The American Revolution

You say you want a revolution? Through history, that hasn’t always been a popular idea. In fact, about 20% of Colonists in 1776 were so opposed to a war for independence, they sided with the British. Some of them even joined the British army. Others fled the Colonies for Canada and elsewhere. But the rest banded together to start a new nation. Want to learn more about the American Revolution? Use the direct links on The Times’ Launch Point Web site. https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/

LEVEL 1

Background to the Campaign: This site is an overview of the events leading to the Revolutionary War. It gives illustrated accounts of several battles fought in the Philadelphia area. https://www.libertynet.org/iha/march/phila/background.htm

Clickable Maps--American Revolutionary War: Learn about the battles at Bunker Hill, Lexington, Concord, Trenton and Monmouth. A “clickable map” lets you zoom in on specific battlegrounds. https://www.ilt.columbia.edu/k12/history/aha/ahacm.html

American Revolutionary War Timeline: The fifth-graders of an elementary school created this overview of the American Revolution by writing brief descriptions of key events and people of the time. https://sun1.wetmore.amphi.com/~rbeck/stars/ray/arintroteresa.html

LEVEL 2

Explore the Amazing World of Early America: Get a feel for Colonial life. This site provides commentary along with original images of newspapers, maps, documents and other writings of the day. https://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/

Historic Philadelphia: Take an online tour of the Betsy Ross House, Independence Hall, Valley Forge and more than 60 other historic sites. Animations and illustrations dramatize the battles of the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777. https://www.libertynet.org/iha/

The American Revolution On-Line: This site offers an extensive collection of resources on the 13 Colonies, the events leading to the revolution, historical figures, battles and important documents. https://users.southeast.net/~dixe/amrev/index

LEVEL 3

An Outline of American History--The War of Independence: An overview of the Revolutionary War with links to biographies, essays and illustrations of a pivotal time. https://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/H/1990/chap2.htm

Historical Text Archive--U.S. Revolutionary War: Learn about the American Revolution by reading famous historical documents as well as materials that describe lesser-known events, such as the tremendous financial support that Spain gave to the Colonists and the difficulties the Maryland Loyalists faced. https://www.msstate.edu/Archives/History/USA/Revolution/rev.html

The Road to Independence: A well-written commentary that explains the events sparking the Colonists’ rebellion, describes the roles key figures played and summarizes the battles and eventual end of the war with the Treaty of Paris. https://www.usia.gov/usa/oah/ch3.htm

Launch Point is produced by the UC Irvine department of education, which reviews each site for appropriateness and quality. Even so, parents should supervise their children’s use of the Internet. This week’s column was designed by Cynthia Mason, Stan Woo-Sam and Anna Manring.

EXPLORER’S QUEST

Free Times T-shirt

The answer to this Internet quiz can be found in the sites at right.

QUESTION:

Where was the “shot heard ‘round the world” fired?

Clue: See Background to the Campaign

How It Works: Answer three questions correctly in the Explorer’s Quest Web Challenges by today, and you’ll get a free T-shirt. Just clip and fill out the form on Page B5, or make up your own handwritten form. You can also find the form on The Times’ Launch Point Web site, https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/

Answer to last week’s Quest: Most moths fly at night and lack clubs at the end of their antennae. Butterflies travel by day and have the clubs.