History 201-206 seminars are open to history majors only during pre-registration. If the course does not reach its enrollment maximum, it will be open to all students beginning with drop/add on a first-come first-serve basis.
HIST 203 American Revolution: End of Empire
Hodson
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
R | SEM | PRE-1800
Two years prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, British imperial rule collapsed across much of North America. A political system of appointed officials and elected provincial assemblies was challenged by local organizations—Committees of Correspondence, Safety, and Inspection—that drew a wide range of participants into the political process. These twenty four months represented the most radical moment of the revolutionary era, as these grass-roots groups implemented their own, powerful notions of liberty, natural rights, and community. This is not, however, yet another narrative of American goodness—faced with loyalism and the threat of British military intervention, committees used propaganda, threats, and physical intimidation to bully reluctant souls into supporting the revolutionary cause—most importantly, they enforced a continental boycott of British goods with particular vigor.
Through a selection of secondary sources and a broad sampling of primary documents from the 1770s, this course examines the reasons for the failure of the British Empire in North America and the social, political, and cultural roots of American self-government in the revolutionary era. It is hoped that this course will allow students to question the prevailing interpretation of the American Revolution, one that focuses on the activities of a tiny group of "Founding Fathers."
