The Revolution's Intellectual Origins.
Read Guarneri, America, pp. 69-75, 85-95.
Biography and the Age of American
Revolution.
Using Google's image search tool, search for "George Washington." Browse
through the first two or three results pages of Washington images. Do the same for "Tom Paine," "Patrick Henry," and "George Mason." Look carefully at how each individual is
represented. What aspects and incidents of each person's career get the most
attention? What values and morals are conveyed by the images themselves? What
organizations have put these images up, and are there differences in the
kinds of organizations that post from person to person? (For example, which
individual has the most pictures posted by libraries and archives? Which
individual has the most images from politically or culturally conservative
sites? From politically or culturally liberal sites? Hypothesize about what
explains these differences. Be prepared to itemize your reasons and
contribute them to class consideration of these questions.
Before class, members of the RED discussion group will need to post to the course discussion board.
American Independence in an Age of
Atlantic Revolution.
Read Guarneri, America, pp. 95-114. What role did the
international diplomatic context (especially the global conflict between
England and France) play in provoking American independence efforts? What
impact did different Native American nations have on the causes and course of
revolution? What impact did the American Revolution have on Europe and Latin
America?
Before class, members of the GREEN discussion group will need to post to the course discussion board.
Library Scavenger Hunt Exercises are due by Class Time today.
The Debate over Constitutional Origins
and the Bill of Rights.
Read the text of the first ten amendments on the Findlaw Annotated
Constitution website (scroll down to find the amendments). Browse through
the annotations for each amendment. Which amendments have generated the most
controversy (and thus the most annotation)?
Which amendments, if any, seem no longer
relevant to our own age or worthy of contest?
Is the right of petition, for example, still
important in law or practice? Read the Encyclopedia
Britannica's article on Charles Beard, and the short article by Robert Livingston
Schuyler, "Forrest McDonald's Critique of the Beard Thesis,"
Journal of Southern History 27 (Feb. 1961), 73-80. [Note: You
must be on the Furman network to access the electronic version of this
article.] What did Beard think was the motive for creating the constitution,
and how democratic did he think it was? How did McDonald challenge Beard's
argument? What interpretation did Schuyler support? Which elements of these
arguments seem most plausible to you and which are least persuasive?
Before class, members of the BLUE discussion group will need to post to the course discussion board.
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Note: The instructor reserves the right to change any provisions, due dates, grading percentages, or any other items without prior notice. All assignments on this schedule are covered under the university's policy on plagiarism and academic integrity. See the syllabus statement for further details. This page was last updated on 9/15/2007.