the cash to the lost and found?
• Another player is picked to start the game. Would you rather complain or cheer them from the bench?
• Someone falls in front of the whole school. Would you rather laugh at them or help them up?
• You found the answers to an upcoming test. Would you rather use the answers on the test or not on the upcoming test?
• You see someone in the lunch room who needs a place to sit. Would you rather invite them to sit with you or ignore them?
• In a discussion, ask students to reflect on their answers. If their actions were posted on social media for everyone to see, how would they feel about it? Why?

                                                                  AND/OR

Dishonor Journal Activity  

• Have students self-reflect and answer the following question in their journals:
  • Why do you think honor is an important virtue for citizens to demonstrate in a self-governing society?
  • What do you think happens to a nation where citizens do not demonstrate honor?
  • What does it mean to you to act with honor? How can you practice honor to benefit your community?

Extend

Sources & Further Reading

• Explore the following list for additional sources and further reading on Benedict Arnold.
  • Brumwell, Stephen. Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.
  • Malcolm, Joyce Lee. The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life. New York: Pegasus Books, 2018.
  • Martin, James Kirby. Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero. New York: New York University Press, 2000.
  • Philbrick, Nathaniel. Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution. New York: Viking, 2015.
  • Wallace, Willard M. “Benedict Arnold: Traitorous Patriot,” in George Athan Billias, ed., George Washington’s Generals. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1964. 163-92.

Virtue Across the Curriculum  

• Below are corresponding literature suggestions to help you teach about dishonor across the curriculum. Sample prompts are provided for the key corresponding works. For the other suggested works, or others that are already part of your curriculum, create your own similar prompts.
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling  
    • Compare and contrast the actions of Sirius Black with those of Peter Pettigrew. What virtues does Black embody? Why is Pettigrew so loathed? Does Severus Snape act with integrity, or with honor? Can an act of betrayal ever be virtuous? Note: Also a 2004 film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, rated PG.
  • Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare  
    • Was Brutus’s decision to join the conspirators an act of treason, or was he a man of integrity, acting to protect the republic from a would-be dictator?
    • Did all of the conspirators have the same motivation? Could some have been acting out of virtue while others were not? Are there any principles so important to you that you would “betray” a friend for those ideals?
  • Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power directed by Michael Pack  
  • Why might integrity have been of particular importance to Admiral Rickover? How was he perceived by some who worked with him? Can imperfect people still have virtues that benefit society?
• OTHER WORKS  
  • The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), directed by David Lean
  • Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Houston and James D. Houston
  • King Lear by William Shakespeare
  • Macbeth by William Shakespeare
  • Smith Goes to Washington (1939), directed by Frank Capra
  • The Manchurian Candidate (1962), directed by John Frankenheimer
  • The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson