Robert J. Allison

Professor of History, Suffolk University.

73 Tremont Street, 10^th Floor, Boston (One block from Park Street Station)

rallison@suffolk.edu    617 573 8510

Grader/Teaching Assistant:  Linda J.Thorsen  linda@lindathorsen.com

What caused the American Revolution? What were the Revolution's consequences? Who was responsible? We examine the tumultuous events in British North America from 1760 to 1775, the years of war, and the aftermath of the war in the creation of the United States. We focus on the tremendous political, social, cultural, and economic changes the Revolution sparked, the impact of warfare, and the international repercussions in the birth of the United States.

Robert Allison, The American Revolution:  A Very Short Introduction  (Oxford) 9780190225063

Bernard Bailyn, Faces of Revolution (Vintage)    9780679736239

Carol Berkin, Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence

            (Knopf Doubleday)  9781400075324

Colin Calloway, American Revolution in Indian Country (Cambridge)

978 0521475693

David Hackett Fischer, Washington's Crossing (Oxford)  9780195181593

William Fowler, American Crisis (Walker & Co.)  9780802717061

Maya Jasanoff, Liberty’s Exiles:  American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (Alfred A. Knopf)  : 9781400075478

Jane Kamensky, A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley     (Norton)  9780393354867

Gary B. Nash, The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolution

(Harvard)  9780674021938

Thomas Paine, Common Sense  (Dover)     9780486296029

The books are available at the Harvard COOP, and on reserve at the Grossman Library. Using the Link will give you direct access to the books at the COOP.

Background to the Revolution

January 29

Reading:  Allison, Chapter 1

Berkin, Chapter 1, “The Easy Task of Obeying.”

Kamensky, A Revolution in Color, Chapters 1-2

February 3:  Last day to drop for full refund

February 5

Reading:  Allison, Chapter 2

Bailyn, Chapter on John Adams

Calloway, Prologue and Chapter 1. 

February 10:  Last day to drop for half refund

February 12

Reading:  Bailyn, Chapter on Thomas Hutchinson

Berkin, Chapter 2, “They Say it is Tea that Caused it.”

Kamensky, Chapters 3-5

War and Independence

February 19

First Assignment Due

Reading:  Paine, Common Sense

Allison, Chapter 3

Bailyn, Chapter on Thomas Paine

February 26

Reading: Nash, Chapter 1, “The Black Americans Revolution.”

Berkin, Chapter 8, “The Day of Jubilee is come.”

The Fatal Fifth of March!

Reading:  Allison, Chapter 4

Reading:  Fischer, Washington’s Crossing

Over the next weeks, read Berkin Chapters 3-5, 7, 9

And Calloway, Chapters 1-9

March 12

Reading:  Kamensky, Chapters 6-8

March 19:  No Class:  Harvard Break!

March 26

Second Paper Due

Reading:  Fowler, American Crisis

Allison, Chapter 5

Calloway, Chapter 10, “A Peace that Brought no Peace.”

Jasanoff, Chapters 1, 2,3 

The New Nation

April 2

Reading:  Allison, Chapter 4

Nash, Chapter 2, “Could Slavery have been Abolished?”

Jasanoff, Part II

April 9

Reading:  Berkin, Chapter 6, “A Journey A Crosse ye Wilderness.”

Kamensky, Chapters 9-11

April 16

The Revolution of 1800

April 23

Third Assignment Due

Reading:  Nash, Chapter 3, “Race and Citizenship in the Early Republic.”

April 26:  Last day to Withdraw without a failing grade.

April 30

Reading:  Jasanoff, Part III

            Remembering the Revolution

May 7

Reading: Berkin, “There is no sex in soul.”

Allison, Chapter 6

May 14  No class;   Final Paper Due.

Written Work

Historians evaluate evidence.   This semester you will also evaluate evidence.  The two kinds of sources historians use are primary and secondary.  Primary sources are materials created by people who actually experienced an event—diaries, letters, contemporary newspapers.  Historians use these primary sources to create secondary sources—scholarly accounts or analyses of what happened, based on the testimony or evidence left behind by participants.  All of the books on our reading list are secondary sources, except one—Thomas Paine’s Common Sense is a primary source. 

Your assignments:

Secondary Source Assignment. 

You will read a secondary source—one of the books on our reading list, or another book—and critique it.  What is the book’s argument?  How successful is the author in making the case?  What evidence does the author use?  You will write a critique (3-5 pages) of the book, using the format of a scholarly book review. 

Paper Due:   February 19

Critique of an Historical Web-site. 

You will find a web-site presenting some aspect of the American Revolution, and evaluate it in a 3-5 page essay.  What information does it present?  Does it present primary documents or is it a secondary source?  What is its point of view?  Is it designed for specialists, tourists, students, ideologues?  How effective is it in what it tries to do?  How reliable is the information or material it presents?  Who maintains it? Who pays for it?  These are the questions to consider in your evaluation. 

