Course Description
This course examines the causes and consequences of the American Revolution. The class follows a roughly chronological order and is broken into five parts. We will first introduce British colonists and their ties to the British Empire, Native American communities, Africans and African Americans, and other Europeans in the decades prior to unrest in the British colonies. Our course will then examine the growing rifts between British colonists and their home country, how they resisted British taxation and proclamations, how they defined their actions, and what this meant to free and enslaved Africans and African Americans as well as Native American communities. We will then identify the changes in the British colonies as they actively rebelled against their Empire and the reasons why some participated in this rebellion and why some colonists refused. Independence and the consequences of Independence were far-reaching for the former colonies, and our class will analyze the reasons for declaring independence and the consequences of the subsequent war on British colonies, Americans, the British Empire, Native Americans, and free and unfree Africans and African Americans. Our course will conclude with a focus on the consequences of the war at home and abroad, the creation of new American governments, and how we remember the legacy of the American Revolution as we ask the question, Whose Revolution Was It?
Course Credits: 3
Student Learning Outcomes
- Critically analyze historically significant terms and events in American history during the era of the American Revolution.
- Understand and define the perspectives of Revolutionary America that includes European, African, and Native American peoples, cultures, and voices.
- Analyze key themes of enslavement, colonialism, independence, agency, and representation and their role in Revolutionary American history.
- Develop critical thinking and analytical skills through analysis of primary and secondary sources of American history.
- Improve writing skills through evaluation of primary and secondary source.