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Taking Up Arms and the Challenge of Slavery in the Revolutionary EraIntroductionWas the American Revolution inevitable? At what point did principled, verbal resistance to British imperial policies become armed conflict, rebellion, and, ultimately, revolution? What if other choices had been made by the British, other leaders had appeared for the colonists, or other modes of resistance had been attempted?After five years of almost constant protests by American colonists, starting with the Stamp Act in 1765, a period of superficial calm reigned in the relations between England and the colonies from 1770 to 1773. However, the struggles of the past half-decade had created deep resentments and fissures that were not to be healed easily—or ever. In addition, the American colonists had begun to develop a network of communications—the Committees of Correspondence, which had been in operation since 1772—to share information about their grievances regarding British imperial policy. The British imposition of the Tea Act in 1773 was the catalyst for a new round of protests, which this time would lead to open rebellion and then revolution. The Americans' responses—boycotts, non-importation, destruction of the tea—led to severe British reaction and retaliation in the form of the Intolerable Acts. These, in turn, set off a spiraling series of events that culminated in the first open hostilities in April of 1775. During this evolving struggle, the American insurgents frequently denounced Britain's arbitrary and despotic policies by asserting that the Americans would not be "slaves" to England. Were these leaders conscious of the irony/hypocrisy/contradictions in their refusals to be "slaves" to English policies while maintaining thousands of enslaved Africans among them? Why was the rhetoric of enslavement and resistance to it so central to the American enterprise at this time? This lesson is designed to help students understand the transition to armed resistance and the contradiction in the Americans' rhetoric about slavery through the examination of a series of documents. It is designed to be conducted over a several-day period, depending on the speed at which the groups work through the readings. However, teachers with time constraints can choose to utilize only one of the documents to illustrate the patriots' responses to the actions of the British. Guiding Questions
Learning ObjectivesAfter completing this lesson, students should be able to:
Background Information for the TeacherAfter the cessation of the French and Indian War in 1763, many of the inhabitants of the American colonies looked forward to a prosperous future under England's imperial protection. These people felt themselves intensely British; for almost all of them it would have been inconceivable to imagine that within little more than a decade they would be in open armed revolt against Great Britain, moving towards a formal declaration of independence.How did the relationship between England and the North American colonies change so quickly and profoundly? The chronology from 1763 to 1773 shows a progressive worsening of the relations between the colonies and England, despite a respite between 1770 to 1773. The following links from the EDSITEment-reviewed American Memory website offer a good overview and timeline of this chain of events: After the ill-advised passage of the Tea Act by Parliament in May 1773 and the Americans' response in the form of the Boston Tea Party and related events of late 1773-early 1774, the colonists' protests were transformed from somewhat disorganized street demonstrations and written appeals to more organized acts of resistance; eventually, armed hostilities developed in April of 1775. Good overviews of these two periods are offered at these American Memory pages:
Preparing to Teach this Lesson1. Download or bookmark the following links from EDSITEment-reviewed websites for use by students during the lesson. Students can access all the primary sources in this lesson on the LaunchPads and PDF files:
Also, teachers and students can access all student activities and accompanying websites through the EDSITEment Portfolio Tool. First time teachers will need to register and set up personal accounts and then follow the directions to set up their class. First go to http://chnm.gmu.edu/edsitement/login/. 2. Divide the students into the following groups of local Committees of Correspondence, the groups that were formed to communicate among the different colonies. Following the model established by colonial assemblies and other local governments, these committees took responsibility for relaying their government bodies' opinions of specific issues to other groups throughout the colonies [Note to teachers: the specific colonies you choose may vary, depending on what background knowledge your students bring, your location, and other factors. Depending on what lessons have come before this unit, you may need to provide students with some background information about the particular circumstances of the colony to which they are assigned. For example, make clear to them the more radical nature of movements in Massachusetts compared to some of the other colonies, etc.]:
