Road to Revolution — Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Boston Massacre, Tea Party, Coercive Acts (TRAUMA-INFORMED on Boston Massacre / Crispus Attucks)

Morning Meeting + standing recite Three Promises with MG-9 + MG-10 emphasis. Apply MG-15 trauma-informed opening — name the lesson's content explicitly: 'Today we learn about the Boston Massacre 1770 and the first colonist killed — Crispus Attucks, of mixed African and Wampanoag/Natick ancestry. We open with his HUMANITY and his RESILIENCE.'

• Standing recite Three Promises
• Apply MG-15 trauma-informed opening
• Confirm counselor co-presence available
• Confirm opt-out alternative available
• Apply MG-9 Humanity-FIRST: name Crispus Attucks's full identity (mixed African and Wampanoag/Natick ancestry; sailor; ~age 47) BEFORE the Boston Massacre

M-5-F-HIS-16-B Illustration

Portrait illustration of Crispus Attucks (c.1723-1770) as a sailor in his 40s in his free-Black-sailor working clothes, with the Boston Harbor in the background. The illustration centers his identity as a free Black sailor of mixed African and Wampanoag/Natick ancestry. Caption: 'CRISPUS ATTUCKS (c.1723-1770). Mixed African and Wampanoag/Natick ancestry. Self-emancipated decades before 1770. Sailor. First colonist killed at the Boston Massacre March 5 1770. The Mashpee Wampanoag historians and Plimoth Patuxet Museum confirm his Wampanoag/Natick heritage. Apply Sovereignty Promise.' Style: respectful adult portrait, dignified, no caricature.

MG-9 Illustration

Humanity-First Promise — paired with MG-8 for trauma-informed lessons on slavery (Lessons 9, 10, 13, 16, 19). Five-line text: 'When we learn about chattel slavery, we begin with the HUMANITY of the enslaved person — their name (if known), their family, their place of origin, their resistance, their dignity. We never reduce a human being to a number, a price, or a victim alone.' Style: dignified scroll layout matching MG-8.

ROAD TO REVOLUTION TIMELINE: walk through the 12-year sequence 1763-1775. (1) 1764 SUGAR ACT — Parliament taxes molasses to fund Britain's post-war debt and stop New England rum-trade smuggling. (2) 1765 STAMP ACT — first direct tax on the colonies; a stamp on every printed item including newspapers, legal documents, playing cards, dice. Provokes 'no taxation without representation' organizing; the Stamp Act Congress 1765 with 9 colonies; the Sons of Liberty organize colonial resistance; Parliament repeals the Stamp Act 1766 but passes the Declaratory Act asserting authority. (3) 1767 TOWNSHEND ACTS — Parliament tax on glass, lead, paper, paint, tea; provokes non-importation boycotts ORGANIZED IN PART BY COLONIAL WOMEN who refused to buy British goods (Daughters of Liberty). (4) MARCH 5 1770 BOSTON MASSACRE — apply MG-9 Humanity-FIRST anchor: Crispus Attucks (c.1723-1770, mixed African and Wampanoag/Natick ancestry, sailor) is the first of 5 Boston colonists killed by British soldiers firing on a crowd outside the Custom House. The crowd had been taunting and pelting the soldiers with snowballs; the situation was chaotic; the soldiers fired in confusion or panic. Paul Revere's engraving (1770) shows British soldiers in calm rank-and-file firing on a peaceful crowd — APPLY WINEBURG SOURCING — this engraving is PROPAGANDA, not neutral reportage; Revere was a Patriot organizer with motivation to inflame anti-British sentiment. The soldiers were defended in court by Patriot lawyer JOHN ADAMS who secured acquittals for 6 and reduced manslaughter convictions for 2 (Adams's principled defense became famous — he believed every defendant deserved due process even his political adversaries). (5) DECEMBER 16 1773 BOSTON TEA PARTY — ~100 colonists including George Robert Twelves Hewes the shoemaker disguised themselves as Mohawks and dumped ~340 chests of British East India Company tea into Boston Harbor. The Mohawk disguise was a deliberate political statement claiming American identity not English. (6) 1774 COERCIVE ACTS ('INTOLERABLE ACTS') — Parliament closes Boston Harbor, dissolves Massachusetts assembly, requires quartering of British troops in private homes. (7) SEPT-OCT 1774 FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS — 12 colonies meet in Philadelphia and issue the Continental Association calling for boycott of British goods. (8) APRIL 19 1775 LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. LOYALIST PERSPECTIVES throughout: read Joseph Galloway's 1774 Plan of Union (a real alternative to revolution); Jonathan Boucher's sermons defending the Crown; Ann Hulton's Loyalist letters from Boston.

