This course explores the revolutionary developments in British North America between 1760 and 1800. The American Revolution involved more than just a colonial rebellion against Britain or a war for independence. It was a "revolution." Exactly what that revolution meant, however, has elicited differing views from its participants and contemporary observers, as well as from each subsequent generation of historians. Today historians note that the nation's noblest ideals and promises, as well as its most invidious contradictions and hypocrisies, emerged from the American Revolution. One of the quests of this course will be to discover just how "revolutionary" was the American Revolution, and what were the various meanings that diverse Americans during that era attached to this epochal event of nation-building and social and cultural transformation.

A supplementary objective of this course will be to analyze the various meanings that contemporary American society and culture attributes to the American Revolution. Finally, this course is designed to expose students to the art of historical research and writing by exploring an event that left behind a rich and voluminous documentary record.

REQUIRED READINGS:

The following books are required readings and are available at the College Bookstore:

• Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution.
• Pauline Maier, From Resistance to Revolution.
• Robert Gross, Minutemen and Their World.
• Sylvia Frey, Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age.
• Susan Juster, Disorderly Women.
• Rhys Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790.
• Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787.

Additional readings and documents (listed in the class schedule below) are on reserve at McCabe Library. Other reading assignments will be distributed by class handouts.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Reading and class participation:

Students are expected to attend all class meetings, complete the readings, and be prepared for discussion of the assigned reading each week. Classsroom discussions are an integral part of the course, and all students are expected to participate. The following is the History Dept. policy on attendance: "Students are required to attend all classes for the successful completion of the course. Unexcused absences will result in a lower grade."

Research paper:

The principal writing focus of this course will be on the preparation of an original research paper by each student. The final research paper will be approximately 20 (double-spaced) pages. The following smaller written assignments will be completed over the course of the semester, many of which will be designed to assist each student in the preparation and writing of the research paper.

Research prospectus: Early in the semester, students will submit a 1-page prospectus that describes their topic for the research paper. The prospectus should explain the historical problem or question you wish to address, and the type of sources you will examine in your research. Two weeks later, a revised prospectus (2-3 pages) will be submitted that reflects the first stages of research and new perspectives on the topic (and possible thesis) for your paper.

Preliminary bibliography: At the end of week 5, each student will submit a preliminary bibliography which lists the primary and secondary sources that will serve as the basis for the research paper.

Document analysis: Each student will prepare a document analysis paper (2-4 pages) based upon one or more shorter primary source documents that he or she will use for the research paper. The paper should set the document within its historical context -- explicating its meaning from the text, while also explaining the significant historical changes it reflects.

Sequence of Assignments and Due Dates:

• Iniital research paper prospectus Feb. 6
• Revised prospectus and bibliography Feb. 20
• Document analysis paper Mar. 6
• First draft of research paper Apr. 10
• Student presentation in class Apr. 22-29
• Final draft of research paper May 1

The American Revolution in Contemporary America:

Students will complete a short paper (3-4 pages) analyzing the meaning of the American Revolution in its various manifestations within contemporary American culture. Students will have a great deal of freedom in choosing their topics, but papers may be written on such topics as popular culture (films, theater, television, advertising, etc.), museum exhibitions, recent Supreme Court decisions, Presidential addresses or political campaigns, social or political activist groups, and the Internet. A handout will be distributed outlining the expectations and topics for this assignment. Due: March 23.

Final examination:

A final examination will be given on the scheduled final exam date.

Date and Time: __________________________

All assignments are due as stated in the syllabus. No extensions will be granted. Late papers will receive grade reductions.

CLASS SCHEDULE:

Document Source Books: (On Reserve at McCabe Library)

Jack P. Greene, From Colonies to Nation.

Richard D. Brown, Major Problems During the Era of the American Revolution.

(WEEK 1)

Jan. 19 INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

Jan. 21 HISTORICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Readings:

• Linda K. Kerber, "The Revolutionary Generation," in Eric Foner, ed., The New American History (1990), pp. 25-49.
• Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Introduction, pp. 3-8.
• Gary B. Nash, "The Forgotten Experience: Indians, Blacks, and the American Revolution," in William M. Fowler, ed., The American Revolution: Changing Perspectives (1979), pp. 29-42.

Jan. 23 COLONIAL SOCIAL ORDER

Readings:

• Rhys Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790, pp. 5-138.

