Age of the American Revolution

Age of the American Revolution

Syllabus

Course Description:

This course will examine the era of the American Revolution. It focuses on four units: political and economic developments of British colonies in North America; the Stamp Act Crisis and the colonial resistance; the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolutionary War as a military, social, and cultural event in the development of the American nation and government; the Confederate era, the United States Constitution-making, as well as the impacts and legacies of the American Revolution. It will help students to understand the ideological debates between colonial Americans and their Mother Country, how and why American Revolutionaries made their final decision to break with the British Empire, as well as the creative imaginations of American founding fathers in designing a new republic.

Course Objectives:

Students will know the steps by which the colonists came to think of themselves as Americans rather than English; understand the terms of the Revolutionary War settlement and its consequences for American politics, foreign and domestic; learn how to think historically and critically and understand the key principles and ideas of the American Revolution and the philosophic and political logics connecting these ideas in Revolutionary period; recognize what defects or vices Madison, Washington, Hamilton, and others discerned in the foundations and forms of both the Articles of Confederation and the state constitutions created in the course of the Revolution.

Course Requirements:

Students are expected to attend all classes, read all assigned texts, and actively take part in class discussions. There will be two exams: a midterm and a final. Moreover, students should write two response essays (3-5 pages) in terms of our reading assignments. In writing essays, students must cite all evidences, paraphrasing, and quotes in footnotes and bibliography, using either Turabian (7^th edition) or the Chicago Manual of Style (15^th edition), including the movies themselves and any reviews of them that you have used. Attendance is required; there will be no make-ups for missed exams.

Grading:

Midterm exam                                             25%

Final exam                                                   25%

Paper 1                                                         15%

Paper 2                                                         15%

Participation and attendance                        20%

Course Books

Gordon Wood, The American Revolution

Jack P. Greene (ed.) Colonies to Nation 1763-1789

Unit One: Origins

Lecture themes:

Introduction: The Significance of the American Revolution

The growth and movement of population

Economic expansion

Reform of the British Empire

British colonies in North America

              The Mercantile System and Imperial Policy

              The Great War for Empire                                                               Watch movie: Pocahontas (1995) 81 minutes

Unit Two: American Resistance

Lecture themes:

The Stamp Act Crisis

             Whig Ideology

              The Logic of Events

              Intolerable Acts

              Lexington, Concord & War

              Thomas Paine and Common Sense

                  ***Midterm Exam ***

Unit Three: American Revolution

Lecture themes:

Independence

              The Military Struggle

              The War at Home

              Confederation

              The Critical Period

Watch movie: The Reluctant Revolutionaries: 1763-1774, (1997) 40 minutes

Unit Four:  Constitution-Making and the War for Independence

              The Constitutional Convention

              The Constitution of the United States

              Federalists and Anti-federalists

              Ratification

              The War for Independence

              The Impact and legacies of the American Revolution

***Final Exam***