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American Revolution Drawing Ideas

One event, object, symbol or map of the Revolution per press, each with a checked date or fact.

American Revolution Drawing Ideas

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  1. A rough draft covered in crossings-outJefferson's draft took 47 changes from the committee and 39 more from Congress before July 4.

Next step Draw the amendments, in their own words

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Road to revolution 18

  • A great elm hung with lanterns Boston's Liberty Tree. After the Stamp Act's repeal in 1766, people hung dozens of lanterns in it.
  • A meeting house packed to its galleries December 16, 1773: 5,000 to 7,000 people filled Old South Meeting House in Boston over the tea.
  • A pack of playing cards with a stamp on the wrapper The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed playing cards too. A small box, a paper band, one square stamp.
  • A petition scroll with an olive sprig laid across it The Olive Branch Petition, adopted on July 5, 1775, was a last attempt to avoid war with Britain.
  • A post rider with a saddlebag of letters In late 1772 Boston set up a committee of correspondence. Letters like this tied the colonies together.
  • A snake cut into eight pieces "Join, or Die", first printed on May 9, 1754, came back in the Stamp Act protests of 1765 and 1766.
  • A soldier's red coat hung on a peg in an inn The Quartering Act of 1765 had the colonies house British troops in barracks, inns and public houses.
  • A spinning bee on a town green Women held spinning bees to make homespun cloth, so that colonists could do without British textiles.
  • A tavern sign with a green dragon The Green Dragon Tavern in Boston was a meeting place of the Sons of Liberty.
  • A tax stamp on a folded newspaper The Stamp Act took effect on November 1, 1765 and taxed newspapers and legal papers. Repealed March 1766.
  • A tea chest going over the rail of a ship December 16, 1773, Boston Harbor. About 340 chests of tea went into the water in three hours.
  • A thin pamphlet on a bookseller's table Common Sense, published January 10, 1776: 47 pages by Thomas Paine arguing for independence.
  • A two-story brick meeting hall Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia. The First Continental Congress met here from September 5, 1774.
  • An empty wooden bridge over a slow river The North Bridge at Concord, April 19, 1775. Emerson later called it the "shot heard round the world".
  • Glass, lead, paint, paper and tea on a wharf, each with a tag The five imports taxed by the Townshend Acts of 1767. Five crates, five tags.
  • "No taxation without representation" lettered on a handbill The colonists' slogan. They had no members in the Parliament that taxed them.
  • Three merchant ships tied up at one wharf The tea ships at Griffin's Wharf in Boston. The Dartmouth was one of the three.
  • Two lanterns in a church steeple April 18, 1775, Old North Church, Boston: a signal to patriots across the Charles River.

The Declaration 14

  • A crowd in a yard listening to a man read aloud July 8, 1776: one of the first public readings, in the yard of the State House in Philadelphia.
  • A grievance cartoon: a tax collector and an empty pocket One of the listed grievances: "For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent".
  • A grievance cartoon: ships turned back from a harbor Another grievance on the list: "For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world".
  • A printer hanging up damp broadsides at night John Dunlap printed the first copies on the night of July 4, 1776. 26 are known to exist today.
  • A rough draft covered in crossings-out Jefferson's draft took 47 changes from the committee and 39 more from Congress before July 4.
  • A vote tally: twelve yes, one colony waiting On July 2, 1776 Congress voted for independence. New York abstained, then agreed on July 9.
  • A writer alone at a desk late at night The committee gave the drafting to Thomas Jefferson, who worked on it in private for days.
  • Fifty-six signatures in columns The engrossed copy was signed on August 2, 1776; 56 delegates signed in the end. New Hampshire begins the list.
  • Five chairs around a table of papers The Committee of Five, named on June 11, 1776: Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Livingston and Sherman.
  • The largest signature on the page John Hancock signed as president of the Congress. His large signature became the best known of all.
  • Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as three icons The three rights the Declaration names. Choose a picture for each and set them in a row.
  • Raised hands under the words "consent of the governed" Governments get "their just powers from the consent of the governed", says the Declaration.
  • The sheet with its large heading The heading reads "In Congress, July 4, 1776". Large letters at the top, lines of small script below.
  • The silver inkstand used at the signing The Syng inkstand, made in 1752 by Philip Syng, was used at the signing. Draw it shining.

