To Rebel, or not to Rebel

A WebQuery for 11th Grade

Christina Bartholet
bartholetc@cwu.edu

Introduction

The issue of revolting against the British Crown was never as simple as right or wrong. With todays knowledge, it is easy for one to say it was necessary for the colonists to revolt agains the British crown. However, this issue is extraordinarily complex, with multiple layers of problems. The problem was not merely that the British taxed the colonists unfairly, nor were the people who stayed loyal to the Crown pacifists by any means. By looking at this issue, students should gain an understanding of what were the reasons for both revolting and staying loyal to Britain.

Task

Your task is to research the Patriot and Loyalist reasons for either fighting or staying with Britain. As a class we will be having a debate over this issue.

Students with the last name A-M will research for the Patriots.
Students with the last name N-Z will research for the Loyalists.

You should specifically focus on researching your side of the issue. However, it would be wise to atleast familiarize yourself with the opposing argument to give you time to come up with counter-arguments.

The Process

As you are researching, these are some questions to consider.

What is a Loyalist?
What is a Patriot?
What were the major concerns of colonists during the 1770's?
What were the roles of African Americans in the debate to rebel?
What were the roles of women in the debate to rebel?
Who would be more concerned about unfair taxation?
Did a persons location influence their decision to revolt?
Where were the wealthier citizens receiving their information?
Where was the average citizen, such as a farmer, receiving his information?
What kind of biases may be present in newspapers and pamphlets at the time?
Did a persons heritage affect their beliefs?

Resources

Explore the links below in order to find information about Loyalist and Patriots. Try to confine your research to these sites, but if you find another appropriate site, run it by the teacher to gain approval.

GENERAL:
Multiple Perspectives of the Revolutionary War
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/amrev/homefrnt/homefrnt.html

The Boston Massacre
http://www.bostonmassacre.net/

LOYALISTS:
A Loyalists Tract
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/amrev/homefrnt/tract.html

James Chalmer's Plain Truth (A Response to Common Sense)
http://lists.wayne.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A3=ind9801&L=tamha&P=232323&E=0&B=--------------1FEB532F6B09&N=plain-t.htm&T=text/html

African American Loyalists
http://museum.gov.ns.ca/blackloyalists/who.htm

The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies
http://www.royalprovincial.com/

PATRIOTS:
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/

The Colonial Mindset and Reasons that Led to A Revolt
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/revolutionarywar/a/amer_revolution.htm

The Declaration of Independence and related information
http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/

Causes of the Revolutionary War
http://www.historycentral.com/revolt/causes.html

Evaluation

For this assignment, each student will be required to speak during the class debate. In order to gain credit for this assignment the student must argue their side, showing the teacher that they had researched the topic. They must show the teacher that they have knowledge of their assigned topic. The grade will be pass/fail.

Conclusion

Now you are more appraised of the debate over whether or not the colonists should have rebeled against Britain. Our culture has perpetuated this myth that the loyalists were traitors, but now you see that they were people with legitimate reasons to stay loyal to Britain. What other historical events might be scewed towards the winning side. What other "traitors" in history might have an untold story?

We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuery, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuery. On the line after the original author's name, you may add "Modified by (your name) on (date)". If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL.

This template is based on the original WebQuest template.

To learn more about WebQuery, visit The WebQuery Page.

Loyalist Picture Source: http://www.royalprovincial.com/reenactors/photos/4njv2.shtml