History 471: US 1763-1815
Instructor: Birte Pfleger
Office: KHC 4033
Office hours: T, TH 11:30-1:30pm
Phone: (323) 343-2044
History Department: (323) 343-2020
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/history/course.htm
E-mail: bpflege@calstatela.edu
Web address: http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/bpflege/
Learning, like democracy, is participatory
This course is designed as an introduction to the Era of the American Revolution. We will examine
the years and events before, during and after the War for Independence. After thinking about the
meaning of the term “revolution” we will read various scholarly articles, book chapters and primary
sources to explore the social, cultural, economic and political developments that ultimately led to
the creation of the United States. Course readings focus on how various groups experienced the
Revolutionary War and its aftermath.
Required Texts:
Joseph Plumb Martin, A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier
Course Reader: http://www.aacolor.com
It is also available at AA Color Copy, 4400 E. 7th Street, Long Beach 90804 (Ximeno cross street
(562) 987-1947
GRADE
Class participation
Discussion leadership
Reading Journal
Movie Review
Final paper
15%
15%
20%
20%
30%
* In addition to the other course requirements graduate students need to write one book review (2
pages, 1 inch margins, Times font, double spaced) on one of the books listed below. The reviews
are due by March 1.
Class participation is absolutely vital for this course. To make meaningful contributions you must
come to class prepared, i.e. you must have completed the assigned readings and be able to discuss
them.
Discussion leadership: Each student will have the opportunity to lead class discussions on assigned
readings at least once during the quarter (depending on enrollment). Your job for the day will be to
introduce the readings to us and to lead the group through the important issues of the readings.
Think of this as a team teaching exercise. You should begin with a brief introduction to the author/s
(find out what else he/she has written, where the author teaches etc. The Internet is a great place to
search for that information). After that you will launch the group into a discussion of the issues:
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What does the author argue? What evidence does the author use? How does she/he make the
argument? Do you see problems with the article/chapter? How does the article relate to an assigned
primary source? How does the book relate to other readings or discussions? What questions are not
addressed? Visual aids are always useful either in the form of a one-page outline, a list of questions,
pictures or overhead transparencies. It is NOT your job to lecture or to offer all the answers to the
class. Instead your job is to facilitate discussion. You MUST email your discussion questions to the
instructor AT LEAST 48 hours before you are scheduled for the discussion leadership.
About all written assignments in this course: You may team up with one other student and turn
in one paper; please be sure to indicate this choice on your paper. You will both receive the
same grade. Be sure to edit and proof read all papers carefully.
Reading Journal
Write a 50-word summary of the main argument made by the author for each scholarly article
assigned. This means that you DO NOT write summaries of the primary sources. Each summary
MUST be typed and on a separate sheet. Please staple your summaries and bring them to every
class meeting. I will collect the reading journals twice during the quarter. Please see your course
reader for further instructions.
Movie Review: The Patriot. Write a 1-2 page review (1 inch margins, double spaced, Times font).
You must consult at least one scholarly review of the movie for your paper and include a copy with
your paper. DUE FEBRUARY 20
Final paper: 5-7 pages (1 inch margins, Times font, double-spaced) using as many course readings,
discussion and lecture notes as relevant to answer one of the essay questions distributed in class. Be
sure to cite your sources in footnotes. You MUST email the instructor the introductory
paragraph of your final paper by March 7 at noon. The final draft of the paper is DUE IN
MY OFFICE on March 13 by 6 pm.
EMAIL
You should obtain an e-mail account (if you do not already have one). The university provides this
service free of charge (King Hall D-140). Please make sure that your email address is on the course
list so that you can receive messages from the instructor. If you do not receive a message from the
instructor within one week of signing up please notify the instructor via email. You are encouraged
to communicate with the instructor via e-mail, please treat email as an extension of my office hours.
Be sure to check your e-mail regularly.
Schedule:
January 2: Introductions
January 4: Defining Revolution
Lawrence Stone, “Theories of Revolution,” World Politics, Vol. 18.
