Nancy Fitch
Fall 2007
Section #1 Schedule #: 18076
T 4:00-6:45
H121
Office: H820M
Office Phone: 714-278-2964
Office Hours: TTh 12-2, and by appointment
Email: nfitch@fullerton.edu
HISTORY 427
ENLIGHTENMENT AND REVOLUTION
**[NOTE 1: THIS CLASS WILL USE PLUS/MINUS GRADING]
**[NOTE
2:
EXCEPT
UNDER
EXTRAORDINARY
CIRCUMSTANCES AGREED TO IN ADVANCE, I WILL NOT
ACCEPT PAPERS SUBMITTED VIA EMAIL OR IN ANY
ELECTRONIC VERSION (IE VIA BLACKBOARD)]
Few historical events have changed the world as dramatically as the French Revolution. It
swept away the traditional order in one of the oldest and most powerful monarchies of
Europe and changed the terms of social and political life in many other countries and
empires, especially in Europe and Latin America. The French Revolution, thus, marks
one of the major turning points in modern history, a moment when the rights of ordinary
people of all ilk began to assert themselves against the prerogatives of monarchs,
emperors, and other hereditary heads of state. Human and civil rights that we may take
for granted were not particularly self-evident in the “Old Regime,” the period the
Revolution itself created as “that before the Revolution.” To obtain basic human and civil
rights resulted in war, violence, and vengeance. In the year 2007, it is painfully apparent
that such rights represent extremely distant ideals in many parts of the world, perhaps
among some in the United States. While many have celebrated the French Revolution as
a source of popular sovereignty, civil and human rights, and democracy, others have
decried the violence used to obtain them. There are more than a handful of historians
who see the Revolution not as a precursor to democracy, but rather as a preview of the
totalitarianism that emerged in the Twentieth Century. In other words, we have a
revolution that means many things to many different groups of people and cultures. I
have tried to capture the complexity and contradictory nature of the Revolution as a
representation—of democracy, of totalitarianism, of violence, of human rights that would
negate such violence—in this course. The Revolution certainly transformed France and
the Americas, but its significance also lies in the way in which it has been used in the two
hundred years that followed it.
R E Q U I R E D C O U R S E M A T E R I A L (Reading List)
 This is your core reading list of books, and they are available at the "Little Professor
Book Center", 725 N. Placentia Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92632; Phone: (714) 9963133; Fax: (714) 528-1888; E-mail: lpbc@earthlink.net
--Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus, eds., Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 17891804: A Brief History with Documents
--Geoffrey Ellis, The Napoleonic Empire, 2nd Edition
--Richard Graham, Independence in Latin America: A Comparative Approach, 2nd Edition
--Lynn Hunt, ed., The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary
History
--Joan B. Landes, Women and The Public Sphere in the Age of the French Revolution
--Peter McPhee, The French Revolution, 1789-1799
Additional reading will be posted under “Course Documents” in the Blackboard
site for this course.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Assignments Your Grade Will be Based on the Following
All students will write three take home essay exams. Each mid-term and the final will be
approximately 6-10 pages (1250-2000 words) in length. Essays must be typed, doublespaced, with 12-point font and one-inch margins. The exams will require you to draw
from “Discussion Readings,” lectures, films, and assigned readings. Because these exams
are take-home, they should be polished writing. Use the Writing Center, if necessary, to
go over your papers with you.
Graduates students will write an additional paper on the recent secondary literature (4-5
books and/or articles) on a topic of their choice that fits within the theme of the class
(please check with me first). It should be 10-12 pages and will be due on the last day of
class.
Your grades on the take-home exams and the graduate student paper will be based
on three major, closely related criteria:
1. Use of relevant class material, including readings, lectures, discussions, and
films.(evidence)
2. Expression of ideas in a clear, concise, and engaging prose (style)
3. Development of an argument or point of view that is pertinent to the issue at hand and
that has breadth, coherence, and insight (interpretation)
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These criteria will translate into grades as follows:
A: excellent in all three areas. Offers an insightful argument based on ample, sound
evidence.
B: good. Strong in all three areas or notable strengths in one balanced by weaknesses in
another.
C: average. Adequate performance in one or more areas offset by serious weakness in
others that leaves presentation fragmented, unclear, or narrow.
D: poor. Notable problems in all three areas. Remedial work needed to improve
substantive understanding or basic communication.
F: unacceptable. Serious flaws in all three areas.
No evident engagement in the assignment.
EVALUATION FOR FINAL GRADE:
For Undergraduate Students:
--Discussion 10%
--First Midterm 25%
--Second Midterm 25%
--Final 40%
For Graduate Students::
--Discussion 10%
--First Mid-term 20%
--Second Mid-term 20%
--Outside Paper 15%
--Final 35%
You are responsible for all material covered in class and in the reading. If you miss two
or more classes without justified excuses, your grade will be lowered by one full grade.
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Grades will be based on the plus/minus grading system as follows:
100%
93-99%
90-92%
88-89%
83-87%
80-82%
78-79%
73-77%
70-72%
68-69%
63-67%
60-62%
59% and below
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
If you do not understand the basis of the grade you received or if you disagree with the
assessment, please speak with the professor. Wait at least 24 hours after receiving the
grade to re-read professor comments and reflect on the evaluation. Please act within a
couple of weeks of the return of the exam.
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COURSE CALENDAR
Tuesday, August 21
Week 1: Introduction: Why Do We Care About the French Revolution? Was the
Enlightenment Enlightenment? Contemporary Perspectives on the Not So Distant
Past
Required Reading
--McPhee, Introduction
Tuesday, August 28
Week 2: The French Revolution and the Making of the Modern World
1. Kings and Emperors: France and China
2. “Southernization” of the Global Economy in the Early Modern Period
3. Wither France?: Britain, the Dutch, and France Grasp for the World’s
“Leftovers”
4. Creation of the British, French, and Spanish Empires
Required Reading
--Graham, Ch. 1
--Hunt, Introduction, pp. 1-33
--McPhee, Ch. 1
Tuesday, September 4
Week 3: France and Its 18th Century Empire
Required Reading
--Dubois and Garrigus, pp. 7-18, 49-63
--Landes, pp. 1-89
Tuesday, September 11
Week 4: Enlightenment Ideas and Reform Movements in 18th Century France
Required Reading
--Graham, Ch. 2
--Hunt, pp. 35-63
--Kant, “What Is Enlightenment?”
--Foucault, “What Is Enlightenment?”
--Montesquieu, “Selections”
--Rousseau, “Selections”
--Adam Smith, “Selections”
--Salon Life in 18th Century Paris
Tuesday, September 18
Week 5: Crisis of the Old Regime and the Outbreak of Revolution
Required Reading
--Dubois and Garrigus, pp. 63-78
--Hunt, pp. 63-79
--McPhee, Chs. 2, 3
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Tuesday, September 25
Week 6: Making a New France/World
Required Reading
--Dubois and Garrigus, pp. 86-115
--Hunt, pp. 80-111
--McPhee, Ch. 4
Tuesday, October 2
Week 7: The Second French Revolution, 1792
Required Reading
--Hunt, pp. 119-132
--Landes, pp. 93-151
--McPhee, Ch. 5
Tuesday, October 9
Week 8: The Haitian Revolution, War, and Counter-Revolution
Required Reading
--Dubois and Garrigus, pp. 116-144
--Hunt, pp. 112-118
--McPhee, Ch. 6
Tuesday, October 16
Week 9: The Terror
Required Reading
--Hunt, pp. 132-139
--Landes, pp. 152-168
--McPhee, Ch. 7
Tuesday, October 23
Week 10: Ending the Revolution
Required Reading
--Dubois and Garrigus, pp. 144-158
--Ellis, Chs. 1-3
--McPhee, Ch. 8
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Tuesday, October 30
Week 11: Haitians Win Independence
Required Reading
--Dubois and Garrigus, Chs. 5-6
Tuesday, November 6
Week 12: The Napoleonic State
Required Reading
--Ellis, Chs. 5-6
Tuesday, November 13
Week 13: Bonaparte and Revolution in the Americas
Required Reading
--Ellis, Ch. 4
--Graham, Chs. 3-4
**NOVEMBER 18-NOVEMBER 24 – THANKSGIVING BREAK – NO CLASS**
Tuesday, November 27
Week 14: The Second Latin American Revolutions and Independence
Required Reading
--Graham, Ch. 5
Tuesday, December 4
Week 15: The Legacy of the French Revolution
Required Reading
--Ellis, Ch. 7
--Graham, Ch. 6
--Landes, pp. 169-207
--McPhee, Ch. 9
Tuesday, December 11
**FINAL PAPER DUE**
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COURSE POLICIES

