Schedule
9/26 Introduction: a new approach to the American
Revolution
The Ballad of General Wolfe
Crisis within
the British Empire
10/1 Commerce, Colonization, and the Empire of
Liberty
Wood, American
Revolution, Origins: 4-29;
Reader:
Joseph Addison, Spectator 69, “The Royal Exchange,”
James Thomson, “Rule, Britannia!”, James Thomson
Poetical Works, 422-423. |
10/3 British
Republicanism and the idea(l) of Liberty
|
Milton, from Areopagitica, (handout)
Reader: John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, Cato’s
Letters, No. 15, “Of Freedom of Speech: That the same is inseparable
from public Liberty,” I: 110-117; No. 106, “Of Plantations
and Colonies,” II: 747-753.
John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government, Chapter XIX,
“Of the Dissolution of Government”, sections, 220-229, pp
373-378
|
10/8 Imperial
Reform & The Stamp Act Crisis
|
Wood, American Crisis, 30-44;
Sources, Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress, 1765: 32-34
Reader: Pownall, The Administration of
the Colonies, Jehlen & Warner, 836-841.
|
10/10 Response
of British Americans to Taxation: the "Letters of an American
Farmer"
|
Sources, John Dickinson, “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies”: 34-54
John Dickinson
(1732-1808) biographical profile
Here are the various roles he played in the Revolution and
during the post Revolutionary period:
- Pennsylvania's
delegate to the Stamp Act Congress (where he evidently
drafted the resolutions);
- a delegate
to the 1st and 2nd Continental Congress;
- one of the
drafters of the Article of Confederation;
- an officer
in the war;
- Delaware's
delegate to the Constitutional Convention, where he stood
up for the rights of the small states.
- After independence,
he served as governor, first of Delaware, and later Pennsylvania;
he was also the founder of Dickinson College
Contexts
of Dickinson's "Letters from an American Farmer":
Paper assignment on Dickinson’s
“Letters.” Paper is due at the start of class on 10/15.
Write a 3 page paper defining the disposition, the posture
and the style of protest that is advocated and
modeled for the citizens of the British colonies
in John Dickinson's "Letters from an American Farmer to
the Inhabitants of British Colonies"
|
|
Postures of protest:
The Imperative of Colonial Unity:
A sedate, yet fervent spirit of liberty:
|
The Case
of Boston
10/15 Political tactics: Samuel Adams and the Committee
of Correspondence of the Town of Boston
10/17 Governor Thomas Hutchinson preaches the English Constitution and
becomes the subject of a scandal
Reader:
- Letters between Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Lord Dartmouth, American
Secretary of British Administration: Documents
of the American Revolution, V: 206; 238-240; VI: 44-45.
- Thomas
Hutchinson’s address to General Court, Jan 6, 1773, Briefs
of the American Revolution, 15-23
- Answer
of the House (John Adams), Briefs, 70-73
- Franklin
and the Hutchinson letter scandal: Schmittroth, 171-201
|
| Constitional
Struggle in Boston: slide presentation |
Team Assignment (for 10/22): report upon and
performance of the episodes of the propaganda war in Boston
- Read and analyze the texts of each episode: (exchange
email addresses for coordination); practice your performance
before class
- Write a concise analysis of the episode for presentation
to the whole class
- Prepare to do a dramatic reading of a short passage
of text for discussion by the whole class as part of your
report
|
10/22 The Boston Tea Party and Parliament's Coercive
Acts to Punish Boston
|
Wood,
Revolution: 47-62
Sources, Massachusetts Government act & Quebec
act: 100-104
Reader:
Letters of Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee:
RHL à SA: Feb. 4, 1773 (Lee, 82-83)
SA
à RHL: April 10, 1773 (SAdams, 25-28
SA
(Boston CC) à CC’s of Philadelphia & colonies
(SAdams, 109-111)
RHL
à SA: June 23, 1774 (Lee, 111-113)
SA
à RHL: July 15, 1774 (SAdams, 136-139)
|
The
Struggle becomes Continental
10/24 The First Continental Congress
Sources, Declaration and Resolves of the Continental Congress and Association:
Sources, 118-125.
Reader: “The First Congress Debates the Rights of Americans,” Spirit, 45-55.
The
King to Lord North, Nov 18, 1774 “the People are ripe for
mischief…” Correspondence of King George III, 154.
Resources:
The
Approach to the First Continental Congress: slide presentation
The
First Continental Congress: slide presentation
Reading and
study questions for 10/29:
Continue reading Wood, 47-62.
Review questions on the letters of Samuel Adams and Richard
Henry Lee:
- What sort
of help does the Committee of Correspondence of Boston
seek from other committees after the Boston Port Bill?