Gordon Wood, “Introduction,” The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1991): 3-8.
January 9: Colonial background: People
Jon Butler, Introduction and chapter 1, Becoming America; The Revolution before 1776, 1-49.
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January 11: Colonial background: Politics
Jon Butler, chapter 3, Becoming America; The Revolution before 1776, 2000; 89-130.
January 16: The Seven-Year’s War
Fred Anderson, “A People’s Army: Provincial Military Service in Massachusetts during the Seven
Year’s War,” WMQ, vol. 40, No. 4 (Oct. 19883), 499-527
January 18: The Stamp Act Crisis
Andrew O’Shaughnessy, “The Stamp Act Crisis in the British Caribbean,” WMQ, April 1994.
PRIMARY: “Declarations of the Stamp Act Congress, October 2, 1765.”
January 23: Convincing the People
Allan R. Raymond, “To Reach Men’s Minds: Almanacs and the American Revolution, 1760-1777,”
The New England Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Sept. 1978), 370-395.
January 25: Consumer Revolution
T.H. Breen, “’Baubles of Britain’: The American and Consumer Revolutions of the 18th century,”
Past and Present, No. 119 (May, 1988), 73-104.
January 30: Toward Independence
Pauline Maier, “Declaring Independence,” Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution,
180-188.
PRIMARY: Thomas Paine, Common Sense, February 14, 1776.
February 1: Loyalists
Joseph S. Tiedemann, “A Revolution Foiled: Queens County, New York, 1775-1776,” JAH Vol. 75,
No. 2 (Sep. 1988), 417-444.
February 6: Declaring Independence
PRIMARY: Declaration of Independence
PRIMARY: “Petition by Prince Hall, Free-African-American, for Emancipation of all Slaves,
March 1777.”
February 8: Native Americans and African Americans
Gary Nash, “The Forgotten Experience: Indians, Blacks, and the American Revolution.”
February 13: Slavery
Sylvia Frey, “Between Slavery and Freedom: Virginia Blacks in the American Revolution,” The
Journal of Southern History, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Aug., 1983), 375-398.
Ira Berlin, “The Revolution in Black Life,” Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution,
1760-1791, 275-285.
February 15: Hollywood and the American Revolution
Movie: The Patriot
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February 20: Soldiers
Robert A. Selig, “A German Soldier in America, 1780-1783: The Journal of Georg Daniel Flohr,”
WMQ Vol. 50, No. 3 (July 1993), 575-590 MOVIE REVIEW DUE!
February 22: The War
Joseph Plumb Martin, A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier, 1-129.
February 27: The War, part II
Joseph Plumb Martin, A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier, 130-253.
March 1: Women and the American Revolution
Jacqueline Jones, “The Mixed Legacy of the American Revolution for Black Women,” Major
Problems in American History, 96-100.
Linda Kerber, “The Paradox of Women’s Citizenship in the Early Republic: The Case of Martin vs.
Massachusetts, 1805,” AHR (April 1992), 349-378.
Graduate Student Book Reviews Due
March 6: Constitution
Gordon Wood, “The Federal Constitution,” The American Revolution, (NY: Random House, 2003),
139-166.
PRIMARY: U.S. Constitution
You MUST email the instructor the introductory paragraph of your final paper by March 7
at noon.
March 8: Evaluating the Revolution
You MUST email the instructor the introductory paragraph of your final paper by March 7
at noon.
FINAL Paper due: Tuesday March 13
GRADUATE STUDENTS: Books for book reviews:
• Charles Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913, 1998)
• Gordon Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992)
• David Waldstreicher, In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism,
1776-1820 (1997)
• Gary Nash and Jean Soderlund, Freedom by Degrees; Emancipation in Pennsylvania and its
Aftermath (1991)
• Joanne Pope Melish, Disowning Slaves; Gradual Emancipation and “Race” in New England,
1780-1860 (1998)
• Alan Taylor, William Cooper’s Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early
American Republic (1995)
Paul Douglas Newman, Fries’s Rebellion; The Enduring Struggle for the American Revolution
(2004)
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