Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015

Learning Focus

Lexington and Concord (Thursday)

Administration

Mark the roll

WRITE ON WHITEBOARD:

Key Teaching
Focus

1. Better links between topics/activities.

2. Demonstrate/explain why the task is purposeful.
3. Start/finish of lessons need to be sharper. Monitor students
packing up before the end of class.
4. Better guide the students using questions/scaffolding
5. Ensure that each student contributes to the work start
earlier for each task
6. Focus on terminology especially when acknowledging
students.

Duration

2 lessons

Essential
Question

To what extent were these shots heard around the world?

Introduction

Instructions/Bridging:

10 mins

A number of students were away form class yesterday. We have

covered a number of key events in the past 2 weeks, so its a good
opportunity to pause, summarise and revise some of the key events
so far.
A key issue that might come up in the examination, would be:
Demonstrate your understanding of how [certain events]
contributed to the revolutionary situation.
The types of events that might be highlighted could be the Boston Tea
Party or The Intolerable Acts.
Another type of question that might arise could be:
Demonstrate how the events of the Powder Alarm illustrate the
inevitable surge towards revolution rather than peace.
So, lets put this together:
1. Boston Massacre 1770
2. Tea Act 1773
3. Boston Tea Party 1773
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Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015
4. Intolerable Acts 1774
5. Powder Alarm
a. Hostility created by the Intolerable Acts leads to a paranoid
situation where hostilities could escalate quickly (eg.
Powder Alarm question what happened in the Powder
Alarm?)
b. Tensions/hostility was rising and could see no resolution to
the situation.
c. Stockpiling of gunpowder and armaments
6. Continental Congress was convened in Philadelphia to try and
resolve a way forward Articles of Association yesterdays
homework to cover here:
a. What did the continental congress resolve?
b. What were the articles of association?
c. What was the response from Britain?
7. So lets find out what happened next Watch the video to find out
transition to Activity 1
Activity 1

Purpose of Activity:

30 mins

This video will covers the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord are considered to be the first
battles of the American Revolution. These battles took the events from
just paranoia and threats, to a real outbreak of violence.
This is seen as a real turning/pivot point in American history.
(What other turning points/pivot points can you recall so far?)
In your exams you will need to demonstrate that you know some of
the key revolutionary battles.
Give examples of exam questions:
Why was the Battle of Lexington the shot that was heard around
the world?
So.
Instructions:
1. While watching the video, take notes on the key issues, events
and people.
2. Based on the video and the text, summarise the Battles of
Lexington and Concord in at least 5 key points each.
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Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015

3. Use the material you have created and we will be comparing this
with some primary sources (Activity 2)
Watch Liberty Episode 2 Blows Must Decide (53 min) up to the 18
minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIT_GL-Y5hQ

Guiding questions:
1. Most people in America were still reluctant to make the final
break. How does this sit with the events that we have looked at so
far (Boston Tea Party, Powder Alarm)?
2. What was the difference in attitudes between the general
population vs a few revolutionaries?
3. What impact did the reaction from Britain have? Rejecting the
Articles of Association? Would it still be possible to negotiate?
4. Why didnt Georgia join the Continental Congress?

Re-read pp 96-97 Confrontation at Lexington to help round out your

understanding of the battles. And fill in any gaps.
Activity 2

Instructions:

30 mins

Students will work in pairs.

Each pair will be assigned one of the following accounts (distributed).
Read the account. One student will act as a scribe, the other will
present the material. Note: both students will be asked questions
to discuss.
Answer the questions that follow (provided with the material).

Reading #1: Paul Revere, Memorandum on Events of April 18,

1775 (pages 12 of the Text Document)

Reading #2: General Thomas Gage Reports on the Battles of Lexington

and Concord in an Excerpt of a Letter to the Earl of Dartmouth on April
22nd, 1775 (pages 34 of the Text Document)

Reading #3: Lord Percy reports on the retreat to General Gage on April
20th, 1775 (pages 56 of the Text Document)

Reading #4: Major John Pitcairn reports on the Battles of Lexington and
Concord to General Gage on April 26th, 1775 (pages 78 of the Text
Document)

Reading #5: John Dickinson to Arthur Lee: April 29th, 1775 (pages 9
10 of the Text Document)

Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015
Questions:
1. What do we know about the author of this account?
2. What was the individual's role in the event? Why might that be
important?
3. What was the purpose for creating the record?
4. To what extent might self-interest have influenced the account?
5. Who was the intended audience? Was this document intended
to be public or private? Why is knowing that important?
6. When was the record made? Why is the time important?
Class discussion about the various ways in which the event has been
interpreted.
Activity 3

Personal Reflection:

15 mins

Based on their reading, and the class discussion, students then write
their own personal reflection of the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
The purpose of this activity is to use the video and the primary source,
as well as class discussions (and the text) to develop a summary that
will act as a study guide.
Keeping in mind the sample exam questions that I highlighted.
Refer to ppt of events so far and how this is compiling a study guide
through the activities, essay etc.

