7.3 - American Independence

Seventh Grade - Seventh Social Studies - 7.3 - American Independence

From EngageNY

Growing tensions over political power and economic issues sparked a movement for independence from Great Britain. New York played a critical role in the course and outcome of the American Revolution.

7.3a Conflicts between France and Great Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries in North America altered the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain.

• Students will locate battles fought between France and Great Britain during the 17th and 18th centuries, and how this led to the importance of British troops in the area of New York.
• Students will examine the changing economic relationship between the colonies and Great Britain, including mercantilism and the practice of salutary neglect.
• Students will identify the issues stemming from the Zenger Trial that affected the development of individual rights in colonial America.

7.3b Stemming from the French and Indian War, the British government enacted and attempted to enforce new political and economic policies in the colonies. These policies triggered varied colonial responses, including protests and dissent.

• Students will investigate the Albany Congress and the Albany Plan of Union as a plan for colonial unification, and the influence of Haudenosaunee ideas in their development.
• Students will examine actions taken by the British, including the Proclamation of 1763, the Quartering Act, the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, and the Coercive Acts, and colonial responses to those actions.
• Students will compare British and colonial patriot portrayals of the Boston Massacre, using historical evidence.
• Students will compare the proportions of loyalists and patriots in different regions of the New York colony.
• Students will examine the events at Lexington and Concord as the triggering events for the Revolutionary War.

7.3c Influenced by Enlightenment ideas and their rights as Englishmen, American colonial leaders outlined their grievances against British policies and actions in the Declaration of Independence.

• Students will examine the influence Enlightenment ideas such as natural rights and social contract and ideas expressed in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense had on colonial leaders in their debates on independence.
• Students will examine the Declaration of Independence and the arguments for independence stated within it.

7.3d The outcome of the American Revolution was influenced by military strategies, geographic considerations, the involvement of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) and other Native American groups in the war, and aid from other nations. The Treaty of Paris (1783) established the terms of peace.

• Students will explore the different military strategies used by the Americans and their allies, including various Native American groups, during the American Revolution.
• Students will examine the strategic importance of the New York colony. Students will examine the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga in terms of its effects on American and British morale and on European views on American prospects for victory in the Revolution.
• Students will examine the terms of the Treaty of Paris, determine what boundary was set for the United States, and illustrate this on a map.