Offers a study of the American Revolutionary War, including the causes, personalities, social groups, military aspects, founding documents, and the legacy of America’s formative period, 1754-1791.
Goals, Topics, and Objectives
- Society and Politics on the Eve of the Revolution
- The British Empire and the War for North America
- British Reforms and Colonial Resistance
- From the Tea Act to the Declaration of Independence
- The Disappointments of 1776
- The War Widens and Deepens
- The Impact of the Winter at Valley Forge
- George Washington: His Character and the Challenges He Faced
- Outsiders and Enemies: Native Americans and Loyalists
- The African-American Challenge
- Gender, Citizenship, and Religious Tolerance in the Republic
- Peacetime Government under the Articles of Confederation
- The Constitutional Convention, Ratification, and the Bill of Rights
- The Consequences of the Revolution
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. Outline time and chronology of the American Revolutionary War Era.
2. Identify, summarize, and analyze major elements of the American Revolutionary War Era.
3. Analyze cause and effect in the American Revolutionary War.
4. Trace elements of change and continuity in the American Revolutionary War Era.
5. Emphasize parallelism by describing the impact of major events, personalities, documents and places upon the American Revolutionary War Era.
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. Identify the Social, Economic, and Political Conditions in the American Colonies at the Time of the Seven Years’ War.
2. Explain the Issues and Positions that Separated Britain from those American Colonials who desired a Greater Measure of Self-Government in the Period following the Seven Years’ War.
3. Recognize the Difficulties faced by the Continental Congress in Prosecuting a War amid a Largely Ambivalent Colonial Population and against the Leading Colonial Power of the World.
4. Describe the Immense Difficulties faced by American Generals, such as George Washington, in Successfully Creating, Training, and Commanding a Largely Civilian Army against British Regulars.
5. Investigate the Issue of Slavery, the Conditions of Free African-Americans and the Calls for Emancipation during this Era.
6. Analyze the Revolutionaries’ Perceptions of and Attitudes toward American Indians and Loyalists during the Revolutionary War.
7. Analyze the Impact of Gender and Citizenship in a Revolutionary Republic.
8. Investigate the Concept of Religious Freedom within the Predominantly Populated American Protestant Republic.
9. Describe the Articles of Confederation, including the Accomplishments and Deficiencies under that Government.
10. Identify the Personalities, Ideas and Compromises at Work, along with the Resulting Document Produced during the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
11. Analyze the Political Aspects of the Ratification of the Constitution, along with the Resultant Struggle for a Bill of Rights.
12. Assess the Consequences of the Revolutionary War Era and Its Impact upon American Life Today.
Assessment and Requirements
Assessment of academic achievement will be identified and implemented by the class instructor. Methods will include, but will not be limited to, individual projects, vocabulary, class participation (discussion and critiques), and tests.
Each instructor will select the teaching materials she/he feels are best suited to her/his course.
Outcomes
- Social Sciences
- Humanities and Fine Arts
- Civil Society and Culture - U.S. and Global
- Category 4: Social Sciences
- Category 5: Humanities and Fine Arts