What political ideas in the colonies influenced the American Revolution? On 4th July 1776, the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. This declaration of independence from British colonial rule has been explained in terms of anger over taxation, fear of losing rights and liberties, and the idea of fundamental corruption within the colonial administration. This lesson focusses on the political thought that inspired the American Revolution, and the ideas that influenced the decision to declare independence. Use the documents in this lesson to explore the context for the political thought that inspired the American Revolution.

The documents in this lesson relate to Framlingham, Portchester, Stokesay , Berwick and Alnwick castles. Some of these feature in the specification for OCR History GCSE module: Castles Form and Function c1000-1750 as specified sites in conjunction with English Heritage. Framlingham Castle is the first named site for OCR in 2018, followed by Kenilworth Castle in 2019. For AQA, GCSE History, module Historical Environment of Medieval England, Stokesay Castle is the specified site for 2018 and Pevensey Castle for 2019.