Hear the British Grenadiers	Fife and Drum music	Hear Yankee Doodle

 

 

Introduction	Task	Process
Resources	Conclusion	Evaluation

 

Rats!  You've just been grounded by your mother.  As you sit on your bed you think about how unfair this is. Your friends had dared you to rip up your report card after you saw the "D" in American History.  Why do I have to know all that stuff about those boring Patriots and Loyalists?  It all happened so long ago.   Who cares?  I hate being told what I have to do!  Still angry, you fling your history book across the room.  To your surprise, it stops in mid-air, opens and you are suddenly magically transported out of your room.  Somewhat dazed you find yourself in what appears to be a home in New England in the late 1700s.  You are beginning to get a little worried. People have been complaining about some new taxes and talking about starting trouble. Others are saying these troublemakers are just that and that having a King is a good thing. After all, keeping a country going does take a lot of money. Since you have traveled back in time, you are not really sure which side is right. You don't know how a war would come out. Would you be better off or just lose friends and neighbors in a war which might not work? It's time for you to figure it out.

And because you really don't live in the 18th Century, you snap back and go to your laptop. You will do some research using it and then write up your assigned decision to be posted on a blog. If all goes well, you and your classmates will debate about the war on a blog. Learn lots.

1. Read over the sites that talk about the causes of the Revolution. Use the note sheet to take some notes.  Or you may use this graphic organizer or this one.
2. Decide which two events are most significant or caused most people to be upset.  
3. On those two events, read both the Patriot AND Loyalist points of view.
4. Historians say that most people were actually Loyalists or neutral in the war but we don't often hear about them.

• You and your tablemates will divide into Loyalist and Patriot groups.

• You will get some copies of graphic organizers to be filled out. These will be handed in for a grade by your teacher.

• You will all read some information about the events leading up to the revolution. You and your partner will agree on two on which you focus.

• You will answer the question "Should we go to war?" as if you were a person who was either a Loyalist or a Patriot. Try to persuade the people on the other side and those who are neutral that your opinion is correct. You will need a sheet like this to help you brainstorm your writing assignment. Here is a graphic organizer or you can download it as a word file to help you with your organizing.
   
• Use your computer and write about your argument. Then supply the reasons for your opinion. You will email your opinions that have been spell checked and proofread to both Mrs. Kennedy and your teacher. Mrs. Kennedy will post them to the blog and your teacher will evaluate them.

• Road to Freedom Timeline

• French and Indian Wars

• Sugar Act

• Stamp Act

• Townshend Acts

• Boston Massacre

• Tea Act and Boston Tea Party

• First Continental Congress

• Battle of Lexington and Concord

               There will be several parts to your evaluation. The evaluation sheet can be found here.

Now you know about some of the events leading up to the Revolutionary War and the effect that strong opinions had on colonial society. People often have trouble making up their minds, especially if they do not know for sure that their future will be better and when they are having difficulty in their lives because of the war. Is it difficult to "take sides" when you don't know what the outcome will be.
 

I like the drawings in this Webquest but they were made by other students. I would like you to draw any of the characters in this webquest carefullly. If they are well done, we will post them in place of some of the drawings. Thanks for your help. You may give them to me or bring them to my office.

Modified and Updated by Sandy Kennedy, Tuesday, January 17, 2006.