(R,115-117)
- How does Richard
Henry Lee work to support Boston in Virginia? (R, 118-119)
- How does Adams
hope the other colonies will respond to British persecution
of Boston? What counter-measures does Adams favor? (R-121-123)
For further
discussion in class:
“The First Congress Debates the Rights of Americans,” Spirit, 45-55. (R, 127-131)
The
King to Lord North, Nov 18, 1774 “the People are ripe for
mischief…” Correspondence of King George III, 154.
(R, 134)
Sources, Declaration and Resolves of the Continental Congress and Association:
Sources, 118-125.
|
10/29 The Pro-American Opposition in Britain
|
Reader:
Lord Mayor (Wilkes) speech re taxation of America, Feb
6, 1774, Proceedings and Debates of the British Parliaments
Respecting North
America, 1754-1783, V, 365-368.
Mrs. Catherine Macaulay, “Address to the People of England,
Scotland and Ireland on the Present Important Crisis of
Affairs.” Spirit, 250-251.
Edmund
Burke’s speech to Parliament, “Speech on Conciliation with
America,” March 22, 1775, Burke, III, 102-169
Mercy Warren to Catherine Macaulay, August 24, 1775, Boisterous, 176- 178
|
10/31
Sparks of War: Lexington and Concord & the Battle of Bunker
Hill
Wood,
“Constitution Making and War” 65-90
Sources, Declaration of Causes of Taking Up
Arms, July 6, 1775:
141-145
Reader: Joseph Warren to Arthur Lee, Feb 29, 1775; April
3, 1775; Sources, 139-141.
Patrick
Henry speech, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death”: Schmittroth,
89-96.
British
accounts of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, Spirit,
129-136.
Abigail
Adams à ß John
Adams: June 16, 1775- July 7, 1775: Adams
Family Correspondence, 217-220; 222-224; 225-227; 230-233;
238-240; 241-243
King George III: Proclamation of Rebellion, August 23, 1775,
Spirit, 281.
King George III, Speech opening Parliament, October 26,
1775, Proceedings
VI: 69-70. |
| The Battle of Bunker
Hill: June 17, 1775: slide presentation |
Republican
Independence
11/5 Republicanism
| Readings:
Wood,
Republicanism, 91-109
Sources,
Franklin to Galloway, 137-8 (corruption of Britain)
Reader: Nathan Hale, Spirit, 476
Phillis Wheatley, “To His Excellency General Washington”,
Gunn, 568-569.
Thomas
Paine: Common Sense, Penguin, 61-71; 81-100
John F. Kennedy's words at is Inauguration: audio |
| Resources: Republicanism:
slide presentation |
11/7 Video
Presentation and passing out mid-term study sheet
11/12 Mid-term
11/
14 Declaring Independence
| Sources,
Declaration of Independence, 157-161 |
 |
11/19 War: the Battle of Saratoga
| Reader:
Paine, The Crisis, Number 1, Writings of AR, 238-246.
(handout)
The
Battles of Saratoga
Journal
of William Digby of Burgoyne’s army: Jane McCrea: Burgoyne – Gates exchange, Writings, 314-317.
Freeman’s
Farm: Digby, Writings, 320-326; Atlas, #16, 46-47
Bemis
Hights Digby, Writings, 326-333; Atlas, #18, 50-51
Washington Resigns His Commission to the Continental Congress:
Dec. 23, 1783, Writings, 793-797. |
| Saratoga: Slide Presentation |
11/21 American Revolution as popular movement
|
Susanna
Rawson, Charlotte Temple
|
11/26 Charlotte Temple and the Trial of
Virtue
2nd Paper due:
11/26
Write a 4-page paper upon one of the following topics. Be
sure to develop a clearly focused thesis for your paper, and
state the thesis somewhere in the first paragraph. Each paragraph
of the paper should contribute to a careful development of
that thesis.
Suggested topics:
Deception and Self-Deception in Charlotte Temple
Charlotte Temple and the Trial of Virtue
Edmund Burke's rendering of the colonists of British America
(In his speech advocating conciliation with the American colonies.
[Reader, 141-207]) |
“…A New Nation,
Conceived in Liberty?”
12/3 Debate on the liberty and equality brought by the
American Revolution
|
Black Slavery and Liberty;
American Victory and Indian Defeat
Wood,
Republican Society, 113-135, especially 117-129 (as preparation
for debate)
Sources: “Indian Diplomacy”, March 1768, 54-61.
Reader: Assigned reading: Massachusetts Slave Petition, Democracy Reader, 107-108. |
We
will divide into two teams and debate the proposition:
Resolved: The American Revolution
advanced the liberty and equality of the peoples of British
America. |
| The
Great Contradition: Schedule of Debate |
12/5 Constitution making and the Bill of Rights
12/12 4-7PM
|
FINAL
EXAM: bring 2 blue books
Two synthetic essays (choosing from
three)
Objective sections (there will be some
overlap with the midterm here): handed out at 5 PM
- dateline (putting key
events of the Revolution in their correct order)
- matching
- passage identification
|
The
Surrender at Saratoga: the greatest American Victory of
the War |
|
|
