Flag carried by His Majesty's troops gathering in Boston

Flag carried by Colonial troops marching to Boston

BACKGROUND:

     The year is 1775.

     Battles have just happened in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. People are joining militias such as the "Maryland Loyalists" who support the king and the "Minute Men" who support Congress. Troops of His Majesty are making Boston into a fort while local colonial militias are beginning to surround the city. People like Patrick Henry are shouting, “Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!”

     Families in the same villages throughout the colonies are taking sides: some say our parents and we have always been Englishmen and will always be loyal subjects to the Crown, while their neighbors are saying we must break away from England. There are arguments in the taverns, streets, churches and homes. People who were friends are becoming angry at each other over what is happening. Some villages are flying the English Flag while some are flying colonial flags. 

     The former English Prime Minister William Pitt has continued to speak out against British policy in the colonies and has convinced the King to ask the Continental Congress of the American Colonies to hold a Peace Conference. The Continental Congress agreed.  If the members of the Conference succeed, the grievances that separate people will be settled and everyone can go back to being neighbors and loyal subjects. 

     If the delegates to the Peace Conference fail, there will be a “Revolutionary
War”, a bloody war in which neighbors will burn each other’s homes, farms and villages, and kill each other. If you fail, a Continental Army will march to Boston to begin to do bloody battle with His Majesty’s troops. If war starts, it will lead to many years of ruin and hardship. 

     Can you help them settle their differences? Will you help bring peace to the Colonies?
 

TASK:
 

     Your duty is to be a member delegate to the Continental Peace Conference. Some of you will be representatives of His Majesty King George III.  Some of you will be representatives of the Continental Congress of the American Colonies. Both groups will send their ablest representatives to the Continental Peace Conference.

Each delegate will investigate and address one grievance or problem that is upsetting people and causing conflict.
 

PRODUCTS:

• Each delegate will make a poster stating the grievance or problem.
• The poster will describe exactly what this grievance or problem is.
• The poster will have reasons why this grievance or problem is important and have facts and examples supporting the reasons. 
• The poster will cite at least four sources for the above information. 
• Each poster will also state whether or not a compromise or solution can be reached on this grievance or problem and reasons why or why not a compromise can be made. The solution or compromise, if there is one, will show how this problem might never happen again.
• You will present your findings in a speech using the poster your created to the Continental Peace Conference. 
• You will record your thoughts of what other delegates say and present these to the Chairman of the Peace Conference (your teacher).

     After hearing each presentation, the delegates will determine whether or not that problem/grievance can be settled and a compromise can be made which will be part of the peace treaty.
 

RESEARCH:
 

Use ye olde textbook for information.

Use the library’s resources, including encyclopedias and books.

Use the following Internet links:
 

Prelude to Revolution 1763 to 1775
Timeline

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