Shall We Go to War? The American Revolution

What was going on? On the edge of the Revolution, there were two sides, the patriots and the loyalists, within the colonies. The patriots wanted to go to war, and the loyalists remained loyal to the king. This caused division within the colonial people. In colonial times, towns held meetings within the local church in order to make decisions regarding things such as, Shall we go to war?

What is the task? According to your assignment by your teacher, you will be either a loyalist or a patriot. As a class we are going to hold a town meeting in which we will be debating whether or not the colonists should go to war. Throughout this web quest each of you will be looking at both sides, the loyalists and the patriots, and will be preparing a mini speech to be given at the beginning of the town meeting. Your speech will be trying to persuade the town to join your side. Also prepare to debate this issue with the opposing side, which means prepare several arguments as to why we should go to war or not.

Specific Tasks Patriots, look for: – Your feelings towards England – Reasons you believe taxes are unfair Loyalists, look for: – Your feelings towards England – Why the taxes are fair

Patriots vs. Loyalists Regardless of your assignment, you need to know what each side’s viewpoint was regarding certain events. You need to know the opposing team’s views in order to be able to present an argument for their different views. Let’s take a look at each side.

Patriots These were mostly farmers which were skilled rifle men. These people are whom we remember most from the Revolutionary War, and wanted to fight for their freedom from England. The following websites labeled Patriots will help you research information about the Patriots.

Loyalists Loyalists were those colonists who felt that the colonists should remain loyal to England and not start a revolution. Most were merchants, which meant that they were wealthy, but there were some whom were farmers and of other occupations. The following websites labeled Loyalists will help you research information of loyalist view points.

Patriots Before you can make an argument, you need to understand how the patriots felt about England taxing them. This website gives information about how the patriots felt about England taxing them. Click on the words Stamp Act on the timeline to take you to the right page.

Loyalists First, you need to understand who the loyalists were and what they thought about England’s actions against the colonies. The following website will give you information on who the loyalists were and what they believed about England. Make sure you note the feelings and concerns of the loyalists during this time.

Patriots The following website gives some great information about the different acts passed imposing taxes upon the colonists. This would give some good insight into why the patriots may react in the way that they did. On this page there is a table where you can click on events between

Loyalists This next site tells about some of the events leading up to the Revolution and how loyalists viewed these events. Pay attention to the argument this loyalist makes.

Patriots and Loyalists As a patriot, you need to decide whether or not England’s acts are fair. As a loyalist, you need to look for reasons why you think England has the right to tax the colonies. On this website, there is information on why England was taxing the colonists and why some colonists were upset about being taxed.

Debate Throughout this web quest you were to be formulating your opinion as either a loyalist or a patriot. Now you should be ready to express your opinion in a speech or debate during our town meeting, “Do you think we should go to war?”

Resources

State Standards a-Demonstrate an understanding that people in different times and places view the world differently b- Identify and describe examples of tension between a group’s belief system and the government’s policies and laws a Analyze a particular event to identify reasons individuals might respond to it in different ways. 4.6.spi.1 Recognize how groups work cooperatively to accomplish goals and encourage change (i.e., American Revolution, founding of Tennessee, the failure of the Articles of Confederation, and colonies).