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American Revolution Websites and Videos for Students
Looking for American Revolution websites and videos to share with your students? If so, this is the list for you. It is a roundup of engaging and informative websites and videos for students all about the American Revolution.
Kids have access to see, listen to, and read about more than ever before. We can leverage that to our advantage! When we partner with students as they explore the digital realm of the world, we can provide the guidance and tools they need to learn to safely navigate it. You can read more about using websites and videos in the classroom here.
If you’re ready to dive into this list of websites and videos, you can click through the navigation below or keep scrolling. Click on the images to access the resources listed. Be sure to preview all resources to determine age-appropriateness before sharing them with your students.
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VIDEOS
Liberty’s Kids
40 episodes - around 23 minutes each
“Two teenage reporters cover the events of the Revolutionary War for Ben Franklin’s newspaper, The Philadelphia Gazette. James, an American colonist, brings the rebels’ point of view to life while Sarah, a young Englishwoman stranded by fate in America, gives us the British viewpoint in her letters to her mother back in London. Meanwhile, in Paris, Ben Franklin creates strong diplomatic bonds with France, America’s first and staunchest ally. Caught on opposite sides of the hostilities, Ben’s teenage reporters confront the real, physical dangers of the conflict, forced to choose between their friendship and their countries, their understanding of good and evil, and the moral dilemmas of war. All the while trying to look after mischievous Henri, an immigrant French boy whose comical escapades constantly lead to trouble, as they bear witness to the high points of the American revolution.”
American Battlefield Trust’s “Language of the American Revolution”
“Did you know that hipsters were a thing back in the 18th century – and were known as Macaroni? Our ancestors liked to get creative with language: especially in the world of politics.”
American Battlefield Trust’s “Common Sense: Democracy in Print”
“We’ve all seen our fair share of American political ads in recent years. But the very first? That could be Common Sense – an 18th-century pamphlet designed to incite rebellion!”
American Battlefield Trust’s “The Continental Congress: America’s True First Ruling Body”
“The Continental Congress was America’s first true ruling body. As the American Revolution unfolded, the colonies sent delegates to meet as a national body of legislators, known as the Continental Congress.”
American Battlefield Trust’s “Combat Strategies: The Revolutionary War in Four Minutes”
“Join David Lawrence of the Valley Forge National Historical Park for an overview of the fighting styles for both the Continental and British armies during the Revolutionary War.”
American Battlefield Trust’s “The Citizen Soldier”
“With the first shots of the American Revolution, they dropped their everyday lives and ran to help in the fight for independence. This is the story of the ordinary people who helped found a nation.”
American Battlefield Trust’s “Boston Massacre: Animated Graphic Novel”
”Any discussion about the American Revolution begins with an examination of the Boston Massacre. When British soldiers fired into a mob on Boston’s King Street, killing five American colonists and wounding a half-dozen more, it galvanized many behind the Patriot cause.
To mark the 250th anniversary of this pivotal event, the American Battlefield Trust created a short animated video explaining the moment’s significance. The imagery used is from our upcoming graphic novel about the first 100 years of American history.”
TED-Ed’s “The story behind the Boston Tea Party”
“Before the Revolutionary War, American colonists were taxed heavily for importing tea from Britain. The colonists, not fans of "taxation without representation", reacted by dumping tea into the Boston Harbor, a night now known as the Boston Tea Party. Ben Labaree gets into the nitty-gritty of that famous revolutionary act.”
American Battlefield Trust’s “The Declaration of Independence”
“The Declaration of Independence was the first-ever document to cement equality into the founding principles of a nation, though it was by no means perfect. How could all men be created equal in a country built on the profits of slavery?”
TED-Ed’s “What you might not know about the Declaration of Independence”
“In June 1776, a little over a year after the start of the American Revolutionary War, the US Continental Congress huddled together in a hot room in Philadelphia to talk independence. Kenneth C. Davis dives into some of the lesser known facts about the process of writing the Declaration of Independence and questions one very controversial omission.”
American Battlefield Trust’s “Ten Crucial Days That Changed the War”
“December 25, 1776: Victory or Death. General George Washington opted for a last bold strike against the British by crossing the Delaware River and attacking the garrison at Trenton, NJ. This result convinced many Americans that the Declaration of Independence was worth defending.”
Museum of the American Revolution’s Virtual Exhibit “When Women Lost the Vote”
“Women voted in Revolutionary America, over a hundred years before the United States Constitution guaranteed that right to women nationally.
The 1776 New Jersey State Constitution referred to voters as "they," and statutes passed in 1790 and 1797 defined voters as “he or she." This opened the electorate to free property owners, Black and white, male and female, in New Jersey. This lasted until 1807, when a new state law said only white men could vote.
What can this story of changing laws about who could vote from the earliest days of American democracy teach us about what it means to vote and what it takes to preserve and expand that right?
A newly discovered set of sources - lists of men and women, Black and white - who voted in New Jersey between 1798 and 1807 set off our quest to find the answers.”
People of the RevolutIon
Museum of the American Revolution’s Interactive Feature “Finding Freedom”
“Explore the stories of five real people of African descent living in war-torn Virginia in 1781.”
Museum of the American Revolution’s Interactive Feature “Season of Independence”
“Explore the spread of support for American independence from January to July of 1776. Encounter the perspectives of real men and women on all sides of the debate.”
Jamestown Settlement & American Revolution Museum at Yorktown’s “How Revolutionary Are You?” Interactive Quiz
“Play this online quiz to be paired with your revolutionary counterpart. What do you have in common with the people of the American Revolution? Answer 10 multiple choice questions and be paired with your “revolutionary” counterpart! In “How Revolutionary Are You?” players select one of four possible responses to each of 10 questions and are then “matched” with one of the 20 subjects – reflecting the diversity of the people caught up in the Revolution – whose image and profile appear on the screen.”
Interactive Features & More
Museum of the American Revolution’s “Virtual Tour”
Take a virtual walking tour through the museum.
Museum of the American Revolution’s “Beyond the Battlefield Virtual Field Trip”
“Take your family on a behind-the-scenes field trip of the Museum with host Lauren Tarshis, author of the I Survived series of children’s historical fiction novels. Along the way, you will…
Meet museum educator Adrienne Whaley and museum curator Matthew Skic
See real artifacts and documents from the American Revolution
Learn the stories of two teenagers who actually served during the Revolutionary War
See the actual tent that George Washington lived in as he traveled with his soldiers”
Museum of the American Revolution’s Virtual Readings & Book Lists
“Read the Revolution is for all ages. Browse a curated collection of excerpts from exciting, thought-provoking books about the American Revolution — for kids!”
The American Revolution Institute’s Revolutionary Choices Game
“The men and women of the revolutionary generation won our independence and created a free and united republic. Can you do as well? Download the Revolutionary Choices app or play online today!
You will face the dilemmas confronted by American revolutionaries as they struggle to recruit and supply troops, win French support, suppress loyalists and defeat the British without trampling on rights or fracturing the union. Winning is tough, just as it was in the Revolutionary War.”
Jamestown Settlement & American Revolution Museum at Yorktown’s “What Does Liberty Mean to You” Interactive Display
“Share your thoughts with the world by posting a message on the Liberty Tree. The 17-foot metal sculptural tree, rooted in the galleries at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, features 20 electronic lanterns that display liberty messages from all over the world. While our nation’s founders were still fighting for our freedom in the American Revolution, the Liberty Tree became a symbol of defiance as brave patriots gathered to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with British rule and share dreams of establishing a new nation. – one based on the distinctly American ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. See what others from across the world have had to say and post your own message of liberty for everyone to see.”