(WEEK 2)

Jan. 26 LAB: BASIC LIBRARY RESOURCES VIA COMPUTER

Jan. 28 DISCUSSION

Readings:

• Wood, Radicalism of the American Revolution, pp. 11-168.

Jan. 30 A FRAGILE EMPIRE REACHES A CRISIS

Documents:

1. James Otis, Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764), Greene, 26-33.
2. Virginia Stamp Act Resolves (1765), Greene, 60-1 & Brown, 81-2.
3. Declarations of the Stamp Act Congress (1765), Greene, 63-5 & Brown, 84-5.
4. Benjamin Franklin's Examination Before the House of Commons (1766), Brown, 87-94.

Optional Documents:

1. Thomas Whately, The Regulations Lately Made . . . (1765), Greene, 46-51.
2. Daniel Dulany, Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes . . . (1765), Greene, 51-59

(WEEK 3)

Feb. 2 LAB: LIBRARY RESOURCES AT SWARTHMORE & NEARBY LIBRARIES

Feb. 4 DISCUSSION -- A RADICAL REVOLUTION?

Readings:

• Wood, Radicalism of the American Revolution, pp. 169-369.
• Debate between Michael Zuckerman and Gordon Wood, inWilliam and Mary Quarterly 51 (Oct. 1994), pp. 693-716.

Feb. 6 A REVOLUTION FOR ORDINARY INDIVIDUALS

Readings:

• Alfred F. Young, "George Roberts Twelves Hewes (1742-1840): A Boston Shoemaker and the Memory of the American Revolution," William and Mary Quarterly 38 (1981), 561-623.

Supplemental Readings:

• William Manning, Key of Libberty, pp. 122-70.
• Joy and Richard Buel, The Way of Duty: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America, ch. 5-8.
• Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Intro, ch. 2, 8.

Research paper prospectus due.

(WEEK 4)

Feb. 9 FILM: (To be announced)

Feb. 11 COLONIAL RESISTANCE, RIOTS, & MOBS

Readings:

• Pauline Maier, From Resistance to Revolution, pp. 3-157.

Documents:

1. Gov. Bernard Describes the Boston Stamp Act Riot (1765), Brown, 82-84
2. Josiah Quincy Describes the Boston Stamp Act Riot (1765), Greene, 61-63
3. John Dickinson, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (1767-68), Greene, 122-33.
4. Association and Resolves of the New York Sons of Liberty (1773), Greene, 198-200.
5. The Continental Association (1774), Greene, 247-50.

Feb. 13 IDEOLOGIES OF THE REVOLUTION -- WHIGS & REPUBLICANISM

Readings:

• Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, pp. 94-143 [also skim pp. 144-59.]
• Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, pp. 1-124.

(WEEK 5)

Feb. 16 STUDENT CONFERENCES ABOUT RESEARCH PAPERS

Feb. 18 IDEOLOGIES OF THE REVOLUTION -- PAINE & THE RADICALS

Readings:

• Thomas Paine, Common Sense (see documents below)
• Eric Foner, Tom Paine and Revolutionary America, pp. 77-144.

Documents:

• Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776) in P. Foner, ed., Complete Writings of Thomas Paine, vol 1, pp. 1-46 [read first 2/3, skim the rest.]
• Declaration of Independence (1776), Brown, 169-72 & Greene, 297-301.
• John Dickinson Opposes Independence (1776), Brown, 166-69.

Optional Documents:

• Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British-America (1774), Brown, 139-45.
• Declarations and Resolves of the First Contintental Congress (1774), Greene, 243-6.
• Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms (1775), Greene, 255-9.

Feb. 20 REVOLUTION & WAR -- POLITICAL MOBILIZATION

Readings:

• Maier, From Resistance to Revolution, pp. 161-296.

Supplemental Readings:

• John Shy, "The American Revolution: The Military Conflict Considered as a Revolutionary War," in Stephen G. Kurtz and James H. Hutson, eds., Essays on the American Revolution (1973), pp. 121-156.
• Don Higginbotham, "Reflections on the War of Independence, Modern Guerilla Warfare, and the War in Vietnam," in Ronald Hoffman and Peter Albert, eds., Arms and Independence: The Military Character of the American Revolution (1984), pp. 1-24.
• Charles Royster, A Revolutionary People at War, pp. 25-126.

Revised prospectus and preliminary bibliography due.

