#12 SOL Essential Questions

I am currently teaching a content based informational reading unit centered on the Revolutionary War. Tonight I blended our unit timeline (used to focus on key events) and the essential questions. I am trying to find a balance between the enormous amount of content and the main ideas I want students to learn.

Here's the unit timeline with some of the essential questions linked to events. The classroom teacher and I worked to select the essential questions from several I found on the internet.

Revolutionary War Timeline and Essential Questions

1756 French & Indian War

How did competition for land in North American lead to the French and Indian War?

What is an alliance?

1759 French Surrendered

Battle of Quebec

Pontiac’s Rebellion

1763 Treaty of Paris

How did Britain’s victory in the French and Indian War mark the end of the French empire in North America?

1763 Proclamation of 1763 (Oct.)

How did the Proclamation of 1763 outrage the colonists?

1765 Stamp Act

William Pitt’s Speech Against Stamp Act

May 29^th, 1765 Patrick Henry

Repealed (1766)

How did taxation without representation further contribute to the struggle for independence?

1767 Townsend Acts

Repealed 1770 (except tea)

1770 Boston Massacre (March)

1773 Tea Act

How did Bostonians react to the Tea Act?

1773 Boston Tea Party (Dec.)

1774 First Continental Congress

How did the First Continental Congress prepare the colonists for the American Revolution?

1774 Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)

1775 Patrick Henry’s Speech (March)

1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord

May 2^nd Continental Congress

June-Battle of Bunker Hill

July-Olive Branch Petition

1776 Common Sense (Jan.)

Declaration (June)

Signing Declaration (July 4^th)

Key People

Who were some of the important leaders in the war and what were their roles?

What impact did each of the leaders have on the war?

• George Washington
• Patrick Henry
• Samuel Adams
• Thomas Jefferson
• Benjamin Franklin
• John Adams
• Thomas Paine