Greetings parents! For this week students will continue to analyze the leadup to the American Revolution. Below are instructions for students, a transcript of a radio interview they will listen to, as well as scanned pages from their textbooks for a weekly reading. You can print this out or pick up a paper version from the grade school during lunch pickup on Tuesday April 14th. The assignment asks students to listen to a radio interview with historian Joseph Ellis, the author of “Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence.” Listen to Ellis explain why the summer of 1776 was a pivotal point in the American Revolutionary War. Click on this link here to access a recording of the interview. This is a link that will allow you to download the mp3 which should cut down on data needs. If you have any trouble, questions, or if your child wishes to check in with me I can be reached by email or phone at 541-581-0869 from 7:30 - 4:00 M-T. If you call and I am not available please leave a voicemail and a callback number and I will follow up ASAP. Thank you and please don’t hesitate to reach out, Mr. Andrews

5th and 6th Grade Social Studies The Summer Before the Revolution

Hello students I hope you are all doing well! This week we will analyze the leadup to the American revolution. It’s the summer of 1776 and tensions are high. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, which argues that colonists should fight for more representation in the government (remember “no taxation without representation”) has sold 100,000 copies. Colonists are still divided though between those that are ready to fight, and those that think they should seek a peaceful solution with Great Britain. Steps for you!

● Please read pages 201-208 in your textbook for some background knowledge on the following events

○ The Boston Massacre - an event in 1770 where British troops killed 5 colonists

○ The Boston Tea Party - an event in 1773 where the group the “Sons of Liberty” protested by intentionally destroying British tea

○ The Coercive acts - a series of laws passed in 1774 by Great Britain aimed to punish colonists. The laws changed the way the British military could behave while in the colonies that upset many colonists

○ The Continental Congress - a gathering of people representing the colonists in 1774 to decide what they would do in response the these events

● Listen to the radio program while reading along with the radio transcript. In it you will hear an interview with a historian named Joseph Ellis. He will explain why the summer of 1776 was a very important point in the American Revolutionary War. Underline any words you do not understand. Some are listed below, but if there are others make sure to ask your parents the definition or look them up online.

○ Some important vocabulary words in the transcript ■ momentous - extremely important ■ consensus - general agreement ■ diplomatic - involving the work of maintaining good

relations between the governments of different countries

■ galvanizes - causes people to become so concerned about an issue that they want to take action

■ annihilate - destroy completely ● After your first listen look at the following questions you will answer

○ According to Joseph Ellis, what did most colonists think about British rule up until the summer of 1776?

○ How did the British Empire’s decision to invade the colonies change most colonists’ opinion regarding British rule?

○ What did the British think would happen if they gave the colonies freedom?

○ In Ellis’s opinion, why didn’t the British end the Revolutionary War quickly?

● After reading the questions above go back and listen to the interview again while underlining parts of the transcript you think are important to help answer the questions.

● After your 2nd listen you can begin to answer the questions on the next page. If you feel like you wanna have a 3rd listen to better understand, that’s ok too!

● When you’ve finished answering your questions, have your parents take a picture of your answers with your phone and have them email it to me at jandrews@condon.k12.or.us!

Radio interview questions Name____________ 1) According to Joseph Ellis, what did most colonists think about British rule up until

the summer of 1776? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

2) How did the British Empire’s decision to invade the colonies change most colonists’ opinion regarding British rule? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

3) What did the British think would happen if they gave the colonies freedom? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) In Ellis’s opinion, why didn’t the British end the Revolutionary War quickly? _____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

5) In your own opinion, what can two governments do to avoid going to war when they have a disagreement? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

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SPEAKER 1: On July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the final version of the Declaration ofIndependence, Thomas Jefferson's document that declared the colonies free of British rule. The declarationwas, of course, a crucial moment, but it was really just one scene in a drama that played out over severalmonths before and after that momentous event in Philadelphia. That drama plays out in a new book by historianJoseph Ellis. It is called Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence, and Joseph Ellis joins usnow from WFCR in Amherst, Massachusetts. Professor Ellis, welcome.

