Voices of the American Revolution

NCSS.D1.2.9-12. Explain points of agreement and disagreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question.

NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

NCSS.D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

NCSS.D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.

NCSS.D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.

NCSS.D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.

NCSS.D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.

NCSS.D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.

Materials. Download and copy any handouts you plan to use in this lesson. For activity 1 below, you will need the PDF Voices of the Revolution: Document Analysis. If you plan to use Option #1—Point–Counterpoint Debate, below, provide students with a copy of the Point–Counterpoint Rubric, available here as a downloadable PDF. If you choose Option #2—Group Research and Class Discussion, provide your students with a copy of the Essay Rubric, also available as a downloadable PDF.

Background. Before beginning the activities described in this lesson, you should provide your students with a general background on the differences that existed among the American colonists prior to the outbreak of war. Guided Readings on the American Revolution, including causes and motivations, are available from The Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History, a link on the EDSITEment-reviewed History Matters.

While you may wish to present the spectrum of colonial opinion in terms of arguments for and against rebelling, help your students to understand that the debate shifted over time, and that acts of resistance do not necessarily amount to calls for rebellion. A good way to introduce such nuances is within a chronological framework. You can find an excellent annotated timeline of events during the Revolutionary War era from the EDSITEment-reviewed American Memory collection.

Another approach to providing an overview of the events and opinions leading up to the Revolutionary war is to present students with the evolving views of a single influential individual over time. For a central example, see the individual letters written by George Washington, available from the EDSITEment-reviewed The Papers of George Washington. 

Primary Documents. Introduce your students to a representative cross-section of the documents to be examined in this lesson. One approach might be to identify documents from each of the broad categories below:

A. Religious motivations

Read the essay by Christine Leigh Heyrman, "Religion and the American Revolution," available from the EDSITEment reviewed TeacherServe. Linked to this website is an exhibit produced by the Library of Congress entitled Religion and the American Revolution, which contains links to several documents showing religious motivations both loyalist and rebel. Of special relevance to this lesson is the webpage Religion and the Founding of the American Republic. Below are just a few of a number of relevant documents and artifacts to be found on this webpage:

• Jonathan Mayhew's "A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to Higher Powers." which argues from Scripture that God does not forbid resistance to rulers who do not govern wisely.)
• Once a speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and friend to Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Galloway was a loyalist who fled to England in 1778. In this excerpt from his book, Historical and Political Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the American Rebellion, he asserts that the cause of the rebellion was essentially religious, a result of the animosity of Congregational and Presbyterian interests in America towards the Anglican Church (for more, see Religion and the Founding of the American Republic).
• An allegory done in needlework, "The Hanging of Absalom," illustrates the tendency of American colonists to view the conflict with Britain in biblical terms. The following interpretation of this allegory is provided: "The creator of the work saw Absalom as a patriot, rebelling against and suffering from the arbitrary rule of his father King David (symbolizing George III) …" (for more, see Religion and the Founding of the American Republic).
• Other possibilities from Religion and the Founding of the American Republic include a sermon arguing that rebellion is justified by God, a revolutionary battle flag containing religious symbolism, arguments among Quakers about whether to join the battle, and documents that illustrate divided loyalties within the Anglican Church in America.

B. Loyalist perspectives

Plain Truth, a response written by loyalist James Chalmers to Thomas Paine's Common Sense (the text of Chalmer's response comes from Archiving Early America, a link on the EDSITEment-reviewed Internet Public Library).

Charles Inglis, an Anglican clergyman and loyalist, responded to Thomas Paine with an anonymous pamphlet, "The True Interest of America Impartially Stated," which argues for a reconciliation between Britain and the American Colonies.

C. Rebel perspectives

Available from the Avalon Project at the Yale Law School, the famous speech by Patrick Henry in which he proclaimed, "Give me Liberty or Give Me Death." Another example, from The Papers of George Washington, is George Washington's letter of May 31, 1775 to a close friend in which he suggests his resolve to rebel: "But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?"

The above video helps students answer the question Who was Molly Pitcher? and understand the role of women during the American Revolution.

D. African American voices

A number of documents related to the position and perspective of African Americans during the Revolution are available from the EDSITEment resource, Africans in America. The following are just a few of the possibilities available on this website:

• African American petition in 1773 to Governor Hutchinson, written by Felix on behalf of "many Slaves, living in the Town of Boston, and other Towns in the Province."
• "Free Black Patriots," an essay on free black men from the North who fought on the American side.
• "Runaways," an essay about black slaves who fought on either the British or American side during the Revolution in order to escape slavery.
• In "Of the Natural Rights of Colonists," Bostonian James Otis wrote that "the colonists are by the law of nature freeborn, as indeed all men are, white or black," making him one of only a few American writers of the time who combined an argument for succession with an argument against slavery.

