HIST 260 - The American Revolution in History and Memory

What was the American Revolution? Depending on where you stand, it was a family dispute, a regime change, a white settler rebellion, a Black Declaration of Independence, a genocidal war, a struggle for national liberation, the birth of individual liberty, the end of an empire, the beginning of an empire, the transformation of an empire. It sought to bring people together in “a more perfect union”; it severed long-standing social and political relationships. It enshrined ideals of inalienable individual rights and democratic governance; it left many people in slavery, exile, and want. In the 250 years since the Revolution took place, a staggering array of people have sought to claim its legacies: Unionists and Confederates, Simón Bolívar and Ho Chi Minh, Fox news commentators and Lin-Manuel Miranda, MAGA supporters and No Kings protesters. How could one historical event mean so many things to so many people? What did the Revolution mean to those who experienced it? And why should we care? In this course, we will study the American Revolution and its legacies and try to understand whether and how it matters now.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Restriction(s): Students who have taken HIST 362 are not eligible to take this course for credit.
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.