American Revolution - Week 2

We began by guessing our 'famous people of the day' from their own words. 

"I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death." 

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."  

"Tyranny.....is not easily conquered; yet…the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

"These are the times that try men's' souls.”

That's right!  It was Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine.  We listened to the inspired words of these two men.  The last written upon a drum in the desperate conditions of a frozen and weary army just before the daring strategy of General George Washington to cross the Deleware River and defeat the Hessian Army at Christmas.   

We read the chapter "Three Who Stepped Forward" in the book, Unlikely Heroes by Ron Carter.  We marveled at the power of the 'pen' to influence the minds and hearts of those patriot soldiers and the families of a budding nation.  These words inspired men and women to reach inside of themselves and search for a deeper meaning to their cause.  

Market Day Simulation:

We learned about what Market day was and how Colonial Currency worked. 

"That is simple. In the colonies we issue our own money. It is called Colonial Script. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of trade and industry to make the products pass easily from the producers to the consumers.

In this manner, creating for ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power, and we have no interest to pay to no one." - Benjamin Franklin

What a resourceful state of affairs!  We were surprised at the affect the new laws, acts, and taxes of King George III and the British Parliament had upon the economy.  Due to these events, the Colonies quickly found themselves in a desperate state.

"In one year, the conditions were so reversed that the era of prosperity ended, and a depression set in, to such an extent that the streets of the Colonies were filled with unemployed."

"The colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from the colonies their money, which created unemployment and dissatisfaction. The inability of the colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George III and the international bankers was the PRIME reason for the Revolutionary War." - Benjamin Franklin's autobiography

We played a game of buying and selling goods to each other using Colonial Script.  Interrupted by King George III's Decree, we learned that our once plentiful Colonial Script was worthless, and we would have to trade in much of our goods for silver in order to continue our game. We discussed how we felt and how the Colonists must have felt.  We questioned whether it was reason enough to go to war.

Next, we began our Chronicle Journals.  Each had the opportunity to make their very own personal historical record of the American Revolution.  We began by sewing the pages together.  We added pictures, wrote in quotes, drew our own sketches and personalized our books with events and happenings of the time period.  We will add to these each week as we learn more about our American Revolutionary Heroes.  

We ended with King George III Tax Game. Lelia volunteered to be King George.  Katelyn was the Parliament.  Melody was the Tax Collector.  With Parliament taxing everything from jewelry, jeans, and backpacks, our poor Colonists were paying a lot of chocolate coins out of pocket! 

The outcry for the day was 'Taxation Without Representation!' We concluded with snack time and reading the account of the Death Head Stamp Tax taken from The Liberty Tree by Lucille Rech Penner (Landmark Books). 

We're having so much fun.  What an exciting time of American History!