Student Learning Expectations

Module II addresses events, attitudes, conditions, issues and concerns associated with the period from January 1774 (a month after the Boston Tea Party) to the approval of the Declaration of Independence two-and-a-half years later on July 4, 1776. It also focuses on the severance of all legal and political ties with the British Empire. At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

• describe the reactions of Parliament to the Bostonians' dumping of the tea into their harbor.

• state the reasons why the colonies decided to organize a Continental Congress in the fall of 1774 that invited representatives from all the colonies to participate.

• describe John Adams's view about the way society should be organized and how his view differed from Britain's traditional social system.

• state John Adams's concerns regarding the attitudes that representatives to the Continental Congress may have held about the people of Boston.

• state at least four major results of the fall 1774 meeting of the Continental Congress.

• state the reasons why Parliament and King George III might have felt betrayed by the decisions of the First Continental Congress.

• describe the attitude of King George III toward the colonists who continued to resist the authority and rule of Parliament and the royal officials in the colonies.

• state the reasons why the leaders of the opposition deliberately tried to expand the membership of their opposition to include people from all levels of colonial society.

• state the reasons why King George III viewed the situation in the colonies as being a rebellion.

• state major details of the events that took place in and around Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

• describe at least three major consequences of the events that took place in and around Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

• state major details and results of the events that took place in and around Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill in mid-June 1775.

• state the reasons why the Continental Congress decided to form a standing army that would represent the united colonies.

• state the major reasons why George Washington was selected as the commanding general of the Continental army.

• state at least five characteristics of the army that George Washington found on his arrival in Cambridge as commanding general.

• state at least three reasons why blacks would have enlisted in the Continental army.

• state a definition of an "olive branch petition" and explain why King George III refused such a petition.

• state the reasons why men like John Adams might have thought efforts like the Olive Branch Petition were useless.

• state at least three reasons why John Dickinson might have said that "we need Britain. We need Britain to hold ourselves together."

• state Thomas Paine's main arguments in his pamphlet Common Sense.

• describe the impact that Common Sense had on moving the Continental Congress to vote the colonies independent of Britain.

• define independence and describe what it meant for the colonies to become independent of Britain.

• state the primary purpose of the document we know today as the Declaration of Independence.

• state at least two reasons why John Adams believed that Americans would celebrate July 2, 1776, as their "day of deliverance."

• state at least three ideas that historians Gordon Wood and John Keegan had about the meaning of Congress's approval of the resolution for independence.

Suggested Enrichment Activities

The activities below may be used to complement students' inquiry into this video and its content.

1. Ask students to read the Declaration of Independence and interpret the opening sections as Jefferson and other people of his time would likely have interpreted it. Ask them to compare these with modern interpretations of the text. Have them cite specific similarities and differences.

2. Ask students to read Thomas Paine's Common Sense. Have them summarize the main points that he emphasized in his essay. Do they think that he presented a reasonable case for the colonists to seek independence? Did he know the kind of government he wanted after the colonists won their independence? Have them give specific reasons (e.g., passages from the text) to support their arguments.

3. Ask students to study the life and ideas of Thomas Paine. They could create an autobiography of Paine. Have them consider other areas of his life and why he was not very successful in many of them. Or they could explain the impact he had on thinking in the American colonies during the Revolutionary era and/or in France in the 1790s; have them compare the impact he had in these two nations.

4. Ask students to inquire into the efforts made by the Crown and the colonists to bring a peaceful settlement to the war. Have them investigate key resolutions or actions that represented efforts to reconcile the two sides. Have them describe the key requirements of each reconciliation resolution or offer. Have them state what happened to each resolution or offer and the reasons why each failed.

5. Ask students to examine the details of the Battles of Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill. They should evaluate the events that took place on the day of these battles and the efforts of Crown soldiers to capture these hills. Have them describe what the colonists used as ammunition in their cannons.

6. Ask students to inquire into the exact date and circumstances surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Have them determine the exact date and circumstances and the reasons why this date is often forgotten as the actual signing date. Have them determine why people have traditionally viewed July 4, 1776, as the date it was signed.

7. Ask students to examine the Declaration of Independence and select key ideas that should be used to guide governmental actions, laws and policies. Have students then examine the U.S. Constitution to determine if there are parts that support each of these ideas. They may want to make a list of ideas in the Declaration that are represented in the Constitution and ones that are not. Then students should explain why some of these ideas are not included in the Constitution.

8. Ask students to examine different definitions of liberty. Have them select the definitions they consider to be the best. Can they consolidate these into one? Then have them examine the Declaration of Independence to decide whether the ideas in the Declaration support their definition of liberty.

Additional Questions for Discussion

Below are questions for classroom discussion.

1. How did John Adams think society should be organized?

2. John Adams was concerned about the attitudes that representatives to the Continental Congress may have held about the people of Boston. What were three of his concerns?

3. What were at least four major results of the fall 1774 meeting of the Continental Congress?

4. Parliament and King George III probably felt betrayed by the decisions of the First Continental Congress. What are at least three reasons why they probably felt betrayed?

5. Describe King George III's attitude towards the colonists who continued to resist the authority and rule of Parliament and the royal officials in the colonies.

6. Why did King George III view the situation in the colonies as a rebellion?

7. What are the major details and results of the events that took place in and around Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill in mid-June 1775?

8. Why would blacks have enlisted in the Continental army?

9. What are at least three major reasons why the Olive Branch Petition was not accepted by King George III?

10. Why did John Adams believe that efforts like the Olive Branch Petition were a "fruitless waste of time"?

11. Reflecting upon the situation in the colonies, John Dickinson declared that "we need Britain. We need Britain to hold ourselves together." What are at least three reasons he might have given for saying this?

Student Resources

• 2-A. Questions to Focus Inquiry: Blows Must Decide This exercise focuses students' attention on essential facts in these chapters of the video.

• 2-B. Content and Overview: Blows Must Decide This activity provides contextual background for the period from the Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773) to the opening months of the war (April 1775). This information helps students construct a better sense of the perceptions, conditions and attitudes emphasized in the video.

• 2-C. Noteworthy Quotes: Blows Must Decide This exercise provides a number of quotations illustrative of the various moods and feelings during the period from the Boston Tea Party to the outbreak of the war.