HIST 275 - Revolutionary America, 1750-1830

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

The course explores the era of the American Revolution and the creation of the United States. Readings and other course materials invite students to investigate the eara from many vantage points and analyze the varied and contested meanings of the Revolutionary era to women and men from Africa, the Americas, and Europe. (Many people are familiar with the famous phrase in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” but what did that mean?) How did the Revolutionary era impact the lives of women? Why did so many Native Americans and African Americans fight against the American colonists? What role did the institution of slavery play in the creation of the United States? By exploring these questions, students develop a more nuanced understanding of the competing interests in colonial American during the Revolutionary era and examine how the creation of the United States led to some gaining freedoms, while many others lost them or remained unfree. The course concludes by situating the outcome of the American Revolution in a global historical context and considering the legacy of this era in which an American empire was born. Noel Smyth.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS