Oberlin College
Department of History

Gary J. Kornblith
Rice 306
x58526
gary.kornblith@oberlin.edu

History 259
Spring 2007
Office hours: Wed., 3:30-5 pm
and by appointment


Revolutionary America and the Early Republic



Paul RevereÕs engraving of the Boston Massacre (1770)

[Note: The official, up-to-date version of the course syllabus is posted on Blackboard.]

This course explores the creation of the United States and the complex dynamics that shaped American society and culture in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. We will begin by examining the British colonies in mainland North America at approximately 1750, and we will proceed to explore in depth the causes and consequences of the American Revolution. Historians have long debated the Revolution's purpose and significance, and we will look at different sides of this enduring controversy. In the process, we will consider what the War for Independence meant to Native Americans and African Americans as well as to Euro-American men and women. We will also analyze the patriots' efforts to establish a republican form of government on a firm foundation. In particular, we will weigh the question of whether the ratification of the federal Constitution represented the fulfillment, repudiation, or modification of the original Spirit of '76. We will also consider whether the new federal system worked the way its framers intended, paying special attention to why political controveries in the early Republic proved so vicious. Our focus during the closing weeks of the course will be on the inter-related processes of democratization, capitalist development, and the expansion of slavery during the first two decades of the nineteenth century. We will conclude with a consideration of how much the American social order and American cultural norms had changed between 1750 and 1820, the nation's formative era.

 

Over the course of the semester, students will undertake individual projects involving intensive research in primary source materials. Students will make oral presentations of their findings to the class. Research papers will be due near the semester's end. The goal of this project is to empower students to do history, not just to read it.

 

Format: The class will meet three times each week--for one hour on Monday, for one hour on Wednesday, and for up to two hours on Friday. As indicated below, some class sessions will be devoted to lectures, others to discussions, and yet others to viewing videos. The discussions will focus on the reading assignments, and in preparation for these sessions, students will be expected to post preliminary comments on Blackboard.

 

Requirements: In addition to doing the assigned reading and regularly posting comments on Blackboard, students will write two position papers (3-4 pages each); submit a prospectus for the research project (1-2 pages); make an oral presentation of research findings; and compose a research paper (9-10 pages). The due dates are given in the schedule of assignments below. Participation in class discussions is expected, and students should notify the instructor of the reasons for absences from discussion sessions.

 

Grades: Final grades will be based on the following formula: position papers, 15% each; research paper, 40%; and class participation (including Blackboard postings, in-class discussions, and oral presentation), 30%. The professor reserves the right to exercise some discretion in determining final grades.

 

Honor Code: All course work is governed by Oberlin's Honor Code. If you have a question about how the Honor Code applies to a particular assignment, you should ask the professor in advance of the due date.

 

Writing Certification: Students who wish to be considered for certification of writing proficiency should notify the instructor at the beginning of the semester.

 

Purchases: The following books are available at the Oberlin Bookstore and should be purchased.

Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
Douglas R. Egerton, Gabriel's Rebellion
Jack P. Greene, ed., Colonies to Nation, 1763-1789
James Kirby Martin and Mark Edward Lender, A Respectable Army, 2d ed.
Gary B.Nash, The Unknown American Revolution
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale
Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution

Schedule of Classes:

 

Mon., Feb. 5

Introduction

Wed., Feb. 7

Lecture: The Making of the British Empire

Fri., Feb. 9

Discussion: The Social Order of Colonial America

  • Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, ix-x, 3-168
  • Nash, The Unknown American Revolution, xv-xxix, 1-43

 

 

 Mon., Feb. 12

Lecture: Origins of the Imperial Crisis

 Wed., Feb. 14

Discussion: The Anglo-American Debate over the Stamp Act

  • Greene, Colonies to Nation, 45-93

 Fri., Feb. 16

Discussion: The Role of the Crowd

  • Pauline Maier, "Popular Uprisings and Civil Authority in Eighteenth-Century America," William and Mary Quarterly 3rd ser., 27 (Jan. 1970): 3-35 [in JSTOR]
  • Marcus Rediker, "A Motley Crew of Rebels: Sailors, Slaves and the Coming of the American Revolution," in Ronald Hoffman and Peter J. Albert, eds., The Transforming Hand of Revolution," 155-98 [in ERes and under Course Documents in Blackboard]
  • Nash, Unknown American Revolution, 44-59

 

 

 Mon., Feb. 19

Lecture: Escalation of the Imperial Crisis

First position paper due

Wed., Feb. 21

Lecture: Resources for Research Project

 Fri., Feb. 23

Discussion: Ideological Interpretation of the American Revolution

  • Bailyn, Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, ix-xvi, 1-159
  • Greene, Colonies to Nation, 122-33, 213-220

 

 

 Mon., Feb. 26

Lecture: Divisions within the Colonies

 Wed., Feb. 28

Lecture:  Continental Mobilization and War

 Fri., Mar. 2

Discussion: Social Interpretations of the American Revolution

 

 

 Mon., Mar. 5

Lecture: Secession from the British Empire
Prospectus due

 Wed., Mar. 7

Discussion: The Case for Independence

 Fri., Mar. 9

 Discussion: The Military Struggle (I)

 

 

 Mon., Mar. 12

Lecture: The Home Front

 Wed., Mar. 14

Discussion: The Military Struggle (II)

  • Martin and Lender, A Respectable Army, 100-180

 

 Fri., Mar. 16

Discussion: How Radical Was the American Revolution?

  • Wood, Radicalism of the American Revolution, 169-243
  • Nash, Unknown American Revolution, 306-365 

 

 

 Mon., Mar. 19

Lecture: Constituting State Governments

 Wed., Mar. 21

Lecture: The Crisis of the 1780s

 Fri., Mar. 23

No class

Second position paper due


Spring Break

 Mon., Apr. 2

Lecture: The Challenge of Nation-Building

 Wed., Apr. 4

Discussion: Drafting the Federal Constitution

  • Greene, Colonies to Nation, 514-556

 Fri., Apr. 6

Discussion: Debating the Federal Constitution 

  • Greene, Colonies to Nation, 557-581

 

 

 Mon., Apr. 9

Lecture: The Federalist Establishment and Its Enemies

 Wed., Apr. 11

Lecture: The Revolution of 1800 

 Fri., Apr. 13

Discussion: Making Sense of Thomas Jefferson

 

 

 Mon., Apr. 16

No class

 Wed., Apr. 18

Lecture: Transformation of the North, 1790-1820

 Fri., Apr. 20

Discussion: Gender and Family in Post-Revolutionary New England

  • Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale, 3-161, 204-85

 

 

 Mon., Apr. 23

Lecture: Transformation of the South, 1790-1820 

 Wed., Apr. 25

Discussion: Slavery and Slave Resistance in Jeffersonian Virginia

  • Egerton, Gabriel's Rebellion, ix-xiii, 3-178

 Fri., Apr. 27

Video: Jefferson's Blood

 

 

 Mon., Apr. 30

Student Presentations

 Wed., May 2

Student Presentations

 Fri., May 4

Student Presentations

 

 

 Mon., May 7

Student Presentations

Research paper due

 Wed., May 9

Lecture: Nationalism, Sectionalism, and American Identity

 Fri., May 11

Discussion: Historical Significance of the American Revolution

  • Wood, Radicalism of the American Revolution, 229-369
  • Jack P. Greene, "The American Revolution," American Historical Review, 105 (Feb. 2000): 93-102 [in History Cooperative]
  • Gary J. Kornblith and John M. Murrin, "The Dilemmas of Ruling Elites in Revolutionary America," in Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle, eds., Ruling America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005), 27-63 [in Course Documents on Blackboard]