Learning Goal: Students will understand the ideologies that led to the revolutionary war.
Hook: Was the Revolution Inevitable?
What do you think? Was our country destined to be, or do you think we could have stayed with England? We will have a conversation and then come together as a class to discuss how these tensions led to the Revolution.
America The Story of Us (Con't)
To get us in the mindset of talking about the very beginnings of the revolutionary war, we will watch the next few minutes of America the Story of Us. This section will explain the after effects of the Boston Massacre and how the colonies began to unite before war.
Ideologies Fueling the Revolution
After continuous issues between the British and the colonists, radicals begin to try to convince the rest of the colonists that England would be impossible to compromise with and therefore there was no other choice but to separate from them. One of the most influential writings of the time was Thomas Paine's "Common Sense". Together we will look at this document and try to decipher what it is that he considers common sense.
Now that we understand what Thomas Paine thought about the issues the colonists were having with Britain, lets look at what other people thought. On your own, I would like you to take a few minutes to explore the documents that are on the Smithsonian's website. As you are reading through some of these, I would like you to answer the questions below for each document you read.
Who is the author of the document?
Does the author of the document agree with separating from England or disagree? Why or why not?
How does the document change the way you understand the events leading up to the revolution?
To end our lesson today, we will read an article from the Journal of the American Revolution. These are the opinions of historians on an issue that we will continue to discuss over the next week or so.
For you homework tonight, I would like you to reflect on the three questions below. Remember that you can respond to these in your blog or you can simply write it on a piece of paper. You can also answer the last question from the lens of your character if you are choosing to continue with a character personality.
Why do some colonists want to become their own country separate from England?
Why do some colonists want to stay with the English Empire?
If it were up to you, would you want us to have our own country or stay with England? Please explain why in 6 sentences or more. (Enough to make a short paragraph.)