Paper Due:  March 26

Primary Source Assignment. 

You will use a primary source—newspapers, available on-line through the Boston Public Library, or available on microtext at the Boston Public Library, or a hard-copy of a newspaper available either at the BPL or the MHS—or diaries or papers, also available either on-line or at the MHS, or records available at the State Archives.  Read through a chunk of the material—if it is a newspaper, read at least one month’s worth of issues;  letters or a diary, read a month’s worth.  You will write a brief paper (5-8 pages) explaining what you found.

Due:  April 23

Historical Site Evaluation. 

You will visit an historical site associated with the American Revolution, and write a 3-5 page evaluation.  What story does the site tell?  How does it tell the story?  How effective is it?  What recommendations would you make to improve it?   

Note:  If you are a Distance student, and not close enough to a Revolutionary war site to do this assignment, you may do TWO of any of the following assignments. But check with me first—you might be surprised at the reach of the American Revolution.

Due:  May 14

 Graduate Students

Graduate students will be expected to complete an additional paper, in any one of the above categories:  visit to an historical site, review of an historical book or web-site, or investigation of a primary source.  In addition, you will be expected to work at a higher level than undergraduates.  

Grade Breakdown:

Each Paper = 25% of grade.

Attendance/Participation/Engagement

You are expected to attend lectures or to watch/listen to all on the Canvas site (and yes, we know when you are watching).  Not participating will both deprive you of the full benefit you might obtain from this not insignificant investment, but may also lead to diminution of your final grade. 

Grading Criteria

A paper in the “A”  range must be interesting and original.  It will

• adhere to the conventions of the discipline,

o   with properly formatted foot-notes or end-notes,

o   paragraphs that develop an overall argument,

o   which has been introduced clearly in the opening paragraph. 

• It will rely on relevant sources,

o   which are properly cited,

o   and focus on the issue at hand.

• It will explain the quotes and other material used.
• The writer will give clear evidence of not only understanding the material, but engaging with it.
• Both the writer and the reader will be interested in the outcome.
• Typographical errors or grammatical lapses will be minimal, suggesting careful proof-reading before submission; more than a few such errors will push even the most remarkable paper to the B range.

A paper in the B range will be solidly-researched and clearly written. 

• It must adhere to the conventions of the discipline

o   with properly-formatted foot-notes or end-notes. 

• It will show a solid understanding of the material.
• It will be based clearly on the sources, which are cited.
• A “B” paper is always good.
• The writing will be clear,

o   though some paragraphs may be too long or too short;

o    it might have stylistic or editorial glitches. 

o   These are outweighed by its merits. 

A paper in the C Range shows an effort to understand the topic at hand. 

• The author may not have a full grasp of all the issues, but will have presented material related to some question or issue.
• Typically the paper will have some problems—

o   not enough sources,

o   not enough thought,

• poor writing
• skimpy research.

o   Editorial, or typographical or grammatical errors. 

The paper will attempt to convey an idea or ideas, but these problems will weigh it down and prevent it from succeeding. 

A paper in the D range has significant editorial or grammatical errors. 

• It might fail to use sources adequately, showing little time or care taken in preparation.
• The author will not give sufficient evidence of thought or research. 
• Though the paper may have some interesting or perceptible point, it will not be developed sufficiently.

An F paper will be lacking in thought, care, judgment;  typically it shows little time taken by the author, and it wastes the time of the reader.  If a paper is plagiarized, the author will receive an F for the semester.

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense;  if you are unfamiliar with what constitutes plagiarism (i.e., appropriating someone else’s ideas and passing it off as your own) you should consult “Writing with Sources,” a guide produced by Harvard’s Expository Writing Program.  The appropriate guidelines can be found in http://www.extension.harvard.edu/resources/career-academic-resource-center/plagiarism-proper-use-sources

   Penalties for plagiarism, as determined by Harvard University, may extend to expulsion.  In my class you will receive a failing grade for the semester. 

Official Harvard Extension School Policies

The Extension School is committed to providing an accessible academic community. The Accessibility Office offers a variety of accommodations and services to students with documented disabilities. Please visit https://www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/resources/disability-services-accessibility for more information.

You are responsible for understanding Harvard Extension School policies on academic integrity (https://www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/student-conduct/academic-integrity) and how to use sources responsibly. Not knowing the rules, misunderstanding the rules, running out of time, submitting the wrong draft, or being overwhelmed with multiple demands are not acceptable excuses. There are no excuses for failure to uphold academic integrity. To support your learning about academic citation rules, please visit the Harvard Extension School Tips to Avoid Plagiarism (https://www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/resources/tips-avoid-plagiarism), where you'll find links to the Harvard Guide to Using Sources and two free online 15-minute tutorials to test your knowledge of academic citation policy. The tutorials are anonymous open-learning tools.