Andrew ShankmanHistory 305
Rutgers University American Revolution
Office: Room 209, 429 Cooper
Office Hours: M\W 12-1, W 4:30-5:45
Office Phone: 6477
Email:
The American Revolution
History 305 examines the coming of the American Revolution and the political, social, cultural, and economic transformations that revolutionary upheaval produced. Particular themes of the course are: why colonial British Americans sought independence, the differing conceptions of independence expressed by Americans through revolutionary struggle, the impact revolution had on relations of race, class, and gender, and the origins and development of American constitutional thought.
There will be three out of class writing assignments. The first will account for 20 of the final grade and the second and third will each account for 30%. The remaining 20% will come from participation in weekly class discussion. Each out of class paper will answer a question provided by me. The strongest papers will draw on lecture, all relevant assigned reading, and class discussion. You will have ample material to draw on when writing your papers and consulting the internet is strictly forbidden. Any unassigned books or articles must be cleared with me before you may use them in your papers. Regarding participation: Participation depends on regular attendance and each student is expected to attend each class meeting. There is no such thing as an excused absence. You are responsible for the material covered each week and for participating in discussion to the point where it becomes clear that you have earned a high grade for the category of participation in class discussion.
The following remarks provide a guideline for how to interpret letter grades in this course: The goal in this course is to combine description with analysis. In your papers you will need to explain the basics: what happened, to whom, where, and when. But you will also need to go below the surface of “plot summary” and attempt to explain why people thought and acted as they did. When you explain that something happened you beg the question of why it occurred. Answering this latter question is the ultimate goal of your papers. Therefore:
A papers will skillfully combine description and analysis. They will be free of factual and grammatical errors, will provide a clean, skillfully phrased statement of the problem or issue the paper addresses, and will include clear introductions and conclusions. A papers will not simply describe events or narrate developments, they will also assess why these events and developments occurred, what caused them, and what changes arose because of them. Finally, A papers will show command of all relevant material from class reading, discussion, and lecture.
B papers are essentially weaker versions of A papers. While B papers should also be free of factual and grammatical errors and provide a clear narrative of events, they are weaker with analysis and do not dig deeply enough to explain causes and motivations.
C papers will generally offer weak attempts at analysis and demonstrate some difficulty with providing a coherent narrative of events.
D papers provide no analysis and only a barely competent narrative of events.
Books to Purchase:
- Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789
- Pauline Maier, From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776
- Gary B. Nash, Race and Revolution
- Linda K. Kerber, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America
- Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787
- Jack P. Greene, Colonies to Nation, 1763-1789: A Documentary History of the American Revolution
Note Well: In Many Weeks There Will Be Additional Reading On Online Course Reserve
Course Syllabus
Week I:NoReading
Wednesday September 4: Lecture I: Early Modern Assumptions and Legacies
Week II:Reading
1. Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, pp. 3-52
2. Maier, From Resistance to Revolution, chapters 1-2
3. ON RESERVE: HoffstadterAmerica at 1750chp. 5
4. ON RESERVE: Gary Nash, “Social Change and the Growth of Prerevolutionary Urban Radicalism” pp. 3-18 only
Monday September 9: Lecture II: Eighteenth Century England and the British EmpireWednesday September 11:Lecture III: The Thirteen Colonies to 1750
Week III:Reading:
1. ON RESERVE: Fred Anderson A People’s Army pp. 3-62
2. ON RESERVE: John Shy, “The American Colonies in War and Revolution” pp. 300-309 (stop at footnote 19)
3. ON RESERVE: Greg Dowd, A Spirited Resistance pp. 23-46,
4. ON RESERVE: Oxford History of the British Empire Daniel Richter “Native Peoples of North America and the Eighteenth Century British Empire” pp. 347-363
