Boston in the Snow
This aerial photograph was taken from a commercial aircraft after a blizzard in February 2013. This photo can be compared to maps of colonial Boston in the 1770s. (http://www.bostonhistory.org/sub/mappingrevolutionaryboston/)
02: Revolutionary America
New Revolutionary War books by Nathaniel Philbrick and Joseph Ellis ignore modern historical research. - Slate Magazine
What better way to illustrate the faults of a content-based curriculum than a book review that shows how popular histories of the American Revolution ignore the war in the South and refuse to see it in a global context. How much of our teaching reflects the same bias?
The Bostonian Society Presents: Mapping Revolutionary Boston
Causes of the Revolutionary War
This History Central summary of causes of the War that is better for teachers than for students. it provides a quick summary of events in timeline form. Each event has a short summary and an extended article.
Mission US: For Crown or Colony? The Game | EDSITEment
Mission US (Mission 1: Crown or Colony?) is an interactive adventure game designed to improve the understanding of American history by students in grades 5 through 8.
The first game in a planned series, Mission 1: "For Crown or Colony?" explores the reasons for Revolution through the eyes of both Loyalists and Patriots in 1770 Boston. This website provides information and materials to support the use of Mission 1 in your classroom.
Investigating US History
Three excellent primary source-based activities in this lesson from Hunter College. Any one of the three can stand on it's own
The Boston Massacre: You be the judge!
Seven highly readable and short documents in this lesson could easily be adapted to a synthesis or perspective lesson. Can students come up with one story using these different accounts? But notice also, this lesson has students trying to discover what really happened? What's the better lesson - showing how each side deliberately tried to shape the narrative
George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior
This is the list of "Do's" and "Don 'ts" gives a sense of the manner in which George Washington acted in public. Given the almost universal opinion of him as a man of impeachable rectitude, this list gives insight into how he earned that reputation. Showing this to children of the 21st century shows them how different their world is from that of the past.
Teaching The Declaration Of Independence High School History Lesson
This 9 minute video demonstrates an effective launch to a Declaration of Independence lesson, though the real value of the lesson is the manner in which the teachers facilitate the students building of their own knowledge. Watch this, then steal it.
Battle of Bunker Hill Animation
Though the Battle of Bunker Hill doesn't seem to capture the sort of attention is used to, this animation could be paired with some of the guazy disney films of the 50s to have students compare and contrast different interpretations of the battle. Better yet, show the animation first - ask if this is a victory or defeat - then use primary documents and military history to show how this was a victory also. But don't teach until you see the white of their eyes.
The Circumstances of the Death of Dr. Joseph Warren - "1775" - a forthcoming history book by Derek W. Beck
Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration - YouTube
This music video parody takes a song by One Republic and morphs it into the American Revolution. "Too Late To Apologize: a Declaration" may catch the fancy of some students
Breaking News 1776: First Reports of Independence | Journal of the American Revolution
In the age of instant real-time news updates, its interesting to track the news of what turned out to me monumental news of the past. This fairly well-researched article presents a comprehensive record of the spread of the news of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the printing of its text.
Letter from General Gage to Lord Dartmouth - October 1775
It's clear from this letter that six months after Lexington and Concord, Gage believes that the only war for Britain to find peace with the Provincials is through war. Notice also that he agrees with John Adams ("Revolution in the hearts and minds before Lexington and Concord")
Avalon Project - Articles of Capitulation; October 18, 1781
This is the text of the surrender terms agreed to by Washington and Cornwallis at Yorktown. Give this one phrase to students and let them stew in a while, trying to figure out what it means and what exactly the "property" is. Don't give them any context other than that this is the terms of the surrender. How long will it take them to figure out that Washington wants to make sure the British return the slaves of Virginia? "It is understood that any property obviously belonging to the inhabitants of these States, in the possession of the garrison, shall be subject to be reclaimed."
