HISTORY 279: THE ERA OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Spring Semester 2006: Syllabus

Schedule of Reading Assignments | Instructions for Writing Assignments

Instructor: Jud Sage | hsage@cox.net  

TEXTS:   1. Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution 1763-1789. 2nd rev. and expanded edition, 2005. ISBN: 0195162471 (hardcover) 2. Bowen, Catherine Drinker.   Miracle at Philadelphia   (Little, Brown) ISBN: 0316103985 (Paper); ISBN: 0316103780 (hardcover, reissue)
Alternate Text: Ferling, John E. A Leap in the Dark.   (Oxford) ISBN: 0195159241 (hardcover); ISBN: 0195176006 (paper) Recommended: Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of the British Empire in North America 1754-1766.   Knopf, 2000. ISBN: 0375406425 (Hardcover); ISBN: 0375706364 (Paper)

Middlekauff's Glorious Cause was the first volume published of the series, The Oxford History of the United States. It has now been updated and expanded.

Catherine Drinker Bowen's Miracle at Philadelphia is a classic description of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. She paints vivid portraits of the major players and describes the day-to-day struggle that resulted in the monumental document.

John Ferling's A Leap in the Dark is a lively alternate account of roughly the same material covered in Middlekauff.

Fred Anderson advances the thesis that by the end of the French and Indian War, the American Revolution was all but inevitable. He makes a very convincing case. If you see the film The Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis, et. al., you will see what he's talking about. The film depicts events surrounding the battle of Fort William Henry in 1757, and in the film you can see British and American interests clash sharply. Viewing this film is an excellent way to read yourself into the moods and feelings of the time.

In addition to the basic texts, each student will be asked to read one substantial work, preferably a biography. Upon completion of the reading, students should submit a written essay (about 7-8 pages) on the selected work, with emphasis on lessons learned about the nature of the American Revolution.   Students will also be asked to discuss the work in an online forum for the benefit of others.

Suggested Titles for additional reading

The texts above can be considered classics and will certainly tell you much of what to want or need to know about the revolutionary era.   Since this course is designed for teachers, the objective is for you to read extensively on the period between 1760 in 1800. Many additional works exist, including excellent biographies of all the major founding figures, including Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Hamilton, Madison, and others.   Thematic texts such as Joseph Ellis's Founding Brothers, or David McCullough's 1776 are also excellent. More scholarly works such as The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon Wood and The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800 by Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, and The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787, also by Gordon Wood, treat the issues of the revolutionary era in greater detail.

In summary, much literature on the revolutionary period exists, the volume exceeded only by the huge amount on the American Civil War. The good news is that American historians of the revolutionary period are almost without exception extremely fine writers.   Many of them, such as Barbara Tuchman, Catherine Drinker Bowen, David McCullough and others are known almost as much for their lucid prose style as for their historical acumen. Included in that group must be Ron Chernow, whose Alexander Hamilton was selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the top 10 best books of 2004.

The exams which you will take as part of this course will not expect you to recall all the fine details of the assigned texts.   Rather, you will be expected to be able to present a lucid analysis of the meaning of each of the three major periods: 1760 to 1775; 1775 to 1783; and 1783 to 1800. Thus you should choose your reading to address each of those three periods. I highly recommend Fred Anderson's book for the first part, even though he goes only to 1776, and though his book covers the French and Indian war which precedes the beginning date set for this course.   The reason is that Anderson's thesis is that the French and Indian war, called the Seven Years War in Europe, is, in Anderson's judgment, the event that made the American Revolution virtually inevitable.   That thesis can be borne out by study of other figures of the period, especially George Washington, who became so disenchanted with the British during his service in the Seven Years War that when the time came for revolution, he was quick to step forward and offer his services in defense of what he saw as his country.

COURSE DESCRIPTION and OBJECTIVES: History 279 is divided into three sections and covers the major events in American history from 1760 to 1800:

Part 1: The period of growing disenchantment: 1760-1775. The American Revolution began in the hearts and minds of the people well before the fighting started. A topic summary is provided on the broad general background of the American Revolution during the colonial period.

• Review of the colonial period of discovery and settlement .
• The “colonial wars,” especially the French and Indian War—backdrop for the Revolution.
• From resistance to open rebellion, 1763-1775.

Part 2: The Revolutionary War and Aftermath. The actual fighting in the American revolutionary war is of less importance today than the surrounding events.

• Fighting Revolutionary War: politicsand diplomacy.
• Independence: the Great Declaration
• Government under the Articles of Confederation, 1781-1787.

Part 3: Constitutional Government. The winning of independence was only half the battle: the next great challenge was to establish a system of government under which the ideals of the revolution could be sustained.

• The Constitutional Convention: Republican government created
• The struggle for ratification: The role of the Anti-federalists
• The first tumultuous decade under the Constitution, 1789-1800: The Washington & Adams administrations.
• The “Revolution” of 1800: The first great challenge to American democracy

During part 3 of the course we will look closely at the individual original thirteen state constitutions in order to see how they influenced the writing of the Federal Constitution.   We will discuss these together in a separate forum.

COURSE DESIGN: This History 279 is now taught as a distance course offered through the NVCC Distance Learning Center. The course will not meet in the classroom; rather, you will pursue your learning independently and will converse with each other via an asynchronous online discussion forum in the Blackboard course management system. You will need to go to a testing center at NVCC or elsewhere to take two proctored exams and will submit a written essay on each part of the course. The first exam may be done independently at any location.

ATTENDANCE: In a distance course attendance is measured by your participation in the discussion forum and your progress in meeting course requirements. Students who do not make any progress will be administratively withdrawn at the end of part 1. If you are unable to keep pace, an extension may be granted for each section, but it is not recommended.

SKILLS: Since this course is offered for present and future teachers it is assumed that students have a general knowledge of American history, and that they possess the requisite reading and writing skills and a basic knowledge of computers.  

REQUIREMENTS:  In addition to reading the two basic texts, each student will be asked to read all or part of one major work, preferably a biography, and report briefly via a forum what was discovered.   Suggested readings.

GRADING: Forum participation will be graded on a pass-fail basis. Students who are unable to participate in the forums in a substantial way will be docked one letter grade at the end of the course. A minimum (or average) of one substantive entry per week will be considered satisfactory.

Schedule of Reading Assignments | INSTRUCTIONS for WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

History 279 Home | Updated February 4, 2006