The Process

1. First, you will be assigned to a group of three students.

2. Each member of the group will choose to research and gather information about one of the three Virginia patriots. (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson or Patrick Henry). Each group member will be responsible for writing a short story that describes the significant events in the lives of these Virginians over the course of the American Revolution.

3. Your group will also be responsible for writing a brief introduction that provides background information about the Revolutionary War. You will work together to construct a time line using up to ten events.

4. All group members should read the letters written by the Virginia patriots to their wives.

• Patrick Henry's Letter
• George Washington's Letter
• Thomas Jefferson's Letter

5. After reading the letters, research the information that the specified links below provide for each patriot.

Correspondent 1: Patrick Henry

• House of Burgesses
  http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/henry.htm
• Stamp Act
  http://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/polhis.cfm
• Virginia Convention
  http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Our_Country_vol_2/patrickhe_ga.html
  
• Give me liberty, or give me death
  http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/writings/libertyordeath.htm
• Patrick
  http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/Almanack/people/bios/biohen.cfm

Correspondent 2: George Washington

• Boston Tea Party
  http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle/bostonteaparty-edenton.html
  
• Continental Congress
  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/orgwar.html
• Trenton
  http://users.rcn.com/gvalis/ggv/battles/Trenton.html
• Valley Forge
  http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/history/vstory.html
• Mount Vernon
  http://www.mountvernon.org/press/mv_fact.asp
  
• George
  http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/lesson/life

Correspondent 3: Thomas Jefferson

• Portable Writing Desk
  http://historywired.si.edu/object.cfm?ID=544
• Declaration of Independence
  http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html
• John Hancock
  http://www.johnhancock.org
• Continental Congress
  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bdsds/intro01.html
• July 4
  http://www.fourth-of-july-celebrations.com
• Monticello
  http://www.stauntonweb.com/oldtur/mnticlo.html
• Thomas
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tj3.html

6. As you research the Virginia patriots you may find it helpful to use the graphic organizer below to organize your information.

• virginians.pdf

7. Be sure to follow these guidelines:

• Include a title for your article.
• Describe your patriot's role and significant events they were involved in during the Revolutionary War.
• Limit your story to one page.
• Be creative.
• Type your story using a word processing program.

8. Now, get together with your group and complete the following together:

• Create a headline. For example “Virginia Patriots.”
• Create a time line of the events depicted in the patriot’s short stories (minimum of ten events).
• Find pictures and insert them into the front page of the newspaper.
  
• Insert each story into the front page.
  

9. Review your work.

10. Be prepared to present your front page to the class.