(WEEK 6)

Feb. 23 LAB: HISTORICAL METHODS -- RESEARCH

Feb. 25 SOCIAL CHANGE & THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Readings:

• Gary B. Nash, "Social Change and the Growth of Prerevolutionary Urban Radicalism," in Alfred F. Young, ed., The American Revolution: Explorations in the History of American Radicalism, pp. 3-32.
• T. H. Breen, "'Baubles of Britain': The American and Consumer Revolutions of the Eighteenth Century," in Cary Carson, et al., eds., Of Consuming Interests: The Style of Life in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 444-82.
• Or: T. H. Breen, "Narrative of Commercial Life: Consumption, Ideology, and Community on the Eve of the American Revolution," William and Mary Quarterly 50 (1993), 471-501.

Feb. 27 REVOLUTION & WAR -- SOCIAL HISTORY OF COMMUNITIES

Readings:

• Robert Gross, Minutemen and Their World.

(WEEK 7)

Mar. 2 CIVIL WAR? -- THE LOYALISTS

Readings:

• Robert Calhoon, "Epilogue: A Special Kind of Civil War," in The Loyalists in Revolutionary America, 1760-1781, pp. 500-06.
• Robert M. Weir, "'The Violent Spirit,' the Reestablishment of Order, and the Continuity of Leadership in Post-Revolutionary South Carolina," in Hoffman, et al., eds., An Uncivil War: The Southern Backcountry During the American Revolution, pp. 70-98.

Documents:

1. Tom Paine Attacks the Loyalists (1776), Brown, 265-66.
2. Newspaper Attack on the Loyalists (1779), Brown, 266-68.
3. Loyalists Plead Their Cause (1782), Brown, 269-72.
4. Jonathan Boucher, A View of the Causes . . . (1775), [Binder only]
5. Grace Galloway, A Loyalist Wife (1778-79), [Binder only]

Supplemental Readings:

• Edward Countryman, A People in Revolution: The American Revolution and Political Society in New York, 1760-1790, pp. 103-90.
• Ronald Hoffman, "The 'Disaffected' in the Revolutionary South," in Alfred F. Young, ed., The American Revolution: Explorations in the History of American Radicalism, pp. 273-313.

Mar. 4 A REVOLUTION FOR AMERICAN INDIANS

Readings:

• James H. Merrell, "Indian-White Relations in the New Nation" in Jack P. Greene, ed., The American Revolution: Its Character and Limits, pp. 197-223.
• Colin G. Calloway, The American Revolution in Indian Country, pp. xi-xvi, 26-64, 292-301.
• Mary Young, "Let's Hear it for the Losers," Reviews in American History 24 (1996), 579-84.

Supplemental Readings:

• Gregory Dowd, A Spirited Resistance.
• James H. Merrell, The Indians' New World, pp. 215-225.

Mar. 6 NO CLASS -- WORK ON RESEARCH PAPERS

Document analysis paper due.

SPRING BREAK - MARCH 9-13

(WEEK 8)

Mar. 16 LAB: HISTORICAL METHODS -- WRITING

Mar. 18 RELIGION & THE REVOLUTION -- EVANGELICAL AWAKENING

Readings:

• Susan Juster, Disorderly Women: Sexual Politics and Evangelicalism in Revolutionary New England.

Supplemental Readings:

• William G. McLoughlin, "The Role of Religion in the Revolution," in Stephen G. Kurtz and James H. Hutson, eds., Essays on the American Revolution (1973), pp. 197-255.
• Jon Butler, Awash in a Sea of Faith, pp. 194-224.

Mar. 20 RELIGION & THE REVOLUTION -- CHURCH & STATE

Readings:

• Isaac, Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790, pp. 143-322.

Documents:

1. Issac Backus, An Appeal for Religious Liberty (1773)
2. Ezra Stiles, The Place of Religion in the United States (1783), Brown, 356-58
3. Philadelphia Jews Seek Equality Before the Law (1783), Brown, 358-59
4. Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom (1786), Brown, 364-66

(WEEK 9)

Mar. 23 WOMEN, GENDER, & THE REVOLUTION

Readings:

• Mary Beth Norton, "Revolutionary Advances for Women," (from Liberty's Daughters) and
• Joan Hoff Wilson, "The Illusion of Change," (from Alfred F. Young ed., The American Revolution) both reprinted in Richard D. Brown, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, pp. 311-30.

