American Revolution Flow Map (Timeline) Project

Assignment Overview:

Your assignment is to create a flow map (timeline) of the events that led to the
American Revolution. Your flow map should not only include the events in
their correct order, but will also include an illustration and brief description of
each event. Your teacher will provide you with construction paper to create
your flow map.

Assignment steps:

1. Use your Expert Information on the following page and the information
you discussed in class to place the following events in the correct order
2. Once you have found the correct order, begin work on your flow map
3. You should have an illustration and a brief description (minimum of 1 to 2
sentences in your own words) for each event on your flow map
4. Your illustrations should be neat and colored

The following events should be put in order, described and illustrated:

The Intolerable Acts The Sugar Act

The Boston massacre The Townshend Acts
The Stamp Act The Quartering Act
The Boston Tea Party The Proclamation of 1763
The Declaration of Independence The Constitution

Assignment Rubric:

Events In Correct Order ________ (25 pts)

Event Descriptions ________ (25 pts)
Event Illustrations ________ (25 pts)
Visual Appeal ________ (15 pts)
Spelling/Grammar ________ (10 pts)
Expert Information:

The colonies that were one day to become the United States of America as you now know were
originally under the control of England. By 1760 England began to realize the difficulty of
governing the colonies from such a far distance away.

In order to gain greater control of the colonies, England began to impose new laws and
restrictions on the colonists. The first of these laws was the Proclamation of 1763. This law
stated that the colonists could not move west of the Appalachian Mountains. This law angered
many of the colonists because many of them came to North America not owning any land, and
they sought the fertile land of the mid-west known as the Ohio Valley. The Proclamation of 1763
was ignored by the colonists for the most part, and many chose to move past the Appalachians
and settle in the Ohio Valley.

King George III, the British monarch, was angered by the colonists disregard for the
Proclamation of 1763. In response he sent 10,000 soldiers to the colonies to enforce the new
law. In order to save England money on housing and supplying the soldiers King George III
passed into law the Quartering Act. This law forced the colonists to house and supply the
British soldiers while they stayed in the colonies. As you can probably imagine, the Quartering
Act angered the colonist greatly.

After King George III passed the Quartering Act several new laws were passed that
continued to anger the colonists. The passage of the Sugar Act in 1764 placed a tax on sugar,
molasses, and other similar products shipped to the colonies. In 1765 King George III passed the
Stamp Act. This law required all documents to carry a stamp that signaled a tax had been paid.
These documents included wills, diplomas, contracts, and even newspapers had to be written on
stamped paper. The colonists were upset over the taxes because they did not understand why
they were being taxed by a government in which they did not have a say, or vote, in the
proceedings of that government. The colonists had a slogan, “No TAXATION without
REPRESENTATION!”

The upheaval and anger in the colonies eventually led to the removal of the Sugar and
Stamp Acts. They were replaced in 1767 by the Townshend Acts.

The Townshend Acts placed duties, or taxes, on all imports such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and
tea. It was hoped that if the taxes were paid by the merchants rather than directly by colonists,
the colonist would be less angered. This turned out not to be the case, the colonists still
believed that if they were to be taxed by England, they should have a voice in parliament (the
British government).

In 1768 tempers flared for reasons other than taxes. It was not uncommon for colonists
and redcoats, or British soldiers, to exchange insults on the streets. One fall day in Boston,
words led to a fight, which led to musket fire. Five dead colonists were the result. Colonists
labeled the events of that day the Boston Massacre. The colonists of Boston were outraged,
but rallied around the Boston Massacre, claiming that the colonists who died gave their lives for
liberty. This event stirred the masses.

In 1773 a secret society of men who opposed British rule, the Sons of Liberty, decided to
strike out against the British. Dressed as Native Americans they boarded three tea ships docked
in Boston Harbor and threw overboard 342 chest of tea in protest of the Tea Act. They did this in
hopes of showing King George III how greatly they opposed taxation without representation in
parliament. This act however only angered the King and he would punish Boston for what would
be known as the Boston Tea Party.

In 1774, King George levied the Intolerable Acts over the entire colony of Massachusetts. This
was to send a warning to all other colonies who had thoughts of acting out against British rule.
They allowed for British officials who committed crimes in the colonies to be tried in England,
Boston Harbor was closed until the tea was paid for, and Britain was allowed to house troops
wherever necessary.

The Intolerable Acts had no effect on the other colonies. The other colonies reached out to
Massachusetts, they sent food, supplies, and money to Boston in order to help. The Intolerable
Acts would be the final step to Revolution, the colonies would begin to form militias, or forces of
armed civilians, and the first battle of the American Revolution was soon approaching.

The Declaration of Independence is a statement written primarily by Thomas Jefferson and

adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the 13 American
colonies that were at war with Great Britain for over a year were now independent states, and no
longer a part of the British Empire. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence
Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress.

The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and ratified by conventions in each U.S. state in the name of "The
People". The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments are
known as the Bill of Rights