CHA 3U- The American Revolution Coffee House

“The Revolution was in the minds of the people.”

John Adams

The thinkers and idealists involved in the Revolution encouraged many to become involved in the American Revolution in one way or another. Your task is to investigate one of these “thinkers”, both their lives their written works.

For this assignment, students willbe divided intoPatriots (those supporting the revolution) ANDLoyalists (those supporting the English government, including member of His Majesty’s Government from London). From the standpoint of one of these groups, students will need to assume a specific role, research that role and complete the following tasks.

Choosing a Role- Based upon the “side” you have been pre-assigned, please choose a historical role from the list provided below. Only ONE (1) student is permitted per role.

PATRIOTS—“The Yankees” / LOYALISTS—“The Brits”
JOHN ADAMS
SAMUEL ADAMS
BENEDICT ARNOLD
JOHN DICKINSON
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
NATHANAEL GREENE
JOHN HANCOCK
PATRICK HENRY
JOHN JAY
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Richard Henry Lee
WILLIAM PRESCOTT
PAUL REVERE
JOSEPH REED
JOSEPH WARREN
GEORGE WASHINGTON
PHILLIS WHEATLEY / ANDREW ALLEN
WILLIAM ALLEN
JOHN ASKIN
CHIEF JOSEPH BRANT
THOMAS BURNFOOT BROWN
JOHN BUTLER
SIR HENRY CLINTON
MYLES COOPER
SIR GUY CARELTON
WILLIAM FRANKLIN
JOSEPH GALLOWAY
SIMON GIRTY
SAMUEL GRAVES
JOHN HOWE
THOMAS HUTCHINSON
DAVID MATHEWS
MAJOR JOHN PITCAIRN

Gender- Any of these roles can be played as a male or female so please do not be dissuaded from adopting a character due gender considerations.

Task #1: An Oral Debate

The Event: A Meeting of the First Continental Congress

Students will need to adopt a specific character role from the list provided to discuss the issues that have driven the American Colonies apart, and into conflict, with their mother country. For the purpose of this meeting, the date is September 5th, 1774. Each of you have been sent by your colony to attend this meeting of the First Continental Congress and, at the request of the chairman of the Continental Congress, George Washington. The purpose of this First Continental Congress is for all involved parties in the dispute to consider the following issues:

  1. What events and issues have arisen over the last twenty years to cause grievances and tensions between the colonist and the English government?
  2. Have the liberties and rights of English citizens in the American Colonies been properly safeguarded by the English government?
  3. Have the American colonies shown the proper respect to Parliament and fulfilled their duties as English citizens?
  4. Can the damage between England and its American Colonies be repaired, and if so, what reforms must be instituted if reconciliation between the American Colonies and England is to be possible? If reconciliation is not possible, is war between the Colonies and the rest of the British Empire inevitable?

Each student must prepare a 30 second opening that outlines your character’s background and perspective. Clearly identify where your character is from, their occupation, and what their views are on the relationship with Britain.

Be prepared to debate the issues from your character’s perspective. You will be receiving marks on your debate performance

Evaluation:

/10 Knowledge (understanding of your character)

/10 Thinking (ability to argue your character’s perspective)

/10 Communication (oral skills)

/10 Application marks will be awarded for a pre Coffee house worksheet that must be completed and submitted byWednesday, March 30th. Please see attached

Our First Continental Congress will take place on: Friday, April 1, 2016

American Revolution Coffeehouse Worksheet Due: Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Student Name:______

Historical Persona:______

  1. Provide a brief biographical sketch of your historical figure—background,major accomplishments, what colony he/she represents. (5 marks application) Do not just copy out the biography of your character but consider how the information gives you insight into the mind of your person.
  1. Briefly outline the major points or arguments you will be trying to make during the coffeehouse—do you believe that the conflict between the colonies and the mother country can be solved peacefully? Why or why not? (5 marks application)

Task Two: Producing a Primary Document Due: Monday,April 4, 2106

The Revolutionary Broadsheet or Handbill

The printing press revolutionized the spread of information. The early American colonies had a very active and robust press. Both Patriots and Loyalists used this printed word through newspaper advertisements, posters and handbills to communicate their perspectives to the people. You are to produce an 8.5 x 11 broadsheet that uses visuals and slogans appropriate to the period to convey the perspective of your character. If your character wrote about the American Revolution, try to find exact quotes and include them in your broadsheet.