• Sourcing tells us the engraving is PROPAGANDA. CORROBORATION with the trial records and John Adams's defense reveals a more complex situation.

  model Who made it? Paul Revere, silversmith, engraver, Patriot organizer, member of the Sons of Liberty. When? 1770, days after the March 5 event. Why? To inflame anti-British sentiment among colonists — PROPAGANDA. What does it show? British soldiers in calm rank-and-file firing on a peaceful crowd (not how it actually happened — the crowd was throwing snowballs and taunting). What does it NOT show? Crispus Attucks's African and Wampanoag/Natick identity (Attucks is shown but his identity is not centered).

  prompt Apply Wineburg SOURCING to Paul Revere's Boston Massacre engraving 1770.
• Humanity comes FIRST. We name Crispus Attucks as a complete human being.

  model Crispus Attucks (c.1723-1770) was a man of mixed African and Wampanoag/Natick ancestry, a sailor, ~47 years old at his death. He had escaped enslavement decades earlier and lived as a free Black sailor. He had family, work, history. The Mashpee Wampanoag historians and Plimoth Patuxet Museum confirm his Wampanoag/Natick heritage — restoring his full identity is a Sovereignty Promise move.

  prompt Apply MG-9 Humanity-FIRST: who was Crispus Attucks before the Boston Massacre?
• 15-30% of colonists were Loyalist. Their voices are part of the historical record.

  model Joseph Galloway's 1774 Plan of Union proposed a real alternative to revolution — a colonial parliament under the Crown with veto power over British acts affecting the colonies. Galloway was a Pennsylvania delegate to the First Continental Congress. His Plan was REJECTED by one vote. Loyalists like Galloway, Jonathan Boucher, and Ann Hulton were Americans who made a different choice for principled reasons.

  prompt What is the LOYALIST PERSPECTIVE on the Road to Revolution? Use one named primary source.

• Apply Wineburg SOURCING: why is Paul Revere's Boston Massacre engraving 1770 propaganda?
• Apply MG-9 Humanity-FIRST: who was Crispus Attucks?
• What was Joseph Galloway's 1774 Plan of Union?

Children apply MG-7 full 4-question routine to Paul Revere's Boston Massacre engraving 1770. SOURCING: Revere as Patriot organizer with motivation. CONTEXTUALIZATION: 1770, two years before the Boston Tea Party. CORROBORATION: with trial records and John Adams's defense; with eyewitness depositions. CLOSE READING: what does the engraving show? what does it NOT show? NMAI 5th move: whose voices are present (Revere's Patriot voice); whose are absent (Crispus Attucks's African and Wampanoag/Natick voice; the British soldiers' voice).

M-5-F-HIS-16-A Illustration

High-resolution image of Paul Revere's 1770 engraving 'The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King-Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a Party of the 29th Regiment.' The engraving shows British soldiers in calm rank-and-file firing on a peaceful crowd outside the Custom House; smoke rises from muskets; bodies fall in the foreground; the dog at left is calm; the sky shows the night-sky inscription. Overlay annotations: 'SOURCING: Paul Revere, silversmith, engraver, Patriot organizer, Sons of Liberty. PROPAGANDA, not neutral reportage. WHAT THIS SHOWS: British soldiers in calm rank-and-file firing on peaceful crowd. WHAT THIS DOES NOT SHOW: the chaotic crowd-throwing-snowballs reality; Crispus Attucks's African and Wampanoag/Natick identity. CORROBORATE WITH: trial records; John Adams's defense; eyewitness depositions.' Style: documentary primary-source with overlay analysis.

• In groups, apply MG-7 to Paul Revere's Boston Massacre engraving — the unit's central Wineburg sourcing exemplar.

  scaffold Sentence frames; trauma-informed protocol — children may pass on this if needed.
• Construct a Road to Revolution causal-chain timeline from 1763-1775 with at least 6 events.

  scaffold Use the Lesson 15 causal-chain template extended.

• Apply Wineburg SOURCING: why is Paul Revere's Boston Massacre engraving 1770 propaganda?
• Apply MG-9 Humanity-FIRST: who was Crispus Attucks?
• Name 4 acts on the Road to Revolution timeline.

• Compassion Circle — 3-4 minutes
• Standing recite Three Promises
• Preview tomorrow: French and Indian War review + Boston Tea Party from Loyalist perspective

• Optional family conversation: Was Crispus Attucks mentioned in your family's memory of the Boston Massacre? Most US history books mention him without his Wampanoag/Natick identity.