Symbols 12

  • A chain of thirteen links The other side of the 1776 Continental dollar: 13 chain links, a plea for the colonies to stay united.
  • A cocked hat with a colored cockade Early in the war the Continental Army used cockades of different colors to show rank.
  • A coin with a sundial and the word Fugio The Continental dollar of 1776, designed by Franklin: a sun, a sundial and "Mind your business".
  • A great bell on a wagon leaving a city In 1777 Philadelphia's bells, the Liberty Bell among them, went by wagon to be hidden in Allentown.
  • A heart of purple cloth The Badge of Military Merit, announced by Washington on August 7, 1782. Today it is the Purple Heart.
  • A ribbon lettered E Pluribus Unum Latin for "Out of many, one". Congress accepted the design of the Great Seal on June 20, 1782.
  • A sheet of articles tied with thirteen ribbons The Articles of Confederation: agreed by Congress on November 15, 1777, in force from March 1, 1781.
  • A tall pole topped with a vane that says Liberty New York City's liberty pole. The fight over it ran from 1766, the year of the repeal, to 1775.
  • The last page of a peace treaty, signed and sealed The Treaty of Paris, signed September 3, 1783, ended the war. Wax seals sit beside the signatures.
  • The motto "Novus ordo seclorum" lettered on a scroll One of three Latin phrases on the Great Seal of 1782. It means "A new order of the ages".
  • Thirteen stripes with the British union in the corner The Continental Union flag, first raised on December 3, 1775 on a ship at Philadelphia.
  • Thirteen white stars set on blue as a new constellation June 14, 1777: Congress chose thirteen stars, "white in a blue field, representing a new constellation".

People and daily life 15

  • A commander's commission on parchment The Continental Army was founded on June 14, 1775. George Washington was its commander in chief.
  • A drill book lying open on a drum Baron von Steuben reached Valley Forge on February 23, 1778 and wrote the army's drill manual.
  • A fife and a drum on a camp stool Books of military regulations set standard fife calls for the duties of a camp.
  • A letter on a table beside a candle and a quill March 1776: Abigail Adams wrote to John Adams asking Congress to "remember the ladies".
  • A letter with a second message showing between the lines The Culper spy ring wrote in invisible ink between the lines of ordinary-looking letters.
  • A plow left standing in a furrow Minutemen were militia who could turn out at a minute's notice. Hang a hat on the plow handle.
  • A postmaster's desk with pigeonholes of letters In 1775 the Continental Congress made Benjamin Franklin its first postmaster general.
  • A sea trunk on a dock in South Carolina Lafayette landed near Georgetown, South Carolina on June 13, 1777. He was 19 years old.
  • A silversmith's bench with a half-made teapot Paul Revere, the midnight rider of April 1775, was a silversmith.
  • A slim book of poems on a writing desk Phillis Wheatley, 1773: the first published book of poetry by an African American author.
  • A three-cornered hat on a peg People of the time called it a cocked hat. Three sides of the brim are turned up.
  • An upholsterer's shop with a flag across the table The story that Betsy Ross made the first flag was first told by her relatives in 1870. Historians doubt it.
  • Flat cakes baking on a stone by a fire Firecake: flour and water cooked on heated rocks. Soldiers at Valley Forge ate it when bread ran short.
  • Rows of soldiers' huts along a snowy camp street Valley Forge, December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778. The soldiers built some 2,000 huts themselves.
  • Two silhouettes and a folded paper changing hands December 23, 1783, Annapolis: Washington resigned his commission to Congress.