Monday September 16: Lecture IV: The French and Indian War, 1754-1763
Wednesday September 18: Discussion ofReading for weeks II and III
Week IV:Reading:
1. Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, pp. 53-141
2. Maier, From Resistance to Revolution, preface, introduction and pp. 51-112
3. ON RESERVE: Gary Nash “Social Change and the Growth of Prerevolutionary Urban Radicalism pp. 18-36,
4. Greene, Colonies to Nation, 12-14, 26-33, 45-46, 51-58
Monday September 23: Lecture V: The Stamp Act Crisis, 1764-1766
Wednesday September 25: Discussion of Reading, Discussion of papers
Week V:Reading:
1. Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, pp. 142-213
2. Maier, From Resistance to Revolution, pp. 113-197
3. Greene, Colonies to Nation, 114-115, 125-132
Monday September 30: Lecture VI: The Townshend Acts Crisis, 1767-1770
Wednesday October 2: Discussion of Reading
FIRST PAPER DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS
Week VI:Reading:
1. Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, pp. 214-279
2. Maier, From Resistance to Revolution, pp. 198-270
3. Greene, Colonies to Nation, 174-175, 177-178, 196, 197-201, 202-203, 213-220
Monday October 7: Lecture VII: Frozen Calm and the Coercive Acts Crisis, 1770-1775
Wednesday October 9: Discussion of Reading
Week VII:Reading:
1. Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, pp. 280-401
2. Maier, From Resistance to Revolution pp. 271-296
3. Greene, Colonies to Nation, 268-283, 406-408
Monday October 14: Lecture VIII: Fighting the American Revolution: Hearts and Minds, 1775-1778
Wednesday October 16: Discussion of Reading
Week VIII:Reading:
1. Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, pp. 402-602
2. Greene, Colonies to Nation, 408-409, 422-25
Monday October 21: Lecture IX: World War and Partisan War, 1778-1783
Wednesday October 23: Discussion of Reading
Week IX: Reading:
1. Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, pp. 603-622
2. ON RESERVE: Jackson Turner Main “Government by the People: The American Revolution and the Democratization of the Legislatures,”
3. ON RESERVE: Edward Countryman “Consolidating Power in Revolutionary America: The Case of New York, 1775-1783,”
4. ON RESERVE: Ronald Hoffman “The Disaffected in the Revolutionary South,”
5. ON RESERVE: Rowland Berthoff and John Murrin “Feudalism, Communalism, and the Yeomen Freeholder: The American Revolution Considered as a Social Accident”
6. Greene pp. 325-332, 334-335, 339-345
Monday October 28: Lecture X: The American Revolution for Ordinary White Men
Wednesday October 30: Discussion of Reading
Week X:Reading:
1. Kerber, Women of the Republic preface, introduction, and pp. 7-12, 15-32, 73-155, 269-288
2. ON RESERVE: Cathy Davidson “The Novel as a Subversive Activity: Women Reading, Women Writing,”
3. ON RESERVE:Boisterous Sea of Liberty pp. 194-196, 256-257
Monday November 4: Lecture XI: Women and the American Revolution
Wednesday November 6: Discussion of Reading
Week XI: Reading:
1. Nash, Race and Revolution pp. 3-87
2. ON RESERVE James Merrell “Declarations of Independence: Indian-White Relations in the New Nation,”
3. ON RESERVE: Oxford History of the British Empire Daniel Richter, “Native People’s of North America and the Eighteenth Century British Empire” pp. 363-371
Monday November 11: Lecture XII: Race and Slavery in the American Revolution
Wednesday November 13: Discussion of Reading, Discussion of Papers
Week XII: Reading:
1. Wood, Creation of the American Republic, preface, introduction, and pp. 1-124
Monday November 18: Lecture XIII: The Potential for Political Transformation
Wednesday November 20: Discussion of Reading
Week XIII:Reading:
1. Wood, Creation of the American Republic, pp. 391-469,Middlekauff, 622-641
2. Greene, 455-466, 495-505
Monday November 25: Lecture XIV: The Critical Period: The 1780s
SECOND PAPER DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS
Wednesday November 27: No Class Meeting
Week XIV:Reading:
1. Wood, Creation of the American Republic, pp. 469-564, 593-615
2. Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause, pp. 642-687
3. ON RESERVE Alfred Young “The Constitution and the Genius of the People”
4. Greene, 547-556, 557-558, 562-574, 581-583
Monday December 2:Lecture XV: The Constitution and the Republican Revolution Assessed
Wednesday December 4Discussion of Reading weeks XIII and XIV
Week XV: No Reading
Monday December 9:Final Discussion of Reading
Wednesday December 11: Discussion of Paper
FINAL PAPER DUE: December Scheduled Time for Class Final in my History Department Mailbox
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