Discussion

PDA QUESTION

Please read/view and compare these conflicting and competing accounts and depictions of the Boston Massacre. Answer the following three (3) questions in an essay a MINIMUM length of Two (2) FULL Pages.

1. Which written account (Patriot or Loyalist) do you find more believable and why?

2. Based upon the narratives and testimonies of the incident, how accurate do you believe the two visual depictions of the "Boston Massacre" (Henry Pelham's and Paul Revere's) are and why?

3. If you were an average colonist exposed to these various documents, would they have tipped the scale on your decision to rebel or stay loyal to the crown? Why?

Discussion

As you have gone through Unit II you have been introduced to a wonderfully complex cast of characters that are bestowed with this larger than life title "Founding Father."

We in the United States have idolized these figures since the American Revolution and one of the primary things I hope you would learn from this Unit is that they were human beings with as many character flaws as amazing talents.

I hope you also recognize that the role of Founder was not simply named Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin, but included a very large number of other individuals (with names like Madison, Hamilton, Adams, and Jay) and was certainly not exclusively the domain of men.

For this discussion, I would like for you to address the following questions in your discussion board posting:

Your responses should be at least one paragraph in length for each of these questions.

1) Who was the most interesting "Founding Father(s)" for you to learn about?

2) What made these men so unique and what characteristics made them so "human"?

3) Who was the most interesting "Founding Mother(s)" for you to learn about? Why is learning the role of colonial women and other minority groups in the Revolution important to understanding the full story of the founding of the United States of America?