Maps and timelines 17

  • A cause-and-effect chain: tax, protest, repeal The Stamp Act of 1765 was met with protests and boycotts and was repealed on March 18, 1766.
  • A dotted line along the Appalachian Mountains The Proclamation of 1763 banned settling west of a line along the Appalachians.
  • A ladder of acts with a year on every rung Sugar Act 1764, Stamp Act 1765, Townshend Acts 1767, Tea Act 1773. One rung for each.
  • A map of the new country reaching the Mississippi River The Treaty of Paris of 1783 ran the western boundary along the middle of the Mississippi.
  • A map of Virginia with a star at Yorktown The British army at Yorktown surrendered on October 19, 1781. Peace talks followed.
  • A map pin on the Schuylkill River Valley Forge lies along the Schuylkill River in eastern Pennsylvania: the winter camp of 1777 to 1778.
  • A midnight ride drawn as a road map April 18 to 19, 1775. Revere, Dawes and Prescott were stopped by a patrol; only Prescott reached Concord.
  • A river crossing on a map, with ice in the water Night of December 25 to 26, 1776: the crossing of the Delaware River, made in Durham boats.
  • A river valley map with a star at Saratoga The British surrender at Saratoga on October 17, 1777 persuaded France to enter the war as an ally.
  • A ship route from France to America France and the United States signed a Treaty of Alliance in Paris on February 6, 1778.
  • A small Pennsylvania town with a star for a capital York, Pennsylvania was the base of the Continental Congress from September 1777 to June 1778.
  • A timeline strip from 1765 to 1783 Stamp Act 1765, tea 1773, Lexington and Concord 1775, Declaration 1776, Yorktown 1781, peace 1783.
  • A two-column chart: Patriot and Loyalist Not every colonist wanted independence. Loyalists were colonists who stayed loyal to the British crown.
  • Boston as an almost-island joined by a thin neck of land Boston was then a peninsula, joined to the mainland by the narrow strip called Boston Neck.
  • The last ships leaving New York Harbor Evacuation Day: the British set noon on November 25, 1783 as the hour to leave New York City.
  • One year as a timeline: 1776 January, Common Sense. July, the Declaration. December, the crossing of the Delaware.
  • The thirteen colonies in three colors The traditional grouping: New England, Middle and Southern colonies. One color for each.

How it works

These American Revolution drawing ideas run from the Stamp Act to the peace of 1783: a tea chest going over a ship's rail, two lanterns in a steeple, the Declaration's largest signature.

Read the full guide

Declaration of Independence drawing ideas

The Declaration has a group of its own: the sheet with its heading, the silver inkstand, the committee of five, a rough draft covered in crossings-out, a public reading on July 8 and two of the grievances as cartoons. Its three rights and the consent of the governed are drawn as icons and raised hands.

Places and objects tell the war

Road to revolution runs from the tax stamp to Common Sense. People and daily life is hats, huts, letters and a drill book. Maps and timelines puts the thirteen colonies, the midnight ride and the treaty line on paper. A soldier is a coat on a peg or a silhouette.

  • Date every drawing in a corner. An empty wooden bridge becomes Concord, April 19, 1775.
  • For a person, draw the thing they used: a silversmith's bench, a postmaster's desk, a slim book of poems.

Questions and answers

What can I draw for an American Revolution project?

An object with a date reads fastest: a tax stamp on a newspaper, a snake cut into eight pieces, a silver inkstand. For a poster, draw a timeline strip from 1765 to 1783 or the thirteen colonies in three colors.

What are the symbols of the American Revolution?

The thirteen stars and stripes chosen on June 14, 1777, the Liberty Tree in Boston, the cut snake of Join, or Die, liberty poles, and the Great Seal with its motto E Pluribus Unum, accepted in 1782.

When was the Declaration of Independence signed?

Congress adopted it on July 4, 1776, after voting for independence on July 2. The handwritten parchment copy was signed on August 2, 1776, and 56 delegates signed in the end.

What did the lanterns in the Old North Church mean?

On April 18, 1775 two lanterns were lit in the steeple in Boston to warn patriots across the Charles River that British troops were moving. A later poem made the signal famous as one if by land, two if by sea.

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