Teacher's Guide for COBBLESTONE ^® Spain and the American Revolution

• Write an imaginary diary entry of a Spanish soldier at the Battle of Pensacola. Then write another entry for a British soldier covering the same day.
• Debate whether Spain should join the Revolutionary War on the side of the Americans. Which arguments for or against are the most compelling?

• Write a short skit describing some of the secret plans between the Count of Floridablanca and the leaders of the colonists. Act it out for classmates.
• Write a newspaper article about Spain's entry into the war. Be sure to quote some of the most important people involved in the decision, as well as some of the people outside Spain who might have been most affected by it.
• Suppose that Spain had been friendly with England, not France. How would that have changed the course of the American Revolution? Write a paragraph explaining your answer.

• What were Spain's main goals in joining the war effort? Do you think the Spanish government got what it wanted? Explain your answer.
• What did Spain's friendship with France have to do with its decision to enter the war? Justify your answer with information from the articles. Do you think friendship between countries is a good reason to join a war? Why or why not?
• What was the significance of the Battle of Pensacola? How might history have been different had the British won the battle?
• What adjectives might best describe Bernardo de Galvez's personality? Which traits were most important in his success in helping the American colonists?

• Find out more about Mobile, Pensacola, New Orleans, Natchez, and St. Louis today. Research populations, economic information, sports, weather, and other areas of interest. If possible, use the Internet to gather pictures of important buildings and landmarks. Make charts or tables to present and compare the information.
• Study other early Spanish settlements in what is now the U. S., such as Taos, St. Augustine, or San Antonio. Why were they built? How long did they keep a Spanish flavor? How did they become U. S. possessions?

• To see the importance of the Lower Mississippi Valley to the war effort and the colonists, use an outline map of the United States. Draw in the rivers that flow into the Mississippi. The area surrounding those rivers represents the approximate territory controlled by whoever controls the lower Mississippi.

• At the Battle of Pensacola, eighteen ships arrived from Havana to help Bernardo de Galvez. In all, the ships carried 1600 troops. What would be a reasonable estimate of the number of men aboard each ship?
• Spain provided about 30,000 uniforms for the United States. If half the uniforms wore out after one year, and half of those remaining wore out after the second year, how many uniforms were still being used after two years?
• Use the numbers in this issue to make up your own word problems.

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Updated: 8/29/08 12:38 pm
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