Course Description
Analysis of the political, military, social, and economic history of British North America and the United States between 1765 and 1815. Emphasis on the origins of the Revolution, the destructive civil war that ensued, and the controversies over the Confederation and the Constitution.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
In addition to the assigned course work, students taking the course for graduate credit will be expected to read extensively in the secondary literature on the American Revolution and complete a 15-20 page historiographic essay that discusses, in an integrated fashion, that extra reading. The goal of pairing such in-depth historiographic work with participation in the lecture course (and completion of all its requirements) will be to prepare graduate students to teach courses on the American Revolution. Graduate students will be expected to meet with the instructor as a group to discuss these additional readings and approaches to teaching the subject.
Athena Title
The American Revolution
Prerequisite
Any 2000-level HIST course
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of the American Revolution by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of the American Revolution shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward race and slavery, colonization and indigeneity, and rights and values, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.
Topical Outline
- 1. Pre-revolutionary Society: family, women, community, and religious awakenings
- 2. Pre-revolutionary politics: deferential society and rural revolts
- 3. The growth of Whig ideology
- 4. The Stamp Act crisis
- 5. The Growing Crescendo of Crisis: British taxation policy, 1766-1773
- 6. Tom Paine's Common Sense and Declaring Independence
- 7. The Loyalist Persuasion
- 8. British and patriot military strategy and the progress of the War
- 9. The soldiers' and civilians' war
- 10. The African-American's and Indians' war
- 11. The post-revolutionary economy: stagnation and recovery
- 12. The Massachusetts Regulation
- 13. The Constitutional Convention
- 14. Ratification of the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist persuasions
- 15. Rural discontents and the forging of a national government
- 16. Republican motherhood and its discontents
- 17. Evangelical resurgence in the new nation
- 18. The Revolution of 1800 and the Jeffersonian persuasion
Institutional Competencies
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
