John Laurens’ Revolutionary Plan

Timothy E. Hicks, Ed.D., Dent Middle School (Richland School District Two), Columbia, South Carolina

DESIGN LEVEL: Middle-High School


Overview

At the heart of the Revolutionary War were our highest ideals of liberty and sacrifice. However, at the same time, enslaved Africans toiled to support the American economy. John Laurens, son of Continental Congress President Henry Laurens and a member of the South Carolina aristocracy, dared to challenge the racial status quo, suggesting that African Americans should be allowed to serve in the military in return for their own freedom. His unconventional idea foreshadowed the crusade for racial equality the nation has been working on since.

Objectives

Students will:

  • Analyze written correspondence identifying bias, claims, and evidence.
  • Design and create a broadside modeled after a Revolutionary-era example including content and quotations from primary sources to explain Laurens’ views on race and idea for a his black regiment.

Essential Question

How did John Laurens’ beliefs about race, liberty, and military success lead him to challenge the practice of slavery?

Materials

 

Recommended Time

Two or three days.

Lesson Activities

Display the following quotation from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Lead a class discussion or direct students to work in small groups to discuss the following questions:

  • What does the quote mean?
  • What are the specific rights that would fall under “life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?”
  • What groups of people did not have these rights at the time of the Revolution?

 

Introduce the lesson by stating that one of the contemporaries of Thomas Jefferson (the primary author of the Declaration of Independence) was a South Carolinian named John Laurens. Next display the John Laurens engraving from the Society of the Cincinnati collection. Invite students to read the teacher created “Timeline of the Life of John Laurens” to learn about his story.

Next, divide students into six groups and give each group one of the teacher created source sets of documents and images that examine Laurens’ crusade to end slavery by creating a regiment of enslaved African Americans who would be emancipated once the Revolution concluded. Instruct each group to collaboratively complete the guided reading assignment for their respective source set. [Each source set includes a guided reading assignment, images of the documents’ authors, and excerpts from a number of documents, predominantly letters.]

  • Source Set #1: Henry and John Laurens’ Views of Slavery
  • Source Set #2: John Laurens Black Regiment Plan and Henry Laurens Initial Reaction
  • Source Set #3: John Laurens Defense of His Plan
  • Source Set #4: Henry Laurens’ Concerns
  • Source Set #5: Reactions of the Continental Congress and the South Carolina Government
  • Source Set #6: John Laurens’ Final Attempt with the South Carolina Government

 

After students complete their group analysis of their source set, explain that each group is going to create a broadside incorporating the major points of their documents.

Explain that a broadside was a large poster publicly advertising an opportunity or promoting a viewpoint on a topic. To help students understand the nature of broadsides, share a broadside from the Society of the Cincinnati collection titled Yorkshire Light-Dragoons, accompanied by the teacher created “Yorkshire Light-Dragoons Broadside Context and Vocabulary Guide.”

After examining this broadside as a class, give each group a copy of the teacher created “John Laurens Broadside Instructions and Rubric.” Instruct each group to then create a broadside that explains its source set topic and incorporates short key quotes. After all groups have completed their broadside, students will engage in a gallery walk of the broadsides. As they rotate to each one, they will answer three key questions on the teacher created handout “John Laurens Broadsides Gallery Walk:”

● What were John Laurens’ beliefs about the rights of African Americans?
● How did John Laurens want to promote the ideals of liberty for enslaved African Americans?
● What obstacles to his ideas and plan did John Laurens face?

The lesson will conclude with a class discussion of the questions they answered during the gallery walk.

ASSESSMENT
Check for completion of the group’s respective source set guided reading assignment and “John Laurens Broadsides Gallery Walk” key questions. The summative assignment is the John Laurens broadside, which will be evaluated using the Teacher Created “John Laurens Broadside Instructions and Rubric.”
 

OPTIONAL EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:

  • Ask students to use the excerpts from John and Henry Laurens to write an essay responding to the following Document Based Question (DBQ): How did John Laurens’ belief about race, liberty, and military success lead to his challenge of slavery?
  • Ask students to research the First Rhode Island Regmient, which included African American soldiers. Using the “Yorkshire Light Dragoons Broadside,” direct them to create an original broadside urging others to enlist in this regiment.
  • Invite students to read:
    * Massey, G. D. (2000). John Laurens and the American Revolution. University of South Carolina Press.
    * Weir, R. M. (1976, April). “Portrait of a hero.” American Heritage, 27 (3), 16-19, 86-88.

 

Standards Addressed

COMMON CORE STANDARDS
Common Core: English Language Arts Standards – History/Social Studies – Grade 6-8
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1: “Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.”
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.6: “Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).”
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.8: “Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.”

SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE- AND CAREER-READY STANDARDS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES
Grade 8: South Carolina and the United States
8.2.CO (Comparison): “Compare the motives and demographics of loyalists and patriots within South Carolina and the colonies.”
8.2.CE (Causation): “Explain the economic, political, and social factors surrounding the American Revolution.”
8.2.CX (Context): “Contextualize the roles of various groups of South Carolinians as the colonies moved toward becoming an independent nation.”
8.2.E (Evidence): “Utilize a variety of primary and secondary sources to analyze multiple perspectives on the development of democracy in South Carolina and the United States.”