A302, Revolutionary America, Spring 2021

• What Is a University and Why Are You Enrolled in One?
• What Is a Public University and Why Are You Enrolled in One?
• What Is a Research University and Why Are You Enrolled in One?
• Why Study the Humanities?
• Why Study History?

Video:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story” (TEDGlobal July 2009)

Video:

Rockman, Seth.  “What Is Historical Reasoning?”  Brown University, August 2014.  [up to 2:32]

Documents:

“The following is the Dedication.”  Boston Evening Post, May 9, 1763.

Class Decision:  Why be enthralled with a king, or queen?

Documents:

Franklin, Benjamin.  “Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c. Written in Pensilvania, 1751.”  In The Interest of Great Britain Considered, With Regard to her Colonies, And the Acquisitions of Canada and Guadaloupe.  London Printed: Philadelphia Re-printed: William Bradford, 1760.

“By the King, A Declaration.” London: Printed by Mark Baskett, 1763.

Class Decision:  What are the best ways to help populations thrive and grow?

Documents:

Pownall, Thomas.  The Administration of the Colonies.  London: Printed for J. Wilkie, 1764.

Class Decision:  What are the best ways to administer colonies?

Documents:

Adams, John.  “A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law.”  Boston Gazette, August 12 - October 21, 1765.

Class Decision:  How can people be woken up — and equipped — to fight tyranny?

Documents:

Dickinson, John.  Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia: Printed by David Hall, and William Sellers, 1768.

Writing Exercises:

Sample paper — Introduction, Evidence and Interpretion, Signposting

Documents:

[Jefferson, Thomas.]  A Summary View of the Rights of British America, Set forth in some Resolutions Intended for The Inspection of the present Delegates of the People of Virginia, now in Convention.  Williamsburg: Clementina Rind, 1774.

Paine, Thomas.  Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, on the Following Interesting Subjects.  Philadelphia: Printed, and Sold, by R. Bell, 1776.

Class Decision:  What needs to be done fundamentally to re-imagine identity, character, and history?

Documents:

Continental Congress, Tory acts (1775-1776).

Van Schaack, Peter.  Personal letters (1776-1777).

Class Decision:  How did white people choose a side?  Or no side?

Documents:

Continental Congress, Continental Association (1774).

Continental Congress, Olive Branch Petition (1775).

King George III, A Proclamation, For Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition (1775).

Continental Congress, Declaration of Independence (1776).

Class Decision:  How did enslaved black people choose a side?  Or no side??

Documents:

George Washington to John Hancock, September 25, 1776.

Oneida Indians to Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull (1775).

Joseph Brant / Thayendanegea to (British) Secretary of State George Germain (1776).

Seneca Indians to (British) Colonel John Butler (1776).

“The Gunpowder Shortage.”  Journal of the American Revolution, September 9, 2013.

Class Decision:  How did Native Americans choose a side?  Or no side?

Documents:

Tryon County (NY) Committee of Safety, Minutes (1775).

Constitution of South Carolina (1778).

Constitution of Massachusetts (1780).

Class Decision:  Who was granted civic worth?  Who assumed the mantle of governance?

Class Decision:  What roles did noncombatants play in the “Revolutionary War”?

Documents:

George Washington to John Sullivan, May 31, 1779.

John Sullivan report to Continental Congress, September 30, 1779, in Maryland Journal, and Baltimore Advertiser, October 19, 1779.

Tioguanda testimony, December 11, 1782.

Evans, Israel.  A Discourse, Delivered at Easton, on the 17th of October, 1779, to the Officers and Soldiers of the Western Army, After their Return from an Expedition against the Five Nations of hostile Indians.  Philadelphia: Printed by Thomas Bradford, 1779.

Class Decision:  How is it possible to manufacture a sense of “virtue” out of inflicting terror?

Document:

Connecticut Courant, June 17, 1776.

Class Decision:  Who should be seen as “the enemy”?

Documents:

United States Constitution (1787-1789)

Benjamin Franklin, final speech at the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, September 17, 1787.

Bill of Rights (1789-1791)

Lepore, Jill.  “When Constitutions Took Over the World.”  New Yorker, March 29, 2021.

Class Decision:  Why did Benjamin Franklin argue that the delegates at the constitutional convention should sign an imperfect, unfinished document?

Documents:

Rush, Benjamin.  “An Address to the People of the United States ... on the Defects of the Confederation.”  American Museum, January 1787.

John Adams appraises the people (1765, 1776, 1790).

Manning, William.  “The Key of Liberty.”  1799.

Class Decision:  Who should rule at home?

Documents:

Appeals for religious freedom (1783, 1786).

Jefferson, Thomas.  Notes on the State of Virginia.  Philadelphia: Prichard and Hall, 1787.

Benjamin Banneker letter exchange with Thomas Jefferson (1791).

United States naturalization laws (1790, 1795).

Class Decision:  How do you make a case for your civic worth?

Documents:

Morse, Jedidiah.  The American Geography; or, A View of the Present Situation of the United States of America.  Elizabethtown: Printed by Shepard Kollock, 1789.

Simmons, Amelia.  American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes, from the Imperial Plumb to Plain Ake, Adapted to this Country, and All Grades of Life.  Hartford: Printed by Hudson and Goodwin, 1796.

Davis, Alexander Jackson.  Rural Residences, Etc. Consisting of Designs, Original and Selected, for Cottages, Farm-Houses, Villas, and Village Churches: With Brief Explanations, Estimates, and a Specification of Materials, Construction, Etc.  New York: To Be Had of the Architect, at the New York University, 1837.

Class Decision:  How does one transform a Briton into an American?

Documents:

Jefferson, Thomas.  Draft Report on the Value of Gold and Silver Coins, September 2, 1776.

United States Congress.  “Establishing a mint and regulating the coins of the United States ” [i.e., Coinage Act], April 2, 1792.

Website:

The Course of Empire (1833-1836)

Class Decision:  How does one create identifiable and meaningful emblems of a nation?

Documents:

Farmer’s Library (Rutland VT), April 1, 1793.

Claypoole’s Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), June 28, 1791.

Washington, George.  “To the People of the United States” [Farewell Address] (1796).

Class Decision:  What should one do to be an informed citizen in a democracy?

Documents:

United Indian Nations, address, November-December 1786.

Henry Knox (War Office) to President George Washington, July 7, 1789.

Video:

Schoolhouse Rock, “Elbow Room” (1976)

Website:

The Invasion of America (1783-1893)

Class Decision:  Native American strategy:  Military resistance or diplomatic negotiation?

Documents:

Webster, Daniel.  “The Bunker Hill Monument” (June 17, 1825).

Class Decision:  Who was/is and who was/is not associated with the American Revolution?