Exam B
ACCORDING TO BERNARD BAILYN, THE COLONIAL CRISIS OF 1765
INSTIGATED A REVOLUTION IN POLITICAL IDEALS, AND SHOULD NOT BE
CONSIDERED A “CONTROVERSY BETWEEN SOCIAL GROUPS UNDERTAKEN
TO FORCE CHANGES IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY OR THE
ECONOMY.” HOW MIGHT HOLTON RESPOND TO THIS STATEMENT? BASED
ON WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED FOR THIS COURSE, HOW YOU YOU
CHARACTERIZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IDEOLOGICAL AND
ECONOMIC FACTORS?
In Review
A Essays
•
•
Answered the question
completely, identified
conflict between Bailyn and
Holton; offered strong
definition of difference (ornon difference) between
ideological and economic
factors; argued a case for
their relationship.
One of the distinguishing
features of an “A” essay
included a willingness to
take on “big picture”
frameworks
B Essays
•
Here, essays were generally
very strong, well-argued, but
sometimes confused on
detail or analytics.
•
Essays answer the question,
dutifully, but do not model
strong analysis. This is
especially true in discussions
of ideological factors.
•
Analysis of Holton and Bailyn
are either imbalanced,
incomplete, or are
somewhat off-point
C Essays
•
Again, these essays had all
the component parts. They
included an introduction, a
conclusion, and body
paragraphs. They each had
thesis statements.
•
Generally, however, they
either missed a discussion of
Holton or Bailyn (or) were
really thin on both
examples, making it unclear
why these examples were
being used and how.
Common Arguments
Bailyn and Holton
Disagree/About
What, Exactly?
•
Every student came to the
conclusion that Bailyn and
Holton disagreed, but very
few actually explained why
this distinction has significance
for this course.
•
Many students did not think
about what the ”1765 colonial
crisis” actually means. Does it
include the American
Revolution? When did the
1765 colonial crisis start or end,
exactly? How would you
define it and why does it
matter?
Strong support for
Holton
•
•
0.02 percent of the class
(one student) argued in
favor of Bailyn; 99.8 percent
agreed with Holton. This is a
strong indication that
nobody actually took Bailyn
seriously, and it shows—very
few essays gave the
ideological aspect of his
argument much discussion.
Please note that simply
arguing for Bailyn did not
mean you answered the
question better, either.
Weakness on
ideological
aspects
•
Lecture did most of the work
to prepare you for thinking
about the key ideas and
intellectual currents of this
period, but few students
looked to Dowd , Colin
Calloway, or even Holton to
deepen your points.
•
Some mentioned liberalism
and even individual theorists
of liberalism, but most
struggled to piece together a
coherent picture of how to
use these ideas in this essay
Things to Consider:
• A good number of the essays refused to take sides, signaling support for both Bailyn and
Holton, saying both ideological and economic arguments are necessary for explaining the
colonial crisis. This may seem like a savvy and even convincing move, but we might further
consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of such a position. Can you identify
some of the promises and pitfalls of such an approach?
• One of the more interesting essays sided with Bailyn. If you were to take Bailyn’s view, how
would you arrange your evidence in support? How would your essay have differed?
• A few students took a very hard line on economics. This is a perfectly fine strategy, but it
leaves such essays a little short in actually grappling with Dowd. Dowd situates “material”
interests as subsidiary to his larger point about “status,” and most students missed this.
• What is the difference, exactly, between ideology and economics? What happens if you
reject the idea of a difference at all and instead consider economics an expression of
ideology?
Sample Thesis Statements


Examples tending toward strong thesis statements

“The colonial crisis of 1765 certainly had political and ideological
roots…classical enlightenment and English Common Law philosophies
influenced many elites...However, Woody Holton is more accurate in
arguing that the economic struggles between social groups was more
signfiicant in driving the revolution, and thefore should take the
precendence over ideological factors.”

“While the Revolution was heavily rooted in changing political ideals,
the class resentment and economic affairs of the colonists did motivate
changes toward changing both societal organization and the
economy.”
Example tending toward weaker thesis statements

“I would argue that there is a strong relationship between economic
factors and the ideological factors of the Revolution.”
Lessons
Notice a few points about the earlier samples.
• The first sample listed has many strong points, and in fact engages some of the ideological
origins mentioned in lecture. We might ask why or how enlightenment or Common Law
theories mattered, exactly; similarly, any reader would want to know which social groups,
exactly, were brought into conflict. But there is much to admire in this thesis statement, and
its attempts to bridge the various problems introduced in the prompt.
• The second sample succeeds at being terse and to the point, but again is short on detail. The
challenge many students had involved identifying the key, specific dynamics that were the
most important.
• Note how the third example actually does not make a claim. It just observes that there is a
relationship.
How to write a good thesis
Here are some lessons to take away from Exam B:
• Make sure that a thesis statement gives you a pathway to answer all aspects of the prompt. This
was one of the harder challenges students faced with this question. I think the first sample listed in
a previous slide models how to do this nicely.
• Don’t be afraid to take risks with your arguments, so long as you can support them with evidence.
Evidence and Historical Detail
We need to be more detailed in our writing, using specific examples that make sense.
Weaker “C” essays had almost no historical detail; some had all kinds of interesting details , but
ones that actually did little to advance their argument and analysis.
Let’s consider ways of improving on this as we move forward.
Bonus Question
Producing a correct bonus question can have a large impact on your final grade, raising it by a
full half point. As a result, responses have to be excellent in order to receive credit. Please refer
to the “B Exam” rubric for a sample correct answer.
Here are my comments on the “B question” bonus exam.
• We awarded ONE PERSON points for the bonus question, despite the fact that this
was an open-note, open-book exam. Even this answer had significant problems, but
came closer to a correct answer than anyone else. In fact, most people did not
even attempt an answer to this bonus question.
• This tells me Dowd was either a very difficult read, or people did not read Dowd.
What are your views? Let’s discuss.