English 165AR: Communicating Liberty:
A Media Study of the American Revolution

Professor Warner

University of California /Santa Barbara; Winter, 2007
Office: South Hall, 2607A
Office hours, Thur, 3:30-4:30PM, and by appointment
warner@english.ucsb.edu

| overview | schedule | assignments |student pages | links | UCSB English|

Schedule

Jan 9:  Introduction:the Persistence of the American Revolution   

Introduction to A Media Study of the American Revolution (Slide Lecture)

I. The English Origins of American Liberty & the Plot of Liberty: the Republic versus the Empire

Jan 11: Britain the Empire of Liberty?

Reading:

• Declaration of 1776: 1st 2 paragraphs of The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History, 5-9. [below, Documents]
• Locke, John. from The Second Treatise of Government, 222-229 R
• “Rule Britannia” R  
  
• Links:

Jan 16: The Republic versus the Empire: Joseph Addison's Cato

(slide lecture)

Readings:

• Plutarch, The Life and Character of Cato, in Cato, pp. 253-271
• Addison, Cato, Acts I-III

Links:

Jan 18: Cato

• Addison, Cato, Acts IV-V

II. The Theory and History of Revolution

Jan 23: Conceptualizing Freedom: Hannah Arendt

• Hannah Arendt, “What is Freedom?” from The Portable Hannah Arendt, Ed. Peter Baehr, pp. 438-461. R
• Wikipedia entry on Hannah Arendt

Jan 25: Conceptualizing Freedom: Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt's Concept of Freedom (slide lecture)

Jan 30: The Narrative of the American Revolution: from loyal colonies to political crisis  

The Origins of the Revolution (a slide lecture)

Reading:

• Gordon Wood, The American Revolution: Preface, 3-62
• Questions for reading

Feb 1: The Narrative: from 1st blood to independence to victory

The Dynamic of the Military Struggle Leading to Independence(a slide lecture)

Quiz: short (20 minute) test on the basic ideological and military struggle of the American Revolution  

III: Media Infrastructure of the British Empire and the Communication Innovations Attending the Beginning of the American Revolution

• John Dickinson, The Pennsylvania Farmer, numbers 1-4, R
• Questions for reading

.Feb 13: From Petition and Argument to Action and Declarations: 1772-1774

• The Boston Committee of Correspondence, The Votes and Proceedings of the Town of Boston R
• Correspondence of Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Lord Dartmouth, the American Secretary in London, from Documents of the American Revolution, ed. K. G. Davies. R 

The Communication Inventions of the Boston Whigs (slide lecture)

Feb  15: The Political Crisis of 1774

• Lord North, Introducing the Boston Port Bill to Parliament so as to punish Boston for the Destruction of the Tea, Proceedings and Debates of the British Parliament, ed. R. C. Simmons, 56-64, 75-76.R 
• Whigs Conspiring: the Letters Exchanged between Richard Henry Lee of Virginia and Samuel Adams of Massachusetts (1773-1774) R 
• Thomas Jefferson, Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774) R 
• Garry Wills, chapter 2 of Inventing America: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, New York: Doubleday, 1978, 19-33.  R 

Feb 20: The Political Crisis of 1776

• Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776), pp. 1-58 (all)
• Thomas Jefferson, “The Declarations of Jefferson and the Congress”, version with original draft and the revisions of Congress, from Wills, Inventing America: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence,374-379. R .

IV. Performing Liberty

Feb 22: Reading The Declaration by Congress in 1776

Reading

• The Declaration of Independence
• Essay (handout)
• Patrick Henry, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” (March 23, 1775), American Revolution: Primary Sources, Ed. Linda Schmittroth, Detroit: UXL, 2000, 89-96. R 
• Massachusetts Slave Petition, (1774) & (1777), The Democracy Reader, Ed. By Diane Ravitch and Abigail Thernstrom. New York: HarperPerennial, 1992. 107-108. R 
• Seneca Falls Declaration  (1848)  R 
• Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863), Documents, p. 92-93 R 
• The Ten-Point Program of the Black Panther Party (1966)

Declaring Indendence (slide lecture)

Feb 27: Extensions of the Declaration of 1776

Classroom presentations based on paper: Students will self-organize into groups based on their paper topics and take turns presnting issues for discussion to the rest of the class.

.March 1: Liberty from the Vantage Point of Black Slaves

• Fredrick Douglass, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (1852) R 
• Fredrick Douglass, The Heroic Slave (1853)  R 

March 6: The Essential Popularity of War: Ballads, Anthems and News

• Broadside: “Bloody Butchery” Lexington & Concord (1775) R 
• “The Yankee’s Return from Camp”: ballad (1775) R 
• Bunker’s Hill: Map and account of British officers R 
• Abigail and John Adams letters exchanged after Bunker Hill R 
• King George III, “Proclaims the American in a State of Rebellion” (August 23, 1775) and Address to Parliament (October 26, 1775) R 
• David Hackett Fischer, “The Rebels: Washington’s Dilemma: An Army of Liberty” from Washington’s Crossing, Oxford, 2004, 7-30 R 
• “The Death of Jane McCrea”, painting by John Vanderlyn (1804) R 
• General Gates versus General Burgoyne on Jane McCrea, from Diary of William Digby, from The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence, Library of America, 314-317. R 

March 8: Late Midterm EXAM

V: Media Policy and the Architecture of the New Republic

March 13: The Architecture of the Republic

• The Constitution of the United States, Documents, 10-24
• James Madison, The Federalist, No. 10, Documents, 35-42
• James Madison, The Federalist, No. 51. R  

March 15: A Media Policy for the New Republic

• 1st Amendment, Documents, p. 25
• Review for Final Exam

Final Exam: March 21, 2007, 4:00-7:00PM Sout Hall 1415

| overview | schedule | assignments |student pages | links | UCSB English |