Adrian Herrera

Revolutionary Thinking
8th Grade US History
Goal Standard 1: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the
history of the United States and New York.
Objectives:
1. Students will understand how the French and Indian War influenced the
Revolutionary War.
2. Students will be able to establish their own opinion of what was more important
in fueling the Revolutionary War.
3. Students will criticize the British for their unjust regulations on the colonies.
Materials Needed: Power point.
Detailed Lesson:
Warm up (5 Minutes): Ask the students what they believe revolutions are fought for.
The Beginning (10 Minutes):

There were a few reasons revolutionary thinking came into place.

Part of the reason was the distance the colonist had from Britain and the already
representative governments set in place (House of Burgesses, Mayflower

Compact, and equality in Quaker town meetings).

Enlightenment played a huge role as well, it filled the mind of American

intellectuals with thoughts of liberty and progress.

The Great awakening also played a major role as well.

Many people in the colonies would ignore British law, open rebellions demanding

equality, and new immigrants fled Europe with to Britain.

The Age of Reason was spreading throughout Europe.
People like Isaac Newton and John Locke were starting to challenge the system.
Newton relied on science to challenged spiritual beliefs, while Lockes writings
inspired people to change the government if it did not protect natural rights of life,

liberty and property.

These ideas reach Americans and made them want to achieve these goals by

removing the shackles of England.

Churches began to point out the similarities between each other instead of the

differences.
Jean Jacques Rousseau was another enlightenment thinker who pushed for

government that ruled for the general will of the people.

Baron de Montesquieu believe no one person should have absolute power, instead
it should be divided between an executive, legislative, and judicial branch of

government.
Benjamin Franklin made these ideas of enlightenment open to the public with the
opening of the Declaration of Independence being based on many of Lockes

ideas.
The Great Awakening also contributed to the revolutionary thinking with religious
revivals taking place.

The Press (5 Minutes):

The press in any democracy, is essential. It allows for the spread of ideas and
keeps people up to date on current events.
John Peter Zenger was a New York printer who was thrown in jail for allowing
the printing of a paper that criticized a royal governor.
Andrew Hamilton, the most famous lawyer in Philadelphia, represented Zenger.

Hamilton argued that, Its not the cause of one poor printer, but the cause of
liberty. And despite the judge ordering the jury to find him guilty, they found
him not guilty.
These two men were seen as heroes and this would be part of the inspiration for
the first amendment.
Smuggling (5mins):

The British relied on Mercantilism as their form of economy from the colonies.
Under this system, colonies existed to enrich the mother country by selling Britain

raw products to be bought back by the colonists as manufactured goods.

The British government regulated what the colonies could manufacture and who

they could trade with.

Colonists resorted to smuggling to avoid British restrictions.
The restrictions placed on the colonies couldnt be too strictly enforced since the

mother country was so far away.

Enforcing the laws would cost the British more money than what they would

receive from the colonies anyway.

Colonial shippers simply bribed customs officials because they too knew they

would be targeted by the crown.

The courts were sympathetic with smugglers because they believed in their cause

so smugglers would often be let go if caught.

Smugglers would eventually use their skills in the revolution against the British.
The British eventually began trying smugglers in their own courts with no juries
which only fueled the rebellion.

Tradition pf Rebellion (5 Minutes):

Americans have had uprisings throughout their colonial history so the thought of
rebelling this time around was nothing new.

One of the earliest rebellions were Bacons rebellion, where Nathaniel Bacon led
a group of people from West Virginia to the east to demand better rights from the

legislature.
They felt little was being done to protect them from Native American raids on the

frontier.
Over a thousand people entered Jamestown and burned the capital city.
The governor of Virginia fled until he could organize troops and eventually put

down the rebellion.

In Philadelphia, something similar to the Bacon Rebellion occurred in the sense

that people wanted more protection from Native Americans.

Some uprisings were caused due to wealthy landowners receiving more privilege

than farmers and farmer would fight back.

Riots were taking place all over the country prior to the war for independence and
to some extent, the revolution helped reunite the colonist.

What is an American? (5 Minutes):

Because the 13 colonies offered freedom of religion, economic opportunity and

freedom from war, many people wanted to migrate there. Hence the term,

melting pot.
Eventually the colonist became very culturally different than the British.
They not only spoke differently, they had many different immigrants who spoke

different languages, and different religious views as well.

Most Americans were born in the colonies and hadnt visited England so they felt

no real close ties to the mother country.

The immigrant groups had no loyalty to Britain either.

America in the Global Aspect (10 Minutes):

England and France were in constant warfare against each other.

Eventually, the French and Indian War was somewhat of a turning point for

colonial loyalty.
The British Crown came out of this war with tremendous debt which they planned

on paying for off the backs of the colonists.

The British raised taxes in America saying it was only fair since the war was

being fought to protect them.

This angered the colonist and became one of the main reasons the rebelled.
Some colonist played important roles in the French and Indian War (George

Washington) and became prominent leaders in colonial America.

The French, eager to get back at the English, would eventually provide direct aid

to the colonist in their struggle against the British.

The French had little incentive to populate the North American area because of

their interests in the other holdings.

Eventually that led to their downfall because they were no match for the numbers

the English colonist made up.

The reason for the French and Indian War (AKA Seven Years War) was over
control of the Ohio Valley to ultimately control the fur trade and have access to

the Mississippi River.

The colonist and some British troops were met by defeat and England finally

declared war.
After constant losses, the Americans were losing moral until William Pitt was put

in charge of military operations.

Americans were promised to be reimburse the colonist efforts after the war, which

well see doesnt turn out to be the case.

The colonist and the British began to turn things around for the better and the
French would eventually surrender after bloody fighting in Quebec.

George Washington (5 Minutes):

Born in Virginia in 1732.

As high and mighty as we see Washington today, his early career was not so

grand,
He was one of the forces that suffered a loss at the beginning of the French and

Indian War at Fort Duquesne.

It wasnt until the British sent more aid and the tables started turning that

Washington triumphed when he was to take over Fort Duquesne again.

Fort Duquesne was burnt down and Fort Pitt was established, what would later

become Pittsburgh.
Washington made a name for himself which would ultimately lead to him being
named Commander of the Continental Army against the British.

The Treaty of Paris 1763 (5 Minutes):

The French suffered a complete loss, they had to give up all their land in North
America. Quebec and the Ohio Valley to the British and the Louisiana Territory

west of the Mississippi was given to the Spanish for aiding the British.
One of the main reasons why the colonist stayed loyal to the British for so long

was out of fear of the French.

That was no longer the case now that the French werent a problem.
Tension between the English and colonials continued to increase as neither saw

eye to eye.
Early signs of nationalism began to bloom in the colonies out of hatred of a
common enemy.

Wrap up (5 mins): Make students look at what they wrote down for why they thought
revolutions were fought and reflect on it now that they have a better sense of why theyre
fought.