Course Focus:

This course focuses on three topics: political developments in North America and the British Empire and the arguments for and against independence, culminating in the Declaration of Independence; the Revolutionary War as a military, social and cultural event in the development of the American nation and state; and the United States under the articles of confederation.

Learning Objectives:

1. Students will understand the key ideas of the American Revolution and the philosophic and political logic connecting these ideas in the "American Mind" of the Revolutionary period.
2. Students will understand how the logic of these ideas was related in the minds of the American revolutionaries to the foundations, forms, and purposes of government and American government, in particular.
3. Students will understand what "defects" or "vices" Madison, Washington, Hamilton, and others discerned in the foundations and forms of both the Articles of Confederation and the state constitutions created in the course of the Revolution.
4. Students will understand the various meanings of the term "revolution" and the criteria for judging whether or not the American Revolution was in fact a revolution.
5. Students will understand the processes by which the colonists came to think of themselves as Americans, as people connected to but somehow distinct from the English.
6. Students will understand the various reasons why some of those who came to consider themselves Americans did or did not decide to become revolutionaries.
7. Students will understand the effect of the Revolutionary War on the self-understanding of the American people.
8. Students will understand the terms of the Revolutionary War settlement and its consequences for American politics, foreign and domestic.

Requirements:

• Completion of all assigned readings
• Participation in all course sessions
• Two brief (1000-word) papers
• At least one brief (five-to-ten-minute) presentation

In this seminar students will participate in a role-playing simulation based on the situation in New York City in 1775-76. Each student will belong to one of six factions—Patriots, Loyalists, Moderates, Women, Laborers, and Slaves—and will be expected to write two papers and give an in-class presentation in character.

Required Reading:

• Gordon S. Wood, The American Revolution: A History. New York: Modern Library, 2002. ISBN: 0-8129-7041-1
• Bill Offutt, "New York City in the American Revolution, 1775-1776" (CP page 356)
• Six issues of the New York Gazetteer, to be distributed before each role-playing Session
• Online Readings

Students auditing the course as a part of a Teaching American History Grant program must complete all readings, attend all of the seminars, and fully participate during the week.

4:30 - 6:00 Session 1 (Professor Moser)

Topic: Course Introduction

Focus: We will begin with an overview of the course itself, and then proceed to an introduction to New York City in the Revolutionary era. We will also go over the rules of the simulation. Roles for the simulation will be handed out at the end of the Session.

Reading:

• Offutt, "New York City in the American Revolution, 1775-1776," pp. 1- 50.

7:30 - 9:00 Session 2: Institute Lecture (required)

MONDAY, JULY 6

9:00 - 10:30 Session 3: (Professor McDonald)

Topic: American "Revolution"?

Focus: How do we know when a revolution has occurred? Is a change of government, any change of government, the same thing as a revolution? If not, what other changes do we look for to decide if a revolution has occurred? What did Adams mean when he said that the Revolution occurred in the minds and hearts of Americans and that there was "a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations"?

Readings:

• Wood, American Revolution, pp. 113-135
• John Adams to H. Niles, February 1818 (CP pg 3)
• Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle, 1819 (CP pg 7)
• Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Henry Lee, May 1825 (CP pg 17)
• Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Roger Weightman, June 1826 (CP pg 18)

10:50 - 12:20 Session 4 (Professor McDonald)

Topic: Becoming an American: The Colonial Experience

Focus: In what ways were the motivations for and patterns of settlement different in the various colonies of British America? What united the colonies and what divided them? To what extent were the colonies internally united?

Readings:

• Wood, American Revolution, pp. 3-24
• Richard Frethorne, Letter from an Indentured Servant to his Parents, 1623 (CP pg 20)
• John Winthrop, Excepts from "Model of Christian Charity," 1630 (CP pg 22)
• John Winthrop, "On Liberty," 1645 (CP pg 24)
• Connecticut Code of Laws, 1650 (CP pg 26)
• Benjamin Franklin, "The Way to Wealth," 1750s (CP pg 31)
• Benjamin Franklin, "Information to those who would Remove to America," November 1782 (CP pg 36)

1:45 - 3:15 Session 5 (Professor McDonald)

Topic: The Anglo-American Mind

Focus: What were the ideas that united English-speaking people on both sides of the Atlantic? What was the Enlightenment, and how did it affect the ideas of the Glorious Revolution? What was the Great Awakening? How did these ideas serve to bolster and challenge political authority?

Readings:

• Wood, American Revolution, pp. 91-109
• English Bill of Rights, 1689 (CP pg 42)
• Locke, Second Treatise, 1690 (CP pg 47)
• Thomas Gordon, Cato's Letters, No. 38, July 1721 (CP pg 116)
• Journal of Reverend Charles Woodmason, 1766 (CP pg 119)
• Franklin, "To the Royal Academy of Farting," ca. 1781 (CP pg 125)

TUESDAY, JULY 7

9:00 - 10:30 Session 6 (Professor McDonald)

Topic: The Imperial Crisis

Focus: How did the French and Indian War first unite Americans as British subjects? How did it cause them to question their relationship with the British government? How did Americans justify their critique of British policies? How did the British justify their policies?

