VS5bBy Miss O.

Revolutionary War

“Give me liberty or give me death!”

Patrick Henry inspired patriots from other colonies when he spoke out about taxation without representation.

Patrick Henry

Capitol cityWhere the king’s

governor lived

Where the House of Burgesses met

Williamsburg, VA

Patriots army, fighting against the British for independence

Many Virginians were Patriots and fought in the Continental Army

Continental Army

Some Virginians were neutral and did not take sides.

Some colonists in Virginia were neutral.

Neutral

A colonist who remained loyal to Great Britain and the king.

Some colonists in Virginia were loyalists.

Loyalist

Took on more responsibility to support the war effort.

Women

Enslaved African Americans fought in the Continental army for a better chance of freedom.

Some free African Americans fought for independence in the American Revolution.

Some enslaved African Americans also fought for the British, because Lord Dunmore and other British generals “promised” them their freedom if they fought for their side.

African Americans

Fought alongside both the Virginia patriots and the British.

American Indians

The first land battle of the American Revolution fought in Virginia.

The American victory forced the British colonial governor, Lord Dunmore, to flee the City of Norfolk.

Battle of Great Bridge

wrote the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776

He believed that the authority to govern belongs to the people rather than to kings and that all people are created equal and have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Thomas Jefferson

Rough Draft

NOTICE KNOW QUESTIONS

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands that have connected them and to assume among the powers of the earth

What does it mean?

Over the years of human history, sometimes it is needed for people to go against their current government if it is not working for them.

The separate and equal stations to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

What does it mean?Human nature has certain “laws” that give people the ability to think for themselves and have opinions about the way that they should live. And sometimes, that means that groups of people should leave their current governments and start a separate, new one.

We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal—that they are endowed by their Creator—with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

What does it mean?Self-evident = __________

Endowed = ____________

Unalienable = ___________

Pursuit = ______________

Talk and turn: So what does this mean?

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

What does it mean?The purpose of governments are to protect people’s rights. The government’s power and authority should come from the agreement of the citizens themselves when they vote for people to represent them in government.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundations on such principles

What does it mean?

But when governments are more hurtful then helpful towards the people, the people have the right to get rid of the bad government and to create a new government that is based on those people’s rights that they believe in and think are fair.

and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence indeed will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;

What does it mean?The people who have power and are in charge in the government will have the responsibility to make laws that protect the people’s safety and happiness. Goodness will lead the government, and the whole government should not be done away with just for small or unimportant things.

and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

What does it mean?Even though sometimes

people continue to put up with a government that doesn’t operate correctly it doesn’t make it right and changes still need to be made. It is the duty of the people to make sure that the government treats the people fairly.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government and to provide new guards for their future security.

What does it mean?Even though sometimes

people continue to put up with a bad government that doesn’t treat them fairly, it doesn’t make it right and changes still need to be made. It is the duty of the people to make sure that the government treats the people fairly.

Absolute authority when the government has a ruler who has all the control over the people and the people have NO SAY in how their country is ruled.

Despotism

Talk and Turn Questions:

1. Who had despotism over the colonies?

2. What did the colonies want to do about that “despotism”?

3. What did they say about despotism in the DOI?

What did it mean?

We, those who have been putting up with an inoperable government have been patient and suffered through a lot of things without complaining, but it is our duty to make the needed changes. It is evident that King George III who is our ruler right now, that he wants to take all power away from the people and will not listen to our leaders.

Looking at the King of England's record, it's clear England wants total control of our colonies, compromising our liberties. Here are our facts:

1. He won’t let us pass important laws we need now. He’s got to sign off on them, and when he doesn’t suffer.

2. He’s refused to let us pass laws affecting large groups of people in our colonies unless they swore allegiance to him even though they’ve had the right to self govern, clearly showing he’s a tyrant.

What were all the things King George III had done that were wrong to the colonists?

3. He requests meetings of our representatives in far away cold, and strange places for the purpose of wearing them down into submission, so they’ll agree with him.

4. He’s disbanded our leaders whenever we complain about human rights abuses.

Who came first?

What came first?

Did Thomas Jefferson come up with all of the ideas and words of the DOI all on his own?

Was the Declaration of Independence original?

wrote Virginia Declaration of Rights

Which led to…1. Some of Jefferson’s words in

the Declaration of Independence

2. Later…in the Bill of Rights with the Constitution (after the war)

He believed all Virginians should have certain rights and freedoms Freedom of ReligionFreedom of Speech

George Mason

Virginia Declaration of Rights Primary Source Activity

Your Mission:

Read through George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights and find matching words and phrases that are identical (or mean the same as) to Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence written only a month later.•Highlight those words and phrases when you find them!

Similarities and DifferencesVirginia Declaration of Rights

Declaration of Independence

Commander – in – Chief of the Continental Army during Revolutionary War

1st President of the United States and made a good leader and model president

“Father of our Country”

George Washington

Absolute authority when the government has a ruler who has all the control over the people and the people have NO SAY in how their country is ruled.

Despotism

Talk and Turn Questions:

1. Who had despotism over the colonies?

2. What did the colonies want to do about that “despotism”?

3. What did they say about despotism in the DOI?

What is the Declaration of Independence?Talk and Turn to make a list:

July 4, 1776

Mission: You will be given one part of the DOI to “decode” with your partner. Your goal is to find out what your piece of the Declaration of Independence means using dictionaries, the internet, and piecing the words of the sentence together with its overall context.

Declaration of Independence Primary Source Activity

Tracking Your Findings

Unfamiliar Vocabulary

Meanings

What might this mean?

Reasons for why I think so.

This activity will take a few days. So do your best and don’t rush. You will be graded on your research and your final project presentation.

Your partner and you will “re-write” the section of the DOI that you have been assigned in your OWN words or “translate” for us what your section means, so we understand it better.

Final Project (with partner):

Rode on horseback through the back roads of Virginia to Charlottesville to warn Thomas Jefferson (governor of Virginia) that the British were coming to arrest him and the Virginia Assembly!

Jack Jouett

Slave who served in the Continental Army and gained freedom after the war

Spy for the Patriots!

Helped Washington and French General Lafayette win the battle of Yorktown.

James Armistead Lafayette

British General who surrenders to Washington at the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia marking the end of the Revolutionary War

General Cornwallis

Helped the Continental Army and George Washington by blocking the British with their ships to surround the British at Yorktown.

French General Lafayette

The American victory at Yorktown resulted in the surrender of the British army, which led to an end to the war.

Yorktown