E. Official and legal documents

• From the Avalon Project at the Yale Law School, two documents written on the eve of the Declaration of Independence: George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights (June 12, 1776), and Richard Henry Lee's Resolution, which proposed to the Continental Congress a declaration of independence (June 7, 1776).
• Also, available is Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of taking up Arms (July 6, 1775).
• The text of the Declaration of Independence, as well as a wealth of supporting resources, from the Educator Resources (National Archives and Records Administration).

Activity 1. Tools for Analyzing Primary Documents

The above video from PBS offers a short introduction on the various perspectives and backgrounds of people who would have been faced with the compelling question "Would you have joined the American Revolution?" This can help students see the competing perspectives across and within sides prior to examining primary sources and the motives of specific groups. 

Prior to assigning option #1 or option #2, below, provide your students with a general introduction to interpreting primary documents. Here are some possibilities for questions that students can ask themselves of each document (the questions below are also available as a downloadable PDF, Voices of the Revolution: Document Analysis):

• What is the general motivation of the writer of this document (i.e., religious, philosophical)?
• Were there any antecedent events directly preceding the authoring of the document that may have influenced it (i.e., the Stamp Act, Boston Massacre)?
• Are there any significant attitudes about rights of various groups expressed? Explain.
• Was this a document originally intended for a small audience or large audience? Would the type of original audience affect how the document was authored?
• Is there a specific call to action in the document? If so, what?
• Is there a claim of authority or credibility made by the author of the document (i.e., moral, common sense)?

In addition to these questions, you can also download a Written Document Analysis Worksheet from the Educator Resources, a resource from the National Archives and Records Administration.

To model the process of analyzing primary documents, you may wish to provide the class with copies of the letter of George Washington to George Mason in 1769. Although a little long, it provides a strong document of which to ask all of the preceding questions. Its readability is also aided by annotation provided following the document. The letter provides natural interest since it was written by the future commander of the armed forces and first president of the United States.

Activity 2. Voices of the Revolution: Individual or Group Options for Independent Study

Option #1—Point–Counterpoint Debate: Assign students to individual historical persons or viewpoints based upon particular primary documents. After students have had time to examine their assigned documents and to fill out a Document Analysis Worksheet, they are ready to prepare for an in-class debate. Use the Rubric for Point–Counterpoint Debate, available here as a downloadable PDF document, to present students with instructions for preparing for the classroom debate. Direct students to the Internet resources described in Preparing to Teach to research the additional information they will need to clarify their position in the debate. As outlined in the Rubric, students then do a "point counterpoint" debate during class time.

Option #2—Group Research and Class Discussion: Students are put into groups where they will form an answer to the following question: "Before 1779, the reasons for an individual's support for or opposition to independence were primarily economic." Assess the validity of this statement.

Each of 4–5 student groups will be given a cluster of primary documents (see examples in Preparing to Teach) that supports a viewpoint being driven by a certain reason (i.e., religious, economic, philosophical). Each group must frame their answer based upon the documents that they are given. There will be an overall class discussion with opportunities for each group to present their views.

Activity 3. Essay Assignment

Assign students an essay based on their work for one of the two options described above. Student essays should develop a focused thesis statement supported by the evidence from both primary and secondary sources. Specific instructions for the essay, as well as an assessment tool, can be developed from the downloadable PDF, Rubric for Student Essay.

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• Africans in America from PBS
  • "Runaways"
  • "Free black Patriots"
  • "Of the Natural Rights of Colonists"
  • "Felix's Petition"
• American Memory Collection
  • Documents from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention 1774–1789
  • Time Line, America During the Age of Revolution, 1764–1775
• Avalon Project of the Yale Law School
  • Patrick Henry speech "Give me Liberty or Give Me Death"
  • Richard Henry Lee's resolution concerning independence
  • Virginia Declaration of Rights
  • The Constitution of Virginia
  • The Articles of Association, October 20, 1774
  • Declaration of Independence
  • The American Crisis by Thomas Paine
• Educator Resources
  • Declaration of Independence
  • Written Document Analysis Worksheet
• Internet Public Library
  • From Revolution to Reconstruction
  • Charles Inglis, The True Interest of America Impartially Stated
  • Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of taking up Arms, July 6, 1775
  • Loyalist, British Songs & Poetry of the American Revolution Written, Designed & Maintained by M. Christopher, New Writer/Historian
  • Archiving Early America
    • "Plain Truth" by James Chalmers
  • Famous Trials, Boston Massacre Trial provided by the University of Missouri at Kansas City
  • Deposition of Captain Thomas Preston and witnesses for the King
• The Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia
  • "George Washington letter to George Mason on April 5, 1769"
  • "George Washington letter George William Fairfax May 31, 1775"
• TeacherServe: From the National Humanities Center
  • Religion and the American Revolution
  • Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
  • Joseph Galloway, "Historical and Political Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the American Rebellion"
  • Needlework: Allegory of the American Revolution