Should We Stay or Should We Go?: Confronting the Possibility of Revolution, 1765-1776.
In Two Parts, Part 1 is the CREATION of the propaganda, Part 2 is the REFLECTION on the propaganda.
Part 1. Congratulations! Your history consulting firm’s proposal for an ad reflecting a clear point of view about whether the Continental Congress should sign the Declaration of Independence has been accepted! You will now produce propaganda.
Instructions for Part 1:
- READ the Declaration of Independence!!
- Your propaganda project should reflect a distinct point of view (patriot, loyalist, or neutral) about signing the Declaration of Independence. Alternatively, your project might feature a debate or confrontation between opposing sides.
- The project must reflect an understanding of the point of view based on your interpretation of one or more primary sources (“George Hewes…1834, “Thomas Paine…1776”, “Abigail and John Adams Converse”, TWO Petitions of the Enslaved, “Loyalists and the Revolution”) Yawp, Chap. 5, Parts I, II, III .
- Use CANVA to create the propaganda poster.
- I have shared two images of propaganda from the revolutionary era.
Part 2. A large group of people have gathered at town hall to debate whether the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia should sign the Declaration of Independence. Everyone in attendance has had an opportunity to view the propaganda you produced. While you may not be able to convince everyone in the crowd of your point of view there, there do seem to be people who are still on the fence and willing to hear what you have to say in greater detail.
Directions for Part 2:
Describe the propaganda you produced, approx. in 2 pages, responding to the following prompts:
- What argument is the propaganda making? Why should your audience care about this topic?
- In your propaganda, what words, visuals, or other assets (music? video?) did you choose to articulate a specific point of view?
- What impact might your propaganda about signing the Declaration of Independence have on the changing someone’s opinion about whether to remain Patriot, Loyalist, or neutral regarding the decision to declare independence from England?
- Explain how your character (we were assigned to play a character in another assignment and had to write about how they would be/act during the revolutionary war era, my character is a widowed (white female) tavern keeper in which I have shared in file on what I wrote)would respond to the propaganda you/your group created about the signing of the Declaration of Independence
- Explain how Abigail Adams, representing the female point of view, would respond to the propaganda you created.
- List the specific primary sources you used to inspire or inform the arguments, and briefly explain why you selected each of them.
