AMERICAN REVOLUTION PROJECT

This project invites you to consider the nature of the American Revolution rather than the Revolutionary war itself. the questions you want to address include such things as, in the later colonial period, why did the Americans begin to rebel against British authority? (After all, they were probably the freest people in the world in 1775.) When and how did the Revolution really begin? Do you think the British could have prevented the American Revolution? Would the colonies eventually have become independent anyway? Why was the American Revolution still incomplete in 1783 when the Paris Treaty was signed? Why was there so much controversy over the United States Constitution? Why did it almost not get ratified? How do we Americans look at the legacy of our revolution today?

Read the documents and then consider those points and the ones below below. You don't have to consider them all. Feel free to use any additional sources you find useful to your case. Also, recall that many additional documents are available on the Internet and in the library in various collections.

• James Otis on Liberty
• Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress
• Resolves of the Continental Congress
• The Declaration of Independence
• Thomas Paine's Common Sense
• The Virginia Bill of Rights
• Blacks Petition Against Taxation
• The Articles of Confederation
• The Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom
• The Northwest Ordinance
• The Constitution of 1787
• Benjamin Franklin on the Constitution
• James Madison, Federalist #10
• Patrick Henry on the Constitution
• Jefferson on the Bank
• The Alien and Sedition Acts
• The Kentucky Resolutions

The topic summaries discuss the fact that the American Revolution has been the source of controversy among American (and British) historians. They have disagreed, often strongly, over what the American Revolution was really about. Some say it was conservative and changed very little; others claim it was radical, changing the world's thinking about government fundamentally. Some claim it was economically motivated, others that it was ideologically inspired. Some say it was a “good” revolution—some that it was a “bloody insurrection.” What do you think?

Consider:

• When did signs of revolutionamong the American colonists first begin to appear?
• Was the Revolution inevitable?
• Would the colonies eventually have become independent anyway? Why?
• What did the patriots really want?
• Why was the American Revolution not over in 1783 when the Paris Treaty was signed?
• What is the purpose of Constitutional government anyway?
• What did terms like “democracy” and “republic” mean in those times?
• Why was there so much controversy over the United States Constitution?
• Why did it almost not get ratified?
• Why was its acceptance not “self-evident,” like the principles in Jefferson's great Declaration?
• How did the government function under the Constitution in the early days?
• Did the Constitution prescribe exactly how the government was going to develop?

In other words, aside from what you find in the text and summaries or what you remember from high school or other readings, what do these founding documents tell you about the American Revolution?

Site Visit Information

You might start with the National Park Service American Revolution site. The Park service also has web sites on the Yorktown Battlefield, Valley Forge, Independence Hall and many other location. Any of those sites would be interesting to visit.

If you should happen to be in Boston, you can find many interesting revolutionary war sites such as:

• Lexington and Concord
• Boston Freedom Trail
• Another Freedom Trail Site
• The Old North Church where the lanterns were hung to alert Paul Revere.

The Saratoga Battlefield in upstate New York is an important revolutionary site.

If you go to Yorktown, you will find the Jamestown site and Colonial Williamsburg nearby, and you can visit all three sites in one day.

In Philadelphia you can also find the National Constitution Center, where you can find a great deal of information about the Constitution.

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