Teacher Resources
Hackensack
Inquiry Question
Why did the Revolution divide Bergen County more deeply than many other communities?
Primary Sources
What Teachers and Students Use
The Revolutionary War in the Hackensack Valley: The Jersey Dutch and the Neutral Ground, 1775-1783
SECONDARY · Rutgers University Press
5 analysis prompts
Washington's Headquarters: The Hackensack Area in the Revolution
INSTITUTIONAL · National Park Service
5 analysis prompts
Bergen County in the American Revolution: Primary Sources
PRIMARY · New Jersey Historical Society
5 analysis prompts
New Jersey in the American Revolution (Rutgers Encyclopedia)
SECONDARY · Rutgers University Press
5 analysis prompts
First Reformed Church of Hackensack: Minutes and Records, 1775-1783
PRIMARY · First Reformed Church of Hackensack / New Jersey Historical Society
5 analysis prompts
Downloads
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Student packet, teacher guide with answer key, and quiz — each formatted for classroom printing.
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Lesson Plan
In the Classroom
Learning Objectives
- 1Explain why Bergen County was more divided than most regions during the Revolution and identify the factors that influenced loyalty choices
- 2Analyze primary sources related to the civil conflict in Bergen County, including loyalty oaths and property confiscation records
- 3Evaluate the human cost of the Revolution as a civil war by examining the impact on families and communities
- 4Compare the experience of Bergen County to the broader narrative of the Revolution as a war between nations
Warm-Up · 15 minutes
Present students with a scenario: your community is deeply divided over a political question. Your family supports one side, but your closest neighbor and longtime friend supports the other. Armed groups on both sides are pressuring everyone to declare their loyalty. Write a paragraph explaining what you would do and why. Then discuss: what factors would influence your decision?
Direct Instruction · 25 minutes
· Background: Bergen County's Dutch Reformed and Anglican communities and the religious and economic factors that divided them
· The Committee of Safety: How patriot governance operated in a divided county
Closure · 10 minutes
Class discussion: After the war, patriot and Loyalist families had to live in the same communities again. How do communities rebuild after a civil conflict? Are there parallels to other periods in American history? Exit ticket: Name one way that the Revolution in Bergen County was different from the Revolution as it is usually taught in textbooks.
Differentiation Strategies
Struggling Learners
Provide a graphic organizer with columns for "Patriot Perspective" and "Loyalist Perspective" to organize information from the lesson. Simplify primary source documents with vocabulary support.
Advanced Learners
Research the post-war confiscation process in Bergen County and write an additional analysis of how property seizures affected the social structure of the community for a generation after the war.
ELL Support
Provide a visual timeline of events in Bergen County with key vocabulary defined. Allow the writing assignment to be completed using a structured template with sentence starters.
Explore Further
Hackensack in the Knowledge Graph
The lesson packet draws from these pages. Use them to extend the lesson or give students primary source context.
Comparative Study
Connected Towns
The corroborate prompts in the student packet point to these towns. Teachers can assign cross-town comparisons.
Fort Lee
SHARED EVENT
Washington's army retreated from Fort Lee directly to Hackensack on November 20, 1776, the first night halt after the Palisades evacuation. The two towns are linked by the retreat itself: Fort Lee was where the crisis began; Hackensack was where Washington gathered his scattered forces the same evening.
Trenton
SHARED EVENT
The Continental retreat that ended at the Delaware and enabled the Trenton counterattack passed through Hackensack on its first night. The town is the opening scene of the same dramatic narrative that concludes with Washington's Christmas crossing; understanding Hackensack's November 20 scene is necessary context for understanding why Trenton mattered.
Morristown
GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY
Hackensack and Morristown anchored the northern and central portions of Washington's New Jersey defensive perimeter in 1777 and 1779-1780. Bergen County militia coordinated with the Morristown headquarters, and the Neutral Ground between them was the contested theater where Loyalist and patriot forces fought the war's most persistent civil conflict.
Assessment
Hackensack in the American Revolution
Answer the following questions based on our study of Revolutionary history. · 5 questions · Answer key in Teacher Guide PDF
What makes Hackensack significant in Revolutionary history?
multiple choice
Primary sources are documents or objects created during the time period being studied.
true false
Name one event that occurred in Hackensack during the Revolutionary period and explain its significance.
short answer
+ 2 more in the full quiz PDF
Ready to Print?
All three documents below — student packet, teacher guide, and quiz — are formatted for letter-size classroom printing.