Academic dishonesty: "Following procedures of due process established
pursuant to Section 41304 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, any
student of a campus may be expelled, suspended, placed on probation or given
a lesser sanction for one or more of the following causes which must be campus
related: a. Cheating or plagiarism in connection with an academic program at a
campus; (...) "Academic dishonesty includes such things as cheating, inventing
false information or citations, plagiarism and helping someone else commit an
act of academic dishonesty . . . . Plagiarism is defined as the act of taking the
work of another and offering it as one's own without giving credit to that source.
When sources are used in a paper, acknowledgment of the original author or
source must be made through appropriate reference and, if directly quoted,
quotation
marks
or
indentations
must
be
used."
(http://owaportal.fullerton.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.fullerton.ed
u/handbook/policy/discipline.htm; accessed 3 February 2004).

Behavior: The following is not acceptable: arriving late for class, leaving class
early, eating in class, bringing beepers and phones that "go off" audibly during
class meetings. Such "not acceptable" behavior will affect your in-class
participation grade.

Blackboard: Blackboard is a course management system which will be
available for this class. Course documents will be placed in respective
Blackboard folders.

E-mail: You are encouraged to e-mail the instructor your questions and
comments. However, I will only check my email every other day. If your campus
email is not your primary account you should make sure that your campus email
“points” to your main account—e.g. hotmail, yahoo, etc. If you do not do this you
will miss important messages.

Exams: Under most circumstances, there will be no make-up examinations.
 Special needs: If you have a special need that you would like for the instructor
to accommodate it is your obligation to contact Disabled Student Services as
soon
as
possible
(UH-101;
Phone:
(714)
278-3117;
E-mail:
mailto:dsservices@fullerton.edu) and obtain written verification of this special
need and then present this verification to the instructor.

Submitting assignments: Unless otherwise specified in class (and in writing),
all assignments are to be submitted as hard copies, i.e. on paper, and not via email.

Syllabus Caveat: "Faculty shall not be bound to adhere to their course outlines
on a strict day-today basis, but should follow their outlines as much as is
reasonably possible. After distribution of course outlines to students, major
assignment or course requirement changes (e.g. additional term papers or
examinations) must be announced to students with reasonable timetable for
completion." (UPS 300.004)

Technical problems: If you have technical problems (e.g. with the login to
Blackboard or with accessing the CSUF campus computer resources, including
the CSUF library computers), call (714) 278-7777. Please note that this hotline is
not available 24/7.
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