The loyalists of Massachusetts and the other side of the American Revolution - James Henry Stark - Google Books
This 1910 book, published in it's entirely, is a compendium of family stories of people largely forgotten to American history, the loyalists. Why not have student comb through these stories to find what happened to those who opposed the Revolution. Don't miss Jesse Dunbar
The Boston Massacre | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
n this lesson, students will be asked to learn the disputed and agreed-upon facts of the Boston Massacre in small groups and then discuss them and propose a website definition of the Massacre as a class. This lesson should not only provide students with an opportunity to look at disparate representations of so-called historical facts surrounding a very famous event that preceded the American Revolution, but will also teach them to deliberate with their classmates in a cordial fashion.
The Burning of the Peggy Stewart | underbelly
Is it civil disobedience if a crowd punishes someone for obeying the law? What place to loyalists have in the teaching of the American Revolution?
Journal of the American Revolution - History, culture, politics, war.
Teachers can comb through this journal for articles that will deepen their background knowledge or use in class with students. Literacy and reading comprehension is best built through engaging secondary sources.
Making the Revolution: America, 1763-1791, Primary Sources for Teachers, America in Class, National Humanities Center
"MAKING THE REVOLUTION presents an expansive collection of primary sources to enhance classroom study of the American Revolutionary period from 1763 to 1791 (the end of the French and Indian War to the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights). Many of the resources have not been available before in an open collection for classroom use.
Organized in five themes, each with seven to nine sections, MAKING THE REVOLUTION is designed to help students engage with challenging eighteenth-century material"
British Evacuation of New York - 1783
Fascinating subtext to the American Revolution, the country that celebrates its War for Independence as a fight for liberty, ended that war bickering over the enforcement of the treaty provisions which required that slaves be returned to their owners. This article describes how the British Commander Sir Guy Carleton refused George Washington's request and took about 3,000 slaves out of New York City when the British evacuated in 1783. The Carleton did, however, promise to keep a list of all of the slaves that were taken so, in the event that owners needed to be compensated they could be. Look for "Book of Negroes" at the National Archives and you'll see that list
The American Declaration of Independence of July 4th, 1776 | History Today
Boston 1775 Blog
This blog is a miscellany of information about New England just before, during, and after the Revolutionary War, and about how that history has been studied, taught, preserved, politicized, mythologized, lost, recovered, discussed, described, distorted, and now digitized.
Great source for information.
Teaching Strategy: The Boston Massacre: Who Was to Blame? : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site
Another take on the "Boston Massacre" conflicting sources lesson, this presents short excepts in a highly structured format
Was the American Revolution Inevitable?
In this BBC article, the American Revolution is explained as "inevitable" in a way not often encounters. This is short enough and written in a way high school students could easily digest. It can be offered as a secondary reading to provide an example of how the Revolution can be understood from a different perspective.
Will the Real Molly Pitcher Please Stand Up?
This article can both help and hurt teachers. On one hand, it provides extensive, evidence-based explanation of at least three women who could have been the inspiration for the Revolutionary folk-hero. This would help teachers better explain how Americans shape their history to their own ends. On the other hand, it makes much more difficult for teachers, particularly in elementary schools, to teach the folk-hero without the real history.
Coming of the American Revolution: Lessons
A Brief Publication History of the "Times That Try Men's Souls"
Students across country reference Thomas Paine's "Crisis" and the manner in which it helped Washington's Continental Army in the darkest days of the winter of 1776. Yet the publication of the pamphlet, and how and when it was provided to Continental soldiers is a lot more difficult to determine that most would suppose. Teacher's reading this article, and students told about it will recognize that history is a lot more complex than we ever allow in our classrooms.
The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence - Stephen Lucas
This single, best article on the structure, text and language of the Declaration of Independence. Indispensable resource for teachers who present the document to students. This is a high-level analysis, but teachers who can distill items and ideas from this article will exponentially increase students' appreciation of language and its importance
Revolutionary Fever: Disease and War in the Lower South, 1776–1783
This article is for US history teachers seeking a more complete, authentic and accurate explanation for the colonial victory in the Revolutionary War. The role of disease in the outcome of the war, especially in the southern campaigns, is virtually ignored in most textbooks and absolutely unheard of in classroom instruction. Yet there is strong evidence that disease not only played a significant role in the outcome of the war, it may very well have been the determining factor.