Common+People+of+the+American+Revolution+Outcomes

Brief summaries of actual historical responses:

Americans. Most Iroquois felt the American settlers posed a greater threat to Indian lands. When one warrior, Cornplanter, counseled to remain neutral — “War is war, Death is the Death, a fight is hard Business” — another, Joseph Brant, called him a coward. This won the day, for other warriors did “not like to be called Coward men.” Other nations were also torn apart. Young Cherokee warriors opposing the Americans split off from the rest of their nation when older Cherokee chiefs surrendered to the Americans. Delaware and Shawnee chiefs sided with the Americans, whom they hought would win the war, but most of their people sided with the British. The stories of White Eyes, Killbuck, and Cornstalk make powerful statements. (see People’s History).
 * Situation #1:** Four Iroquois nations sided with the British, two with the

17 slaves who fled to the British (People’s History, 262 cloth, 331 paperback). But note that this was only a small fraction of the total. The risks were great, even if the reward was freedom. Although the numbers are not precise (see p. 296 cloth, 374-375 paperback, and footnotes 219 and 220 to chapter 6), tens of thousands tried to escape — an exodus larger than that of the Underground Railroad years later. Most of these either perished from disease or were returned to slavery. Exactly 3,000 emigrated to freedom in Canada, where they faced harsh conditions. Those who remained on plantations faced stricter slave codes than ever before.
 * Situation #2:** Read to the class, or present as a hand-out, the list of Washington’s

down the government. In Worcester, 4,622 militiamen from 37 surrounding communities lined both side of Main Street on the day the court was supposed to convene, while the Crown-appointed officials walked the gauntlet, hats in hand, reciting their resignations thirty times each so all could hear. So too in Springfield, Plymouth, and all the county seats. The people in Plymouth were so excited by what they had done that they tried to move Plymouth Rock to the center of town, but they found it to heavy.
 * Situation #3:** In all of Massachusetts outside of Boston, people decided to shut

The people also made all the Council members resign. Sometimes they visited their houses in great numbers (2,000 to Timothy Paine, 4,000 to Thomas Oliver); other times, they simply walked out of church when the Council member walked in, and that was enough to get their point across. All council members either resigned or fled behind British troops in Boston.

Not a single juror in Massachusetts agreed to sit.

The town meetings continued. The Governor could do nothing about this in most places. In the capital of Salem he arrested seven men who had called a town meeting, but he was forced to release them when 3,000 angry farmers marched on the jail.

In each of these events, the people voted at every juncture. They had no special leaders. They practiced as well as preached grassroots democracy. As one disgruntled Tory wrote in his diary, “Government has devolved upon the people, and they seem to be for usi