Readings:

• Wood, American Revolution, pp. 27-44
• Albany Plan of Union, 1754 (CP pg 128)
• Daniel Dulany, Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes in the British Colonies (excerpts), 1765 (CP pg 131)
• Soame Jenyns, The Objections to the Taxation of our American Colonies by the Legislature of Great Britain, 1765 (CP pg 133)
• Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress, October 1765 (CP pg 135)
• Sam Adams, Rights of the Colonists, 1769, 1772 (CP pg 137)
• Coercive Acts, 1774 (CP pg 140)
• Thomas Jefferson, Summary View of the Rights of British America, 1774 (CP pg 154)
• Samuel Seabury, Letters of a Westchester Farmer, 1774 (CP pg 163)
• Patrick Henry, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," 1775 (CP pg 178)
• Samuel Johnson, Taxation No Tyranny: An Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress, 1775 (CP pg 180)

10:50 - 12:20 Session 7 (Professor Moser)

Topic: Public Session #1 of the Provincial Congress of New York

Focus: This class will open as a meeting of the Provincial Congress. The first order of business will be the election of a Speaker of the Congress (the election is presided over by the Gamemaster), who requires a majority vote to be elected; in the case of a tie, the Gamemaster may choose. The Speaker will then take over moderating the discussion, with the first topic of proposal laid before the Congress being presented by the Patriots, in the form of a motion to adopt the Association, and the first two presenters setting the stage for debating that and other propositions (Livingston and Delancey). Each of their papers will focus on Lockean analysis of property, first in the state of nature, then under civil government, and how best to protect it against various threats. Then comes McDougall for the Patriots and Philipse for the Loyalists on their particular assigned topics. Subsequent papers/presentations should concentrate on other grounds for resistance and rebellion (if a patriot) or for why the arguments are wrong and that there should be continued loyalty to Britain (if a loyalist). Particular attention should be paid to the fundamental roles of legislatures, courts, and consent in these papers/presentations. They must be based on the readings from Sessions #5 and 6, as well as the history of events prior to 1775. Other characters, in and out of Congress, may present papers/petitions as well.

Readings:

• The Continental Association (found on p. 51 of Offutt, "New York City")
• New York Gazetteer, March 1775 (to be distributed at the end of the previous Session)
• Sample from papers written by other students.

1:45 - 3:15 Session 8 (Professor Moser)

Topic: Public Session #2 of the Provincial Congress of New York

Focus: All remaining Patriots and Loyalists in the Provincial Congress will present arguments on the issues or the reasons for adopting/not adopting the Association recommended by the Continental Congress. These papers are to draw on the readings from Sessions #5 and 6, as well as from the historical situation. Other characters, in and out of Congress, may present papers/petitions as well. Particular attention should be paid to the fundamental roles of legislatures, courts, and consent in these papers/presentations. These also must be based on the readings from Sessions #5 and 6, as well as the history of events prior to 1775.

Readings:

• New York Gazetteer, June 1775 (to be distributed at the end of the previous Session)
• Sample from papers written by other students.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 8

9:00 - 10:30 Session 9 (Professor McDonald)

Topic: Declaring Independence

Focus: How did Americans, once loyal subjects of the crown, manage to unite in declaring their independence? Was the Declaration of Independence a statement of bold new philosophies or was it a document deeply rooted in time-worn principles? Were America's people really as united as the Declaration suggested?

Readings:

• Wood, American Revolution, pp. 47-62
• Jefferson and Dickinson, Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, 1775 (CP pg 208)
• Thomas Paine, Common Sense, February 1776 (CP pg 212)
• Thomas Chalmers, Plain Truth (excerpts), 1776 (CP pg 241)
• Charles Inglis, The True Interest of America Impartially Stated, 1776 (CP pg 249)
• Richard Henry Lee, Resolves for Independence, June 1776 (CP pg 254)
• Declaration of Independence, July 1776 (CP pg 255)
• Jefferson, Notes on Debates in Congress, July 1776 (CP pg 260)

10:50 - 12:20 Session 10 (Professor Moser)

Topic: Public Session #3 of the Provincial Congress of New York

Focus: The Provincial Congress will debate whether (and how) to support the military needs of New York and the colonies as a whole. All moderates and any remaining characters who have not written a paper/petition must submit one at the beginning of this Session. This requires the moderate characters to comment on the issues, both philosophical and practical, surrounding the rights/wrongs of rebellion, the Association, and the military issues now facing the Provincial Congress.

Readings:

• New York Gazetteer, September 1775 (to be distributed at the end of the previous Session)
• Sample from papers written by other students.

