INTRO: WOULD YOU HAVE JOINED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION?

INSTRUCTIONS: Use the video linked to take notes about the groups.
What are a few things to keep in mind for this thought exercise?
1. No way of knowing if it would work.
2. Noone is “AMERICAN’
3. You are probably part of a larger population

AFRICAN AMERICANS
500000 enslaved
British military? Wanted them because it was more troops for the british
Washington? Was sceptical at first
Then?
Came down to freedom.

NATIVE AMERICANS
Maintain autonomy from colonies,
Relation ship with colonists were not good
Proc.
Regional alliance.

WOMEN
Contribute
Foof
Clothing
Upkeep
Fought
Autonomy and self protection
 LAND-OWNING WHITE MEN
Could run for offices
Siding with the british
Could lose their land
Collecrting taxes

POOR WHITE MEN

Joined to get money and land
Dangerous challenges
draft

Based on the group(s) you most identify with, would you have joined the Revolution? Explain!
Yes because I could of gained money and land and after the war we would be decently wealthyIf you joim the british
after the war you would have been rejected.
 AFRICAN AMERICANS DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
INSTRUCTIONS: Use the WEBSITE to learn about these important figures and groups
THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT

The First Rhode Island Regiment, the first Continental Army unit
largely comprised of Black New Englanders, showcased African
Americans' skill as soldiers and commitment to their brethren on the
battlefield. In the late 1770s, dwindling manpower forced George
Washington to reconsider his original decision to ban Black people
from the Continental Army. So in 1778, a Rhode Island legislature
declared that both free and enslaved Black people could serve. To
attract the latter, the Patriots promised freedom at the end of
service.

PHILLIS WHEATLEY
Phillis Wheatley was a revolutionary intellectual who waged a war for freedom with her
words. Captured as a child in West Africa, then taken to North America and enslaved,
Wheatley had an unusual experience in bondage: Her owners educated her and supported
her literary pursuits. In 1773, at around age 20, Wheatley became the first African American
and third woman to publish a book of poetry in the young nation. Shortly after, her owners
freed her.

JAMES ARMISTEAD
During the Revolution, James Armistead's life changed drastically--from an enslaved
person in Virginia to a double agent passing intel, and misinformation, between the two
warring sides.
 ABIGAIL ADAMS ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS

I long to hear that you have declared an independency -- and by the way in the
new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire
you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to
them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of
the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar
care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a
Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no
voice, or Representation.

That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as

to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the
harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend.

ABIGAIL ADAMS
What does Abigail Adams imply about the previous treatment of women?
She thought that they were treated unevenly. She feels like husbands have too much power over the ladys.

What does Abigail Adams hope to accomplish in writing this to her husband John Adams?
She wants him to treat all of the ladys to be treated like He treats her. She wants her to add women's rights to the
government.
EXCERPT FROM ZINN’S “A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES”
INSTRUCTIONS: Use the excerpt below to list demands made by African Americans after the Revolution.

What the Revolution did was to create space and opportunity for blacks

1
Abolish slavery
to begin making demands of white society.

Sometimes these demands came from the new, small black elites in
Baltimore, Philadelphia, Richmond, Savannah, sometimes from articulate

2
and bold slaves. Pointing to the Declaration of Independence, blacks Give equal rights
petitioned Congress and the state legislatures to abolish slavery, to give
blacks equal rights. In Boston, blacks asked for city money, which whites
were getting, to educate their children. In Norfolk, they asked to he

3
allowed to testify in court. City money for better education
and more availability for it
Nashville blacks asserted that free Negroes "ought to have the same
opportunities of doing well that any Person ... would have." Peter

4
Mathews, a free Negro butcher in Charleston, joined other free black Repeal the legislative
artisans and tradesmen in petitioning the legislature to repeal discrimination laws against
blacks.
discriminatory laws against blacks. In 1780, seven blacks in Dartmouth,
Massachusetts, petitioned the legislature for the right to vote, linking

5
taxation to representation.

What does the fact these demands needed to be made show about the
phrase “all men are created equal” from the Declaration of Independence?
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON ON DEMOCRACY

All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first
arc the rich and well-horn, the other the mass of the people. The voice of
the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally
this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The people
are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give
therefore to the first class a distinct permanent share in the government.
.. . Can a democratic assembly who annually revolve in the mass of the
people be supposed steadily to pursue the public good? Nothing but a
permanent body can check the imprudence of democracy.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON
How does Hamilton describe the common people (lower classes)?
Voice of god but it is not true fact

Does he trust them to govern themselves? Explain

No because he thinks they are constantly changing so he thinks they cant make decisions.
He is saying that they are always changing so that they need a permanent group. So no they do not trust them.
 BRING IT TOGETHER!
To what extent did all Americans benefit equally from the
revolution? Use specific information to back your claim. Include the following in your
paragraph:
I believe the natives were badly impacted when they lost their land. Women got
more freedom and they got the right to divorce and the right to own property → a clear topic sentence
with their husbands. African Americans got freedom in the north and got stating your claim
freedom if they fought in the war.. To attract the latter, the Patriots promised
freedom at the end of service. Which had the Africans wanting to go to war so
that they could be set free after. → at least one quote

→ discuss the impacts on

at least 3 groups