Reference no: EM132240805

A Letter from Boston

Place yourself (same age, family situation, and relative occupation) in early 1770s Boston. You are inspired to write a letter to someone (family, friend, co-worker, etc.) outside of the area about what you have seen or heard happening with regards to the growing rift with Britain. Below are questions you must address in your letter.

Your nation is on the brink of war. What has caused this?

In your current situation, how has the foreign government impacted you, and what you are seeing evolve as the American government?

Are you hoping to see a new nation emerge, or are you hoping for a reconciliation with Britain?

You are encouraged to be creative with the assignment, but make sure you are using facts from what you have read and learned to guide you. Your letter must be a minimum of one page, double spaced, and written in Times New Roman 12 point font.

*Note that the taxes aren't actually as high as you have been led to believe, but the point is that they should not be assigned at all without your consent. It was between 1.9 and 2.1 percent, total. It is often depicted as an issue of rates so high that starvation was an issue, and that really wasn't the case.

Acknowledge that this is a debate, that a certain percentage are radicalized for independence, but there are is also a law-and-order group who find this horrific, and want to smooth out issues with their home country. Just acknowledging that this is going to be a messy issue that might result in Americans killing each other can add to the complexity. There were many home-grown Americans who were conflicted about the issue, and had to evacuate Boston after the British left. Yet, the overwhelming majority of textbooks forgets them.

For reference, think about how you would feel if you were in California, and people were debating breaking from Washington? That's a pretty accurate way to look at it through their eyes. Sure, not everybody loves what's going on in Washington, but are things getting that bad?

For those of you who are going to go dump tea into the harbor, justify the act of theft and vandalism to me. I mean, would you do it to the Best Buy to protest foreign goods? No, because we have laws that tell us that we shouldn't do that (hint, they did then, too). I find it ironic when people in law enforcement are really enthusiastic about how they would have been breaking the law--but there are reasons to do it.

Remember that this is part of a critical thinking essay.

Lastly, talk to me about who you are listening to, who you are reading. There are some amazing writers and speakers who are coming out at the time. What are they saying?

PS - the term Patriot was used by both sides. Revolutionaries didn't have a lockdown on it until they kicked out their Loyalist neighbors, sold their estates and furniture, and started writing their own histories. Just so you know, at the time they used the term Whigs for themselves, and Tories for the Loyalists.

Unit VIIa

• Timeline Project

Events that shaped Western Expansion and the Antebellum South. Take a look at the 1793-1857 timeline. For this assignment, you will pick one of the events identified on the timeline and discuss how that event prompted a change in national philosophies or ideals.

In addition to discussing a specific event from the timeline, you will also want to take into consideration how the nation's views had evolved to the point of the event you choose.

Incorporating ideas and related concepts from previous units may help you develop your ideas. Below are the steps you will need to take in order to successfully complete this assignment.

Step 1: Choose an event.

Choose an event from the timeline above that interests you the most. Your research will surround this event, so it is important to think about what you want to learn more about.

Step 2: Conduct research.

Conduct research around the event you chose. For this assignment, you are required to utilize at least one source from the CSU Online Library.

Your source can either revolve around the event you chose or it can focus on the philosophies and ideals before/after your event, whichever supports your writing more.

Note that you may not find an article specifically addressing both the event you chose and the philosophies surrounding it; in most cases, you will need to use your critical thinking skills to infer the information. You may use more sources if you would like, but those sources cannot include Wikipedia, biography.com, history.com, or other encyclopedias.

Step 3: Plan and reflect.

Reflect on the change in American life before and after the event you chose. Once you have completed your research, you should sit back to think about what it means to see if you notice any trends and to have a better sense of what you want to convey in your writing.

Although it is not required, you may want to develop a short outline to help you organize your thoughts and ideas. Use some of the following prompts to help guide you:

• Ask yourself about how historical figures and groups related to your event were shaped by this time period and environment.

• Ask yourself how the lives of the people around before and after the event were impacted.

• Ask yourself what qualities, ideals, and philosophies you would most like to emphasize, and make sure the facts that you present support it.

• Find the perfect anecdote to demonstrate these qualities.

Step 4: Write your assignment.

Your final assignment should include a title page, a minimum of two pages of content, and a reference page. As you are writing, be sure to keep the following in mind:

• The introduction should engage the reader and clearly present a summary of the main points that clarify your point of view. The introduction should also include a thesis statement.

• The quality of your writing should demonstrate critical thinking.

• Organization should clearly present points arranged to illustrate your opening points.

• Writing should be clear and concise with no spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors.

• You must utilize at least one source from the CSU Online Library.

• APA formatting guidelines should be used for this assignment.