1:45 - 3:15 Session 11 (Professor Moser)

Topic: Public Session #4 of the Provincial Congress of New York

Focus: The Provincial Congress will finish whatever remains of the military debate, including (if agreed to) the departure of characters from New York City to join the military. It is also likely during this Session that members of groups outside Congress—women, slaves, and laborers—will present petitions that the Congress will need to consider.

Readings:

• New York Gazetteer, December 1775 (to be distributed at the end of the previous Session)
• Sample from papers written by other students.

THURSDAY, JULY 9

9:00 - 10:30 Session 12 (Professor McDonald)

Topic: Republican Experiments

Focus: How did revolutionary ideology and the experience of the imperial crisis help to shape the Articles of Confederation and state constitutions? To what extent did Americans universalize their principles to include women and African Americans? How did the new republic deal with issues relating to westward expansion?

Readings:

• Wood, American Revolution, pp. 65-74
• Abigail Adams, Letter to John Adams, March 1776 (CP pg 265)
• Pennsylvania Constitution, September 1776 (CP pg 267)
• Articles of Confederation, November 1777 (CP pg 272)
• Massachusetts Constitution, March 1780 (CP pg 277)
• Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia: Manners, 1781 (CP pg 296)
• Jefferson and Madison, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, January 1786 (CP pg 297)
• Northwest Ordinance, July 1787 (CP pg 298)

10:50 - 12:20 Session 13 (Professor Moser)

Topic: Public Session #5 of the Provincial Congress of New York

Focus: At this point, the Congress should begin the debate on independence. All characters should now address in their papers one or more of the following issues: 1) the justification—or lack thereof—for the rebellion and/or for declaring independence from Great Britain (an ideological/intellectual perspective), 2) the chances for a successful revolt (the pragmatic perspective), 3) the character's personal analysis of which side offers the most compelling case for his/her allegiance (this one primarily for the moderates in the Congress and for the non-voting city residents). All papers may draw on all sources for their arguments.

Readings:

• New York Gazetteer, March 1776 (to be distributed at the end of the previous Session)
• Sample from papers written by other students.

1:45 - 3:15 Session 14 (Professor Moser)

Topic: Public Session #6 of the Provincial Congress of New York

Focus: In this Session the Provincial Congress must make a final determination as to whether New York will support reconciliation with Britain or will continue to resist and ultimately support independence. Events in these last two Sessions will determine which group, Patriot or Loyalist, has control over New York City by the end of the game (in historical time, as of the end of 1776).

Readings:

• New York Gazetteer, June 1776 (to be distributed at the end of the previous Session)
• Sample from papers written by other students.

FRIDAY, JULY 10

9:00 - 10:30 Session 15 (Professor McDonald)

Topic: The World Turned Upside Down

Focus: How did Americans defeat the British to win the War for Independence? What were Britain's advantages and disadvantages? What were America's? To what extent was each side helped and hampered by its principles?

Readings:

• Wood, American Revolution, pp. 74-88
• Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, December 1776 (CP pg 304)
• John Adams, Letter to Abigail Adams, September 1777 (CP pg 309)
• Baroness von Riedesel, The Defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga, October 1777 (CP pg 311)
• The French Alliance, February 1778 (CP pg 313)
• Benedict Arnold, Letter to the Inhabitants of America, October 1780 (CP pg 316)
• Nathanael Greene, Letter to Catherine Greene, January 1781 (CP pg 318)
• Royal Gazette, "Our Last Will and Testament," January 1781 (CP pg 320)
• Nathanael Greene, Letter to George Washington, March 1781 (CP pg 322)
• Washington to Lewis Nicola, May 1782 (CP pg 324)
• Gouverneur Morris, Letter to John Jay, January 1783 (CP pg 325)
• Washington, "Speech to the Officers of the Army at Newburgh," March 1783 (CP pg 326)

10:50 - 12:20 Session 16 (Professor McDonald)

Topic: Crisis and the Constitution

Focus: How did social, political, and diplomatic issues convince some Americans of the need for a new form of government? What were the arguments for and against the Constitution? Did the Constitution represent the realization of the American Revolution's promise or was it really a counter-revolution?

Readings:

• Wood, American Revolution, pp. 139-166
• Shays's Rebellion, 1786 (CP pg 330)
• Annapolis Convention resolution, 1786 (CP pg 332)
• Jefferson to James Madison, December 1787 (CP pg 335)
• Constitution of the United States, 1789 (CP pg 338)
• Amendments to the Constitution, 1791- (CP pg 348)

1:45 - 3:15 Session 17 (Professors McDonald and Moser)

Topic: Review and Discussion

Focus: At this point we will return to the question first posed at the beginning of the seminar: "Was the American Revolution really a revolution?" We will also have a post mortem on the role-playing simulation. What were the various characters trying to accomplish? Which team was most successful? What secret agendas were being followed? Finally, how did the results of the simulation compare with the actual historical record?

Reading: None.