Evaluation:

/10 Communication (visually appealing and effective)

/10 Knowledge(historically accurate)

Task Three: Annotated BibliographyDue: Monday, April 4, 2016

You will be required to submit an annotated bibliography of sources used for this assignment. Please ensure that if you have chosen to use website sources, that you have carefully evaluated these sources for credibility and reliability. Please provide annotations for any website source. For every source, you must include an annotation that indicates how the source was useful to you in completing the assignment.

Follow the style guide included. Your bibliography should include a minimum of three different sources.

Evaluation:

/10 Application (ability to follow proper bibliographic format)

/5 Thinking (annotations clearly establish credibility and usefulness of the source)

Internet Research

The internet has become a wonderfully useful means of gathering information for those who are able to use it wisely. Information is not always easy to find however, and one must be conscious about the credibility of the source.

Searching the Internet

There are millions of websites, and they may have pertinent information for you, but if you cannot find it will not matter.

  • Search Engines – ie Google, Yahoo!, Bing
  • a means of finding relevant websites based on keywords
  • these are not research sources
  • Advanced Searches
  • narrow down and focus results by using more specific search criteria
  • exact phrasing, specific words (multiple, all, any, not),region, date
  • Updating the Search
  • continually modify the search with new terms to increase relevant results

Assessing Credibility

In order to ensure the information you find is valid and therefore useful, you need to evaluate if the information is credible.

  • Author/Institution
  • consider the credentials of whoever is publishing the information
  • are they recognized as an authority on the subject
  • Date Published
  • determine if the information current
  • sets the context for the information

Citing Your Sources

All formal research needs to be citied to show where you obtained your information from.

  • Required Information
  • as you research record the author, publisher, title, date, URL
  • if some of this information is missing you should question the credibility
  • Proper Formatting
  • Author Last, First name. “Title of Item,” Publisher/Institution, date updated. full URL
  • Institution may be used if no author is listed
  • Date accessed must only be used as a last resort. Check with your teacher if you cannot find a date or date updated!

The Annotated Bibliography

For this assignment you will be required to produce a properly formatted annotated bibliography that lists the three sources that you used to complete the assignment. The annotation for each source appears in a couple of lines immediately below the source citation. In your annotation, you must explain how you determined that the source that you used was a credible and how the source was useful to you for this assignment. Remember that even though your bibliography may only be only three sources, those sources must be listed in alphabetical order.

Format Guidelines for Annotated Bibliography

Bibliography for a general website:

Author/Institution. “Title of Item.” Institution, date of source or date updated. URL.

*as a last resort a date accessed may be used in place of updated*

Scott, Donald. “The Canadian Conscription Crisis in WWII.” National Humanities Centre , updated June 17, 2010.

Bibliography for a digital magazine, newspaper, book or documentary series

Author last name, first name or Name of Institution. “Article Title.” Title of magazine, newspaper, book or documentary series. Name of institution that published the site(if applicable), Date of Issue. web address.

Mendelsohn, Daniel. “Japanese Internment.” Maclean’s, January 25, 2010.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “The Dust Bowl”. Canada a People’s History. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, copyright 2001.

After you have recorded your source in proper bibliographic style, explain why/how you have determined that this is a reliable and credible site. Use the example below as a guideline.

Source:

Bliss, Michael. “Women in WWII.” Canadian History Magazine, June 20, 2002.

Annotation:

Reasons that you believe that this is a reliable and credible website (1-2 lines)

i.e. This is a credible source because there is a clear date of publication and the article is published in a recognized historical magazine whose commercial success is dependent on its articles being factually reliable. The author is a professor of history at the University of Toronto.

Usefulness of site to your diary entry (2 lines)

One line that describes the general content of the site: i.e. This site was useful because it describes, in detail, the various roles that women performed in Canada’s factories in WWII.

One line that describes, specifically, how you used the source in your diary entry: i.e. I incorporated into my diary entry specific information about women’s work on an assembly line building Lancaster Bombers.