The American Revolution was intended as a political break with Britain, but the forces unleashed by the Revolution caused significant changes and reforms in American life.
African-Americans contributed to the military efforts of both sides in the American
Revolution, and were strongly impacted by its results: exile or re-enslavement for black loyalists and eventual emancipation for slaves in the North.
Women assumed new and unfamiliar duties during the American Revolution, and while the Revolution did not substantially result in a change in the status and duties of American women, it did lead to an increasing importance in women’s roles as nurturers of “republican” children.
A significant minority of Americans (10-20%) supported King and Parliament during the Revolution. Although this choice was often individually based on local issues and considerations, the loyalists suffered a common fate at the end of the Revolution: exile from America and estrangement from life in the new United States.
Session 1: Oct. 16 - 4:30–7:30 Capitol Region Education Council
EQ: What roles did the women, African-Americans, and loyalists play in American Revolution, how was the status of these groups changed as a result?
Overview: American Revolution and Reform (Steve McGrath)
Reading: Wood, American Revolution, Chs. V and VI Reading Guide
Session 2: Oct. 23. – 4:30–7:30 Connecticut Historical Society directions
EQ: To what extent did African-Americans play a part in the American Revolution, and how did the Revolution change their status?
African-Americans in the Revolution: Military Service and Emancipation (Brief lecture and jigsaw Berlin article) (Steve McGrath)
Connecticut’s Blacks: Military Service and Emancipation (CHS staff)
Blacks in the American Revolution: Key documents (Steve McGrath)
Advance Reading: Ira Berlin, “The Revolution in Black Life"
Session 3: Oct. 30 – 4:30–7:30 Capitol Region Education Council
EQ: What role did loyalists play in the American Revolution, and what consequences did they endure as a result?
Loyalists in the American Revolution (Steve McGrath) (Brief lecture and jigsaw Nelson article)
Loyalist documents (Steve McGrath)
In the Classroom (Lyssa Ellis)
Advance reading: William H. Nelson, “The Tory Rank and File” Reading Guide
Session 4: Saturday, November 8 – 9:00–3:00
Capitol Region Education Council
EQ: To what extent did the American Revolution require new duties of American women, and to what extent did their status and roles change as a result?
Doing Women’s History (Carol Berkin)
Advance reading jigsaw (Steve McGrath and Lyssa Ellis)
American Revolution and Women (Carol Berkin)
The American Revolution and Women: Documents (Carol Berkin)
In the Classroom (Lyssa Ellis)
Advance Reading: Carol Berkin, Revolutionary MothersReading Guide
Session 5: Nov. 13 – 4:30-7:30 Capitol Region Education Council
Reprise of the semester (Steve McGrath)
Group discussion of essential questions (Steve McGrath and Lyssa Ellis)
In the Classroom (Lyssa Ellis & Kelly Pergola)
Spring Semester:
The experience of the American Revolution empowered ordinary Americans politically, and this increased political consciousness and involvement carried into the highly-charged political issues of the Post-Revolutionary Era.
American states wrote new constitutions during and after the American Revolution, greatly increasing liberties such as religious freedom, and leading to the creation of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of 1787.
Session 6: March 5
EQ: In what ways did the American Revolution politicize the American people, and provide the stimulus for political constitution-making?
Discussion of essential understandings and introduction to themes of second semester (Steve McGrath and Kelly Pergola)
State constitutions: 1776-1786 (Steve McGrath)
Advance Reading: Wood, Chapter IV
Session 7: March 12
EQ: In what ways did the experience of the American Revolution empower ordinary Americans politically, and how did that politicization carry over into the post-Revolutionary years?
The Revolution and Ordinary Americans (T.H. Breen, Northwestern)
Ordinary Americans in the Revolution in their own words (T.H. Breen)
In the Classroom (Kelly Pergola)
Advance Reading: TBA
Session 8: March 26
EQ: To what extent did the Articles of Confederation provide a constitutional framework for the newly-independent states?
The Articles of Confederation (Steve McGrath)
The Articles of Confederation as a document (Steve McGrath)
In the Classroom (Kelly Pergola)
Advance Reading: Wood, Chapter IV and The Articles of Confederation
Session 9: April 2
EQ: In what ways did the American Revolution bring religious liberty to fruition?
The Revolution and Religious Liberty
Document analysis: Jefferson’s Religious Liberty Statute (Steve McGrath)
How do we deal with the issue of religious liberty in our classrooms? (Steve McGrath Alan Marcus)
Advance Reading: Wood, Chapter VI and Jefferson’s Statute on Religious Liberty
Field Trip: May 19 - 9:30 -3:00 Connecticut in the Revolution
Lebanon Historical Society
Lebanon and its role the war
Tour of the War Office & the Lebanon Historical Society’s
Revolutionary War Hands-on History Room
Tour of the Green
Hands on research (Utilizing war pensions to do research)
Hale Homestead
The Patriotism of the Hale Family (tour of the Hale Homestead)
Inventory Activity (utilizing inventories to learn about the past)
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