Suggested ActivityDays One, Two, and Three (pacing will depend on the teacher/class; teachers may also decide to do only one or two of the documents, due to time constraints).Working in groups, students will act as members of designated Committees of Correspondence in the five different colonies, communicating their reactions to documents and events at crucial times in this period of transition from protest to armed struggle and revolt. Each group will be expected to annotate the documents and express their views on the reactions of different Committees of Correspondence; they will "correspond" with each other, as the colonists would have done in 1774-1775. The students will interact with the texts, provide their own annotations, and comment on each other's ideas. For homework the night before, students should read The Colonists Move Toward Open Rebellion, 1773-1774, (a background reading about the evolving conflict between the British and Americans) from EDSITEment reviewed American Memory, and Declarations of Independence, (a background reading about the language of slavery and the quest for personal freedom, 1770-1783 on EDSITEment's Africans in America). Instructors should also review with students the evolving differences between the Patriot and Tory points of view during the Revolutionary crisis, using their textbook and/or the background reading provided in this lesson. The teacher will model the types of responses expected from students by reading the following July 19, 1774 document about the growing agreement among Patriots' responses to the Tea Party, a significant step towards open rebellion, and then annotating it as she or he examines the colonists' views and actions at this juncture: Proceedings of the New York Committee of Correspondence, July 19, 1774 Teacher's Sample Annotation of New York Committee of Correspondence, July 19, 1774 in separate PDF file. During the next several days, students will work in their respective groups to analyze a series of documents that chronicle the evolution of events that culminate in Lord Dunmore's Proclamation of November, 1775. Links to these documents—as well as the bulleted questions below—are available to students in a convenient Student LaunchPad [Note: Each group would try to read all the documents, in chronological order, to enable them to see the progression of the Americans' reactions to the British actions. If there is not enough time, teachers can decide which ones to use; documents 2, 4, and 7 could work as a unit.] For each document, each group should annotate the key passages and then answer these questions. Students will then share both their annotations and their answers to the questions with the other Committees):
Teachers should model the responses to the questions available in a in separate PDF file to help students with answering the questions about the documents. In this way, teachers would be certain all groups have an understanding of what they are being asked to do. Sample responses in separate PDF file. 1. Slave Petition to the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts, May 25, 1774. Founder's Library, a link on EDSITEment reviewed Learner.org. A group of enslaved African Americans in Massachusetts petition the executive and legislative branches of the colony to end slavery.
2. A Fixed Plan to Bring the Most Humiliating Bondage, June 8, 1774 (American Memory). The Boston Committee of Correspondence calls for united action against the Coercive Acts—lest the colonies become slaves. (excerpt in separate PDF file)
3. Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, October 14, 1774, Avalon Project. The First Continental Congress explains their history of the dispute with England and the horrors of the Intolerable Acts, and then it explains the rights and resolutions of the colonies at that point. This document is good for showing that the violent rupture of the following year was not a foregone conclusion at this stage. (excerpt in separate PDF file)
4. Patrick Henry: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, March 23, 1775, Avalon Project. Patrick Henry explains why the Americans must fight if they want to avoid being enslaved to England, three weeks or so before Lexington and Concord. (excerpt in separate PDF file)
5. Accounts of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, 1775 Digital History (Isaac Merrill's 1775 letter about battles at Lexington and Concord) and Soldiers' Depositions, American Memory. These are depositions from soldiers who were present—all or some of them can be used to show the extent of the fighting and the Americans' perceptions of what happened.
6. The Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms (July 6, 1775, The Continental Congress responds to the fighting with a statement of their position) Avalon Project (excerpt in separate PDF file)
7. Lord Dunmore's Proclamation, 1775 The Royal Governor statement on November, 7, 1775, that slaves who fled their owners and came to fight for the British would be freed). Africans in America Explain that after students annotate each document and answer the questions given in Step Three, they will read other group responses and comment on them. This will enable them to sense what the colonists were experiencing as they communicated their reactions to one another in response to the different events/documents. Students should save their annotations and the answers for each document so that other students can view their work. They should be told ahead of time that each group will be asked to explain how and why their colony's position about "taking up arms" evolved during this time period. As part of their final report, they should address the role of the rhetoric about slavery during the revolutionary crisis. AssessmentTwo Possible Formats:1. Students will be asked to write an editorial or broadside from the following three choices: either of two following newspaper editorials: the first should be an editorial in a Boston pro-patriot newspaper; the second, an editorial from a New York Tory newspaper, and the third, a broadside from the free black community. All three should be dated December 1, 1775.They will be required to address the following key issues in their editorials:
Extending the Lesson1. What was King George's reaction to the North American colonies' declaration of armed resistance? Examine his speech to Parliament on October 27, 1775 at EDSITEment-reviewed American Memory:2. What did other people in England think about the issue? Check out Edmund Burke's view at Founder's Library, a link on EDSITEment-reviewed Learner.org 3. What did many of the Founders think and write about the issue of enslavement? Examine their views at Slavery in America, a link on EDSITEment-reviewed History Matters. Related Lesson Plans
Selected EDSITEment Websites
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