Teacher’s Guide to No More Kings

 

Welcome to the teacher’s guide to the TN History for Kids booklet No More Kings.

This is the second of three booklets that was created to meet the 2027 Tennessee social studies standards.

Please do NOT copy the booklets. That is a violation of our copyright and makes it difficult for our organization to exist. The reason we sell them for only $3 is so teachers will not copy the booklets.

One of the reasons we hope that this teacher’s guide is useful is that if you click on the images here, you can them show larger versions to you students.

 

Chapter One: Odd Sort of Tea Party

 

On pages 4 and 5, I point out that “about 100 protesters” took part in the Boston Tea Party. Click here to be taken to this list of participants of the Boston Tea Party on the website of the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum.

 

Click on the image on the left, which is the painting shown on page 7.

What appears to be the attitude of the man sitting in the front? Rothermel, the painter, was obviously trying to communicate the fact that not everyone in the room agreed with Henry.

 

Chapter 2: Shot Heard Round the World

 

On April 15 of ever year, the nearby towns of Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts each hold huge living history events. It turns out that each town claims that the Revolutionary War started there!

In April 2024, “History Bill visited Lexington and Concord and took some wonderful photos of the re-enactments. Down the right column of this webpage are some of the photos he took on his trip.

 

 

Chapter Three: Life and Liberty

 

I’m not sure if most Americans know this, but both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed in the same building. That building is not called Constitution Hall — it’s called Independence Hall. Just a thought.

If you click on the image on the left you can see the signatures at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence.

Here’s something that crossed my mind when I first saw this. There are 56 signatures on the document, and no one thought to organize them in any way. There are 6 columns — 3 signatures on the first one; 7 on the second; 12 on the third; 12 on the fourth; 9 on the fifth; and 13 on the sixth — for a total of 56 signatures.

Your students might be able to find the signatures of John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.

Finally, I want to raise attention to the small item that I found in the Leeds, England newspaper that appears on page 21. That is my nominee for the most underplayed newspaper story in world history — one sentence about the American colonies declaring independence from their mother country.

 

Chapter Four: Endowed by their Creator

 

 

The content of Chapter 8 is important, but there are people in America today who would be offended by it. After all, it was only recently that teachers even began to talk to students about the fact that the words in the Declaration of Independence did not mean that women had equal rights or that slavery did exist at the time.

Click here to read more about the statues of Phillis Wheatley and Abigail Adams in Boston. These statues aren’t very old; they were unveiled in 2004.

Finally, the man who is leading students on the cover of this booklet is the same man featured on page 27. His name if Joe Becton, and he is a Philadelphia-based blues singer turned re-eanactor. Click here for his website.

 

Sidebar: Betsy or Rebecca Sews the Flag

 

Here’s the story behind this sidebar: Despite what the history books say, there is little evidence that Betsy Ross created the first American flag. They will even tell you this if you visit Betsy Ross’ home in downtown Philadelphis.

But the social studies standards mention her name, and I think it’s good that students learn the story.

This is also a good chance to explain to students that we don’t know EVERYTHING about history.

Also, a lot of the details about Betsy Ross’ life reveal something about history — the fact that over the course of her life, she had FOUR last names, for instance!

 

Chapter Five: Retreat to Fight Another Day

 

There’s a lot covered in this 8 page chapter, which mentions the Battle of Long Island AND the Battle of Saratoga AND the winter at Valley Forge. I’d like to emphasize two things.

First of all, the Continental Army didn’t WIN many battles during the Revolutionary War. But Washington managed to have it retreat before they surrendered, which was really important. Had his army surrendered, the war would have been over, and it would have been lost.

Secondly, the winter of 1777-78 wasn’t necessarily a COLD winter. (The winter of 1779-80 was much colder, actually. We know that because the Cumberland River froze solid in the winter of 1779-80.)

The reason the winter of 1777-78 was disastrous for the Continental Army is that it couldn’t get supplies.

A couple of things about the painting on page 42, shown here:

First of all, the other man on horseback is supposed to be the Marquis de Lafayette.

