The Road to Revolution - The American War of Independence

Go to the Road to Revolution Game and follow the instructions. Put down your answers here as well and send them to your email address.

1. What did Great Britain create, in 1765, that put you on The Road
to Revolution? Explain.

2. I like tea. You like tea. The American colonists liked tea. But when Parliament imposed a tax on the their 'cuppa,' a group of outraged Bostonians dumped 342 crates of English-owned tea in the harbor.

What was the name of the local political group that organized this demonstration?

3. To be or not to be? Independent, that is. That's your quandary in early 1776. Matters between the Americans and the British have turned from bad to worse. In January, an ex-corsetmaker named Thomas Paine, who'd just moved to Philadelphia from England, publishes a pamphlet that becomes an instant bestseller in the colonies, and helps push you and your fellow Americans over the edge to independence.

What was that pamphlet called?

4. The Declaration of Independence is signed by members of the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Thomas Jefferson's stirring language inspires thousands of Americans with its promise "that all men are created equal." Unfortunately, not everyone in America is given the same rights as the men who signed that document. Imagine you're Jehu Grant—about to enlist in the Continental Army.

As a black man in the newly formed United States, in how many states are you guaranteed freedom from slavery?

5. The British army and navy sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776. They had come to crush George Washington's Continental Army and with it, the whole American rebellion. They almost succeeded.

More than a few Americans secretly, and not so secretly, were cheering them on. Many of these loyalists lived in New York, which would spend most of the Revolution under British control.

About how many Americans would remain faithful to the British crown through the course of the Revolution?

6. You're a soldier in George Washington's Continental Army. It's Christmas week, 1776. You're hungry, cold, miserable, and have no idea that George is planning a desperate measure like crossing the Delaware River and attacking Trenton.

What prompted Washington to take the risk of attacking the Hessians garrisoned there?

7. Before we head toward Washington, D.C., let's veer to the midwest. There have been few pieces of legislation that have done more to shape the future of the nation than the Northwest Ordinance, passed in 1787 by the Confederation Congress. The Northwest Ordinance created a means to enter the union for the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota—almost the entire Big 10 Conference.

More importantly, what did the Northwest Ordinance prohibit in these territories?

8. All right. You're a delegate at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. It's sweltering outside and air conditioning won't be invented for another 175 years. The guy from Rhode Island is going on and on about this little state/big state problem and suddenly it dawns on you that, hey, there's no Bill of Rights in this constitution! Right then and there you decide that there's no way you're going to vote for the ratification of this document even if James Madison offers his fan. Four years later, the Bill of Rights is attached to the Constitution as its first 10 amendments.

What is it that the Bill of Rights guarantees that made you so adamant about its passage?

And finally, try to come up with a chronology of events that led to the American War of Independence by doing a matching exercise. You'll probably have to do some Internet research for this.

You can check the correct order of events here. But do this after you have tried hard enough;)

As a reward for your hard work, you can watch some video clips on the American War of Independence. Enjoy!