Additional
activity (if time
permits)
15 mins

Concord Hymn
This activity is designed to illustrate that history is not always found in
just record keeping books and diaries; history can be found anywhere;
and an effective historian looks everywhere for history.
In the previous activities today we looked at a movie (secondary
source), eyewitness accounts (primary sources), and used them both
to construct a detailed summary od the Battles of Lexington and
Concord.
This is one more example of where historians can find
material/information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ApkEnMCwc
Songs were sung by common people and the military prior to and
during the Revolutionary War. Many of them were sung as "drinking
songs" at taverns or bars. They represent typical sentiment of the
"rebels," as well as, sentiment of Tories (loyalists). Commoners and
lyricists would frequently write new words to old tunes.
Guiding questions:
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Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015

1. Who are the people that the song represents?

2. How do you think the singers felt when singing this song?
3. Is there a particular event to which the song is referring?
4. What is the meaning of the song and how is it significant to the
American Revolution?

Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015

Wrap up
5 mins

Have covered a series of events that have got us to the point of war.
The gradual build up of tensions, the reservations of some to break
with Britain, the hostilities and tensions spilling over, and finally open
warfare at Lexington and Concord.
Next lesson we will be looking at the battle at Bunker Hill, and in
particular the role of Abigail Adams, and in general the role of women
in the revolution.

Resources

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/liberty_episodes.html
http://www.masshist.org/education/?goto=education

Extension Work

Use the interactive map:

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/neh/interactives/americanrev
olution/ar_1.swf
Develop a timeline of the major battles in the northern theatre,
including who won.

Homework

Complete viewing the episode

Assessment
Absent

Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015

Background

Sixteen companies of British soldiers set out to destroy a secret store

of weapons and to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock. At
Lexington, the British killed 6 American minutemen.
At Concord, the British were repulsed and then harassed all the way
back to Boston. 73 were killed and approximately 200 were wounded
or missing.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military
engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought
on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts
Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy
(present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles
marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of
Great Britain and thirteen of its colonies on the mainland of British
America.
In late 1774 the Suffolk Resolves were adopted to resist the
enforcement of the alterations made to the Massachusetts colonial
government by the British parliament following the Boston Tea Party.
An illegal Patriot shadow government known as the Massachusetts
Provincial Congress was subsequently formed and called for local
militias to begin training for possible hostilities. The rebel government
exercised effective control of the colony outside of British-controlled
Boston. In response, the British government in February 1775
declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. About 700 British
Army regulars in Boston, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith,
were given secret orders to capture and destroy rebel military
supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at
Concord. Through effective intelligence gathering, Patriot colonials
had received word weeks before the expedition that their supplies
might be at risk and had moved most of them to other locations. They
also received details about British plans on the night before the battle
and were able to rapidly notify the area militias of the British
expedition.
The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. The
militia were outnumbered and fell back, and the regulars proceeded
on to Concord, where they searched for the supplies. At the North
Bridge in Concord, approximately 500 militiamen engaged three
companies of the King's troops at about an hour before Noon,
resulting in casualties on both sides. The outnumbered regulars fell
back from the bridge and rejoined the main body of British forces in
Concord.
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Galen Catholic College

Revolutions Course, Unit 3, 2015

Having completed their search for military supplies, the British forces
began their return march to Boston. More militiamen continued to
arrive from neighboring towns, and not long after, gunfire erupted
again between the two sides and continued throughout the day as the
regulars marched back towards Boston. Upon returning to Lexington,
Lt. Col. Smith's expedition was rescued by reinforcements under
Brigadier General Hugh Percy a future duke (of Northumberland,
known as Earl Percy). The combined force, now of about 1,700 men,
marched back to Boston under heavy fire in a tactical withdrawal and
eventually reached the safety of Charlestown. The accumulated
militias blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown and
Boston, starting the Siege of Boston.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his "Concord Hymn", described the first
shot fired by the Patriots at the North Bridge as the "shot heard round
the world".