Secondly, John Ward Dunsmore created this painting in 1907. Again, it is important to remember that Dunsmore did the painting based on his imagination. He was painting something that happened more than a century before, and obviously he had no photographs from that time period.

 

 

Chapter Six: Surrender at Yorktown

One of my favorite images of the Revolutionary War is that of Baron Von Steuben, screaming at American soldiers in a language they could not understand.

I was first told about Von Steuben in American Military History class in college. Here, on the right, is a statue of him at Valley Forge.

 

Since the Battle of Kings Mountain involved a lot of people from Tennessee, we have a special virtual tour of it. Click here to take it.

 

SIDEBAR: Bones Washed Ashore in Brooklyn

I cannot fathom why all textbooks don’t point out that a lot more Americans died in British prisoner of war ships than in all the battles of the Revolutionary War combined. But since I was made aware of this, I understand better why Americans such as Andrew Jackson never forgave the British.

 

On the left is an article that I found in the February 18, 1803, New York Post about this subject.

 

 

 

Chapter Seven: Weak Articles

 

If your third graders do not understand why the failure of the Articles of Confederation matters to them, you might point this out: If the Articles of Conferation had included a more reasonable method for allowing new states to join the union, then the state called Tennessee might be called Franklin or Frankland today.

You can also them show them this tour of the “Lost State of Franklin.”

 

SIDEBAR: Unpaid War Hero Changes the World

 

I think this story speaks for itself, but it bothered me that I didn’t have room to put a quiz at the end of this section.

So click here for one if you’d like to use it.

Also, the cutline on page 69 is no exaggeration. There really was a high school class in upstate New York that dug up the site where Daniel Shays and some of his followers hid out after the rebellion.

Click here to hear a National Public Radio story about this.

 

Chapter 8: Runaway Convention

 

This is a good time to point out that there is a virtual tour on the TN History for Kids website of some of the historic landmarks in Philadelphia such as Independence Hall, the Constitution Center, etc. Click here to check it out.

I think students will be interested in the painting on page 74 (shown on the left). I remember seeing this painting when I was in the fifth grade. What I don’t remember hearing was that this painting was created more than a century after the signing of the Constitution.

Also, this is a good time to point out that there never was a “signing ceremony.” In truth, it took several weeks for the document to be signed.

Finally, here’s an interesting question that may give your students’ pause: How many Tennesseans signed the Constitution?

The answer would appear to be zero, since Tennessee was not a state in 1787 and didn’t therefore send any delegates. However, as it turns out, there was one man who signed the U.S. Constitution who is considered an important Tennessean. One of North Carolina’s delegates to the Constitutional Convention was William Blount. President Washington later appointed Blount to be governor of the Southwest Territory, which is why he moved to present-day Tennessee. Blount later became one of Tennessee’s first U.S. senators, and his mansion still stands in downtown Knoxville.

Click here to be taken to the Blount Mansion website.

 

SIDEBAR: Preamble

 

Although memorizing isn’t necessarily the best way to learn material, I still think students should memorize the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

Whether or not you make this assignment however, this is a really good time to interject some humor into your social studies classroom. Google the words “Barney Fife Preamble” and show them the hilarious scene from Andy Griffith, where Barney tries to prove that he still remembers memorizing the Preamble in school. Or, you can click here and see it.

 

Chapter 9: Constitutional Fractions

 

When I realized that they were moving the Revolutionary War to third grade, my first thought was whether third graders know enough math to understand the fractions in the U.S. Constitution. I’ve been told since then that third graders DO learn fractions (but I’m told that some third graders know them better than others.)

If you teach both math and social studies, this is great opportunity to combine one subject with another. If you are not the same teacher who teaches math, this is a great opportunity to work with another teacher.

 

Chapter 10: Ten Final Additions/Bill of Rights sidebar

 

 

It is really important that students learn about the Bill of Rights. What’s interesting is that most adults know — at most — four of the first 10 amendments, those being the First, Second, Fourth and Tenth.