The Revolutionary War
United States History
As an American citizen, I feel like there is great importance in understanding how this great nation developed to be known as the society we live in today. This was exactly what we did during class this year. We embarked on a journey to discover our ancestral roots. After learning about the history behind the United States of America we were given the task of creating a comic book about the revolutionary war. Through the process of completing this comic book, I felt like I grew more in my knowledge of the Revolutionary War and our nation’s past.
occured during a war. The Patriots decided to use another method for fighting. They fought using guerilla warfare. Guerilla warfare was when “minute men” would hide behind rocks, trees, and bushes. They would then attack the Redcoats if they happened to walk through the forest while remaining in places where they wouldn’t be easily seen. This brings up the point that the Patriots had an advantage in the War because it was fought on their home turf. The British were known to be much more skilled soldiers considering the fact that the soldiers that made up the American army were farmers who had no prior experience in fighting in a battle. By knowing the land, they were able to use it in their favor by executing their strategy of guerilla warfare.
From this cause of war, we transformed the scene to explain what happened during the war. General George Washington declared that he was attacking Yorktown where the British Naval Army had docked. There was an initial plan of moving the forces to New York since Yorktown was a Redcoat “powerhouse”. Washington decided that he would incorporate the “element of surprise” to the attack. The Patriots were supported by the French in this battle, making this army very strong. General Cornwallis realized that is Naval Army was weak from the battle, he negotiated with the colonists and eventually surrendered, making it the greatest defeat that the British faced. This was the turning point of the war. This declared that the Patriots had won their freedom from the British. Their next task was to form a centralized government.
We then decided to show the results and effect of the war. Our closing scenes narrate, the different forms of governments that the Founding Fathers developed starting with the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was the first form of government that was instated. One important point of this form of government was that each state had its own separate government. State law was above federal law. This gave the idea that the colonies were not completely united. Another large problem with this form of government was that all of the colonies had to agree in order to pass any bill. All of the colonies seldom agreed resulting in not many federal laws getting passed. Eight years later they realized that they had to create a centralized government that stressed more on Federalism. Federalism said that all federal law would be above state law. This was the founding rule that was used to create further policy associated with this party. After months of arguments and drafts of work, the Constitution was born. When the Constitution was put up to a vote in front of the Continental Congress, but the Constitution did not pass. They wanted a set of rights that were given to the American people. James Madison took upon the role of creating the Bill of Rights that was added onto the Constitution. The Constitution was again presented to the Continental Congress. Congress was satisfied and the bill was passed. This is the government that we know today. This comic book’s main purpose was to be able to be released into the society for others to learn about the Revolutionary War in a visual sense. Along the way, I was able to learn more about the events that led to the victory because I was writing about the events in the comic book. The unit resulted in the creation of this comic book.
If we know and understand the decisions that our Founding Fathers made, while building up the nation in the past, we might be better prepared in protecting the United States of America in the future. As a citizen of this nation, I felt it important to learn about the history of the nation and I feel like I have succeeded in doing that through the comic book that we had to create. I have a new fascination with politics and current events and hope to learn more about why current leaders of our nation make the decisions that they make today. By learning about the nation’s past, I will be a better-informed citizen and a better-informed future voter, voting on the issues that concern us the most.
The comic book project was weaved into the curriculum when learning about the Revolutionary War. This project’s purpose was to tell the story of the cause of this great war, the events that occurred in between, and the end effects of the War. With a partner, together we created a comic book to depict these different events. To be able to complete this comic book, we needed a sound understanding of the way all the events flowed together, that created the Revolutionary War. When we started the project, we had to choose one of the causes of the war to analyze deeper. We chose to focus on Lexington & Concord. You can see that in my first artifact, the first script that we created was the initial step in setting up the foundation for our end product: the comic book. We confused Lexington & Concord by not explaining how they were two different battles that were fought by the Americans and the British. You can see that we did not transition the scenes smoothly to explain what occurred at each separate battle. At Lexington, the British came to the edge of the town and tried to take away the American’s weapons and were prepared to fight the Americans. After this vexing moment, the American’s later waged a battle against the British at Concord. The Americans ended up winning this war, making the British retreat. You can see that we included some of these details in the war while we were detailed in other parts. This occurs when the colonists say “The British are coming! The regulars are coming! Prepare for battle!” We then go on to explain what minute men were and the role that they had in the war. You will then see that the next line is by the British Colonel telling his men “Load you guns men. In the name of King George III.” The next few lines depicts the war. This was something that we got feedback on and something that we worked to improve, showing the transitions of scenes properly through writing. This also clarified my understanding of what really happened at Lexington & Concord which I had confused earlier when writing the script.
The final comic book was the result of the content knowledge that we had learned and understood. The process in leading up to this project was putting together the drafts of scripts that we had created explaining the cause of war, battles that occurred during the war, and effect of the war. We understood that there were many causes for this war like when there was taxation without representation or the attack, made by the British, on Lexington and Concord. We then decided to depict the battle of Lexington and Concord. As the war went on and smaller battles occurred along the way, the two countries had different methods of fighting. The Redcoats were known for using traditional fighting methods of militia lines. Militia lines were when the two opposing armies would stand in their respective lines and would shoot the other army using their weapons. If all of the soldiers died in that line, the next line would move up. This was a continuous cycle that
First Draft of U.S. Comic Book Script