JOSEPH ELLIS: Hey, it's a pleasure to be with you.

SPEAKER 1: Well, it's great to have you. And these characters and the territory that you cover in this bookhave been written about a lot by a lot of people. So I'm wondering first if you could just tell us, what are youtrying to do here that hasn't been done?

JOSEPH ELLIS: One of the things that I found that isn't part of the normal story is that two things were goingon at the same time in the summer of '76. There's the political story happening in Philadelphia in theContinental Congress ending with the Declaration. And then there's the military story going on down in NewYork in which the Continental Army is about to face off against a British force of 42,000 soldiers and sailors,the largest amphibious force ever to cross the Atlantic. You have to put those two stories together to understandthe chemistry of the moment and that really, the consensus for American independence only took shape oncethe colonists realized they were being invaded. It wasn't a constitutional issue anymore. It was a military issue.

SPEAKER 1: And I want to talk about that, but another thing that's very interesting about this and the title ofthe book is Revolutionary Summer. I mean, I think we think about the revolution as a long process, but it'samazing how much happened just in a short period of time.

JOSEPH ELLIS: Yeah. This is the crescendo moment in which they make the decision for independence, theycommit themselves to go to war with the British army in a full way. They've been pretending the war didn'texist but in fact, people should remember the war really has been going on for 15 months. It's 15 monthsbetween Lexington, Concord, and the July Declaration. Not only that politically, but militarily, the things thathappened in the summer of '76 create the framework for the rest of the whole war and how it's going to befought and deed in some sense, what the outcome is going to be.

SPEAKER 1: Well, what did you find in your research was more important here? That what was happening onthe political side or what was happening on the military side? Could either have survived without the other?

JOSEPH ELLIS: No. They're totally equal and reinforcing. Up until late spring and early summer of '76, amajority of delegates in the Continental Congress and the best we can note people out in the countryside werecommitted to opposing British right of taxation legislation, but they weren't committed to secession from theBritish empire. What changes people's minds in May, in June, in July of '76 is this huge invasion force. And theBritish have decided that they're not going to end this diplomatically. There was a diplomatic solution to this,but that they're going to quash this thing, because it's an early version of the domino theory.

If we let the colonists get away with what they want to get away with, what's going to happen in Scotland?What's going to happen in Ireland? What's going to happen in India? Plus, we have the military resources, thebest combination army and navy in the world to quash this thing in the cradle. Yet that very decision is whatgalvanizes popular opinion for independence.

SPEAKER 1: Did the political leaders on this side of the Atlantic realize what they were up against there?

JOSEPH ELLIS: Yes, but with a certain qualification. There is a profound awareness on the part of manydelegates, especially those who are reluctant revolutionaries, that this might very well be a suicidal act. And

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Jefferson's words in the Declaration "Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor" were not rhetoric. Theyrealized they were risking everything. But there was a recognition on the part of some of them, especiallypeople like John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, that it wasn't going to be a war between armies. It was goingto be a war in which the British had to subjugate the entire American populace.

And I think our own experience in Southeast Asia and later in the Middle East makes us more aware of theproblem that the British were going to face in trying to squash this rebellion. And so they had to win it quickly.And if they didn't, it would start to drain on them, and it would end up being a war that was going to bedifficult for them to win.

SPEAKER 1: And they didn't, so why didn't they? What did they do wrong?

JOSEPH ELLIS: What they did wrong was not end it quickly. And they had a chance on Long Island andManhattan, did the Howe brothers, to annihilate the Continental Army. They had the opportunity to do that, butthey don't want to do it. They are people who think this war is misguided. They've come to deliver a stunningbut proportional blow, and then hope that the Americans will come to their senses and negotiate a peace. That'stheir real goal-- to try to deliver stunning blow and then serve as peace brokers. But as a result, they missed theone chance to win the war.

SPEAKER 1: That's Joseph Ellis, a professor of history emeritus at Mount Holyoke College. His new book iscalled Revolutionary Summer.

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