American+Revolution627

=Title: Would you have fired the "Shot Heard Round the World?"  = = =

Essential Question(EQ): When is it necessary to fight? (What is worth dying for?)
Problem:The day is April 19, 1775. You stand with a group of minutemen across the Lexington Common prepared to stop the British Redcoat's advance. As you stand with your musket on your shoulder, you know all of the men are questioning whether or not they should fire and risk death, or if they should retreat back to the safety of their houses. You decide to step-up to the front and address the assembled Minutemen as the sounds of the Red Coats' drums come down the road announcing their imminent arrival. What do you tell the minutemen? Fight? Flee? Stand their ground? What is the evidence you provide them with to convince them that your directive is the path they should choose. EQ=Is it necessary for you to fight? Is your evidence worth dying for?

"Men, today is the day we earn our respect. We are about to get our revenge on the Red Coats for the first stamp act and the sugar act and all of the taxes they have charged us with. The newspapers and pamphlets and all of that sugar have cost us nothing for so many years, but they decided to start charging us for it. But thats all going to change. We take pride for those five men who were killed on that awful day known as the Boston Massacre. Those men were friends of ours and the men who killed them are walking toward you right now. A couple of years ago we dumped all of that tea into the Boston Harbour. We didnt do that for nothing. We did it for freedom, so the British would lower taxes. Up until now we have backed down time after time, we have been pushed around, but now its time to take a stand. We have never harmed them before, we have never killed any of their men, we have never destroyed any of their ships, but now it is time to. We will fight as one. If we go down we go down as one. They may be the strongest army in the world, but we have pride, we want this more than anything. Your wife and kids are at your houses hoping that you come home alive and with a victory. You also hope that go home alive and with a victory. If we believe this can happen, then it will happen. Now lets go take back what is rightfully ours."