Key Issues
 

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As a group, share what you know, that could help answer these questions:

     -  Why have the events around the American War of Independence,
           been described as a 'revolution'?
     - What is a revolution?
     - What country in Europe, also in the 1700s, had a large revolution?
     - How was their revolution different to the one staged by the
       American colonists?
 

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The American colonists wanted their freedom and independence.

      - What does it mean, when said that a country of people is 'independent',
         that it is an independent nation?
     

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When the colonists drew up a document declaring their independence from England, they expressed at the beginning of the document, the ideas and ideals that were principles of the Declaration.

It is the idea  that people have certain rights, and when a government violates these rights, the people have the right to "alter or abolish" that government.

"...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...."

Or, in simpler words:

'We think these things are obviously true:

  • That all men are created equal
  • That all men have some rights given to them by their God
  • That among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'

       - Do you agree with these principles?
       - Are they still important and relevant to your society today?

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence)
 

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The American colonists wanted the right to make their own laws that suited their own needs;
And not be forced to accept laws made by a government three thousand miles away, that did not have any members that they had voted in, to represent their interests.

They also wanted to be free to:
    - make their own taxes.
    - control their own economy.
    - organise their own trade.
    - write their version of the 'truth' in newspapers - freedom of the press.
    - decide their own relations with other foreign nations.

They wanted to be independent and govern themselves.
 
 

 

 

 

        - What are some examples where the American colonists were denied these rights, when they were living under British rule?