REVOLUTION AND NATION-MAKING IN AMERICA, 1763-1815
The following books, all paperbacks and available at the Student Stores, are
required reading:
R. D. Brown, ed., Major Problems in the Era of the American
Revolution, 1760-1791 (D. C. Heath)
Robert A. Gross, The Minutemen and their World (Hill and Wang)
Don Higginbotham, George Washington and the American Military
Tradition (Georgia)
Merrill D. Peterson, Adams and Jefferson: A Revolutionary Dialogue (Oxford)
Richard Hofstadter, The Idea of a Party System: The Rise of
Legitimate Opposition in the United States, 1780-1840 (1069)
Drew R. McCoy, The Last of the Fathers: James Madison & the
Republican Legacy (Cambridge)
Library Reserve: In addition, a few essays and articles will be assigned that
are on reserve in the Undergraduate Library.
Other Course Requirements: Students are expected to attend class regularly, to
keep up with weekly reading, and to particpate in discussions and raise
questions. There are two regular examinations--a mid-term and a final, each of
equal weight and covering approximately half the course material. Each is worth
40% of your total course grade. The remaining 20% of your grade (if you are an
undergraduate) will come from writing a critical eight-to-ten page essay based
on your reading of Drew McCoy's The Last of the Fathers, which is due on April
26. Very good attendance and participation in discussion will aid your overall
course grade, especially if you are in a borderline situation.
Field Trip: In the spring we will pay a two-hour visit to the Stagville Center,
just outside Durham, which was originally the eighteenth-century home of Richard
Bennehan, and which eventually became one of the largest planations in the
Antebellum South.
Graduate Students:
Will read two additional books and write a research paper.
OUTLINE
l.
The Nature of Revolution and Nationhood (Jan. 11, 13)
(The Place of the American Revolution in the Spectrum of
Revolutions over Two Centuries: A Model for Older or Newer
Revolutions?)
Brown, 1-42; Don Higginbotham, "The Relevance
of the American Revolution," Anglican Theological Review, Supplementary Series (July, 1973), 21-37. (Reserve)
2.
England and America in l763 (Jan. 18, 20)
(A Super Power Mentality v. Colonial Growing Pains)
Brown, 43-79; Higginbotham, 1-38
3.
The Ideology of Colonial Resistance to New British Imperial
Measures (Jan. 25, 27)
(The Stamp Act Crisis over Internal Taxes, l764-l766; The
Townshend Crisis over External Taxes, 1767-1770)
Brown, 80-129; Gross, 3-41
4.
The Spread of Resistance (Feb. 1, 3)
(The Tea Crisis, the Coercive Acts, and a New American
Conception of the Empire, 1770-1775)
Gross, 42-108; Brown, 130-145, 173-181
5.
From Resistance to Revolution (Feb. 8, 10)
(The Collapse of Royal Government, a New American Identity, an
Independent American Nation)
Gross, 109-132; Higginbotham, 39-68; Don Higginbotham,
"Fomentors of Revolution: Massachusetts and South Carolina,"
1-40 (Reserve); Brown, 145-172, 181-188, 574-576
6.
War: The English Approach--Native Americans and Loyalists (Feb.
15)
(The Super Power Mentality and the Arrogance of Power to
Disillusionment and Loss of Mastery. Was the Revolution
England's Vietnam?)
F. Wyatt and W. B. Willcox, "Sir Henry Clinton: A Psychological
Exploration in History," William and Mary Quarterly, XVI (Jan.
1959), 3-26 (Reserve); Brown, 259-299
7.
War: The American Response--A struggle for National Liberation
(Feb. 17, 22)
(A People's War; Was It Also the First Modern Guerrilla
Conflict?)
Brown, chaps. 5-6, 593-600; Higginbotham, chaps. 3-4; Gross, 133-153
8.
"The Internal Revolution": State Constitutions and Politics
(Feb. 24)
(Were there Alternatives to Republican Governments? How
Radically were Political Practices and Institutions Changed?)
John Adams, Thoughts on Government (Reserve); Gross, 153-170;
Brown, 584-593
MID-TERM (Feb. 24, 7:30 p. m.)
9.
"The Internal Revolution": Society and Social Change (Mar. 1,3)
(Was there a Revolution in the Status of Persons--Women,
Blacks, Propertyless Whites, etc.? Or in the Character of)
Such Institutions as Churches and Schools?
Brown, chaps. 8-9; Gross, 171-191
SPRING BREAK
10.
The Articles of Confederation, l777-l787 (March 15, 17)
(A Democratic Triumph? The Capstone of the Revolution?)
Brown, chaps. 10-11
l1.
The Federal Constitution, l787-l789 (March 22, 24)
(The Revolution Repudiated or the Revolution Fulfilled:
The End of an Age of Experimentation?)
Brown, chaps. 12-13, 610-620
l2.
The Federalists: Launching the New Nation (March 29, 31)
l3.
(Washington and Hamilton: Domestic Order and Tranquility)
Hofstadter, 1-73; J. C. Miller, Federalist Era, 1-32 (Reserve);
Brown, 576-584, 600-610
The Federalists: Parties and Foreign Policy (April 5, 7)
(Why a Two-Party System? Why the Failure to Avoid Foreign
Involvements? John Adams and the Collapse of Federalism)
Hofstadter, 74-121; Peterson, 1-94.
l4.
The Jeffersonian Republicans: The First Party Transition
(April l2, l4)
(Preserving the Initial Gains--"We are all Federalists, We
are all Republicans")
Hofstadter, 122-169; Marshall Smelser, Democratic Republic, 1-44
(Reserve)
l5.
The Jeffersonian Republicans: James Madison and the War of l8l2;
The Nation in l8l5 (April 19, 21)
(A War to Preserve Republicanism? A War that was "The Second
American Revolution?")
Hofstadter, 170-271; Peterson, 95-130
16.
The Legacy of the Revolution and the Founders (April 26)
(Madison and the Ambivalent Future: A Threat or a Promise?)
Discussion of McCoy's Last of the Fathers and turn in papers.