Documents:

1. Hannah Griffits, The Female Patriots (1768), [Binder only]
2. To the Female Patriot, No. 1 (1770). [Binder only]
3. Abigail Adams, "Remember the Ladies" (1776), Brown, 302-05.

Supplemental Readings:

• Linda K. Kerber, Women of the Republic, esp. ch. 3, 5, 7, 9.
• Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, "Dis-Covering the Subject of the `Great Constitutional Discussion,' 1786-1789," Journal of American History 79 (Dec. 1992), 841-73.
• Ruth H. Bloch, "The Gendered Meanings of Virtue in Revolutionary America," Signs 13 (1987), 37-58.

Mar. 25 THE PROBLEM OF SLAVERY & THE FOUNDING OF THE NATION

Readings:

• Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom, pp. 363-87.
• William W. Freehling, "The Founding Fathers and Slavery," American Historical Review (1972), 81-93.

Documents:

1. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia & Letters. [Binder only]
2. Caesar Sarter, Essay on Slavery (1774) [Binder only]
3. Tom Paine, Essay on Slavery (1775) [Binder only]
4. John Cooper, "To the Public" (1780) [Binder only]

Mar. 27 AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE REVOLUTION

Readings:

• Sylvia Frey, Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age.

(WEEK 10)

Mar. 30 To be announced

Apr. 1 REVOLUTIONARY STATE GOVERNMENTS

Readings:

• Wood, Creation of the American Republic, pp. 127-389 (esp. ch. 4-6, 9).

Documents:

1. Virginia Bill of Rights (1776)
2. Virginia Constitution (1776)
3. Pennsylvania Constitution (1776), all of the above, Greene, 332-345.

Apr. 3 NO CLASS - WORK ON RESEARCH PAPERS

(WEEK 11)

Apr. 6 CONFEDERATION AND STATE REPUBLICS - A CRITICAL PERIOD?

Readings:

• Wood, Creation of the American Republic, pp. 393-467.
• Merrill Jensen, "The Achievements of the Confederation," (from The New Nation (1950)) &
• Jack Rakove, "The Confederation: A Union Without Power," (from The Beginnings of National Politics) both reprinted in Richard D. Brown, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, pp. 406-22.

Documents:

1. Benjamin Rush Criticizes the Pennsylvania Constitution (1777), Greene, 357-69.
2. Thomas Jefferson Notes Weaknesses in the Virginia Constitution, Greene, 369-74.
3. James Madison, "Vices of the Political System" (1786), Brown, 466-71 & Greene, 514-19

Apr. 8 THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION -- A COUNTER REVOLUTION?

Readings:

• Wood, Creation of the American Republic, pp. 471-518.
• Edward Countryman, A People in Revolution: The American Revolution and Political Society in New York, 1760-1790, pp. 252-79.

Apr. 10 DISCUSSION

Draft of research paper due.

(WEEK 12)

Apr. 13 FEDERALISTS AND THE RATIFICATION DEBATES

Readings:

• Wood, Creation of the American Republic, pp. 519-64.
• The Federalist Papers (see documents below)

Documents:

1. The Federalist Papers, -- Federalist No. 10, 39, 51, 84.

Apr. 15 THE ANTIFEDERALIST PERSUASION

Readings:

• Cecilia M. Kenyon, "Men of Little Faith: The Anti-Federalists on the Nature of Representative Government," William and Mary Quarterly 12 (1955), 3-43. Also reprinted in Jack P. Greene, ed., The Reinterpretation of the American Revolution, pp. 526-66.
• Gordon S. Wood, "Interests and Disinterestedness in the Making of the Constitution," in Richard Beeman, et al., eds., Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity, pp. 69-109.

Documents:

1. Richard Henry Lee, Letters from the Federal Farmer (1788), Brown, 535-36.
2. James Winthrop, Letters from Agrippa (1787). [Binder only]
3. Letters of Philadelphiensis (1788). [Binder only]
4. "John De Witt," "To the Free Citizens of . . . Massachusetts (1787). [Binder only]
5. Patrick Henry Opposes the Constitution (1788), Brown, 540-42.

Apr. 17 DISCUSSION

(WEEK 13)

Apr. 20 THE BILL OF RIGHTS

Apr. 22 STUDENT PRESENTATIONS (if necessary)

Apr. 24 STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

(WEEK 14)

Apr. 27 STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

Apr. 29 STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

May. 1 OVERVIEW AND REVIEW -- IRONY & LEGACY OF THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION

Research paper due.