Revolutionary Reasons

This worksheet supports students in Grades 5, 6, and 7 as they analyze author’s purpose, rhetoric, historical context, and persuasive language through an adapted excerpt from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. By examining Paine’s arguments, emotional appeals, and word choices, learners determine whether the text was written to inform, persuade, document, or reflect, strengthening both historical understanding and critical reading skills.

Learning Goals

• Author’s Purpose (Grades 5-7)
  Identify and justify the primary purpose of a historical text using textual evidence.
• Rhetorical Analysis
  Examine how language, emotion, and reasoning influence readers.
• American Revolution Context
  Understand how political writing shaped public opinion about independence.
• Evidence-Based Reasoning
  Support interpretations with specific details from the text.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource
  Designed by educators to align with social studies and ELA standards.
• Guided Analysis Questions
  Prompts focus student attention on rhetoric, tone, and argument structure.
• Accessible Adapted Text
  Makes a complex historical document approachable for upper elementary and middle school learners.
• Flexible Classroom Use
  Works well for independent analysis, discussion, homework, or assessment.
• Low-Prep Format
  Print-and-go worksheet for classroom or homeschool instruction.

This printable worksheet strengthens skills in author’s purpose analysis, rhetorical reasoning, and historical interpretation through one of the most influential texts of the American Revolution. By evaluating Paine’s persuasive strategies and political motivations, students gain deeper insight into how ideas fueled independence and shaped history. It’s a meaningful resource for both classroom instruction and homeschool learning.

This worksheet is part of our historical text worksheets collection.