Revolution and Republican Culture

Book chapter

Revolution and Republican Culture, Part II Overlapping Revolutions Hammering out a Federal Republic Creating a Republican Culture

c. 7, 8, 9

Answer one of the following in 2-5 (minimum 1000 words)Typed Pages. Include in your essay a well formed introduction with your main idea (hypothesis), a body of evidence to support your interpretation and a conclusion which summarizes the main points of your essay and explains your overall argument.

1. “Inventing the Republic” asserts that the cultural system under the Articles is different from that of the Constitution of 1787. Does that mean there were two American Revolutions between 1770 and 1790?

2. One prominent interpretation of the
American Revolution asserts that the process of colonization created new
cultures in the colonies – What information in your text and readings supports the
development of a unique identity in colonial America that directly contributed to the American Revolution? or is it possible that the Revolution was an event related to British culture of the colonists?

3. The Founders were able to get rid of monarchy in the Revolution, so how come they couldn’t or didn’t get rid of slavery even though they based the Revolution on “all men are created equal,” the protection of rights and consensual (democratic) government?

Tips:

While Reading Assignments 1 and 2 were an exercise of synthesizing and gathering information and then explaining how that information fulfilled your interpretation of a question, for this Midterm Essay you are asked to build a formal interpretation by developing a hypothesis (your point within the context of the main elements you will evaluate to make that point), selecting information that supports that hypothesis and then structuring an argument to make your interpretation persuade your reader.

Examine the grading parameters as outlined in the Essay Matrix. There are also other helpers in Course Information on hypothesis construction, writing in history, and basic formatting. Any citations from assigned material (which is what I expect you to evaluate can just be done simply with parentheses with source and page number, like (Stanton, p. 12).

Please be aware that I expect an introduction, a body and a conclusion – Intro establishes context, defines elements and states your hypothesis (and it is the most important part of your essay), the body develops information and explains how the evidence you choose supports your hypothesis, and conclusion summarizes your points and clarifies your argument. Below I offer a brief idea of what I had in mind for the choices of questions for the Midterm (you will choose one) Good Luck!
This is not a research paper, but an essay to be based on your understanding of information in assigned readings, both from the text and those posted in the modules.

This is the Essay Info:

Answer one of the following in 2-5 (minimum 1000 words)Typed Pages. Include in your essay a well formed introduction with your main idea (hypothesis), a body of evidence to support your interpretation and a conclusion which summarizes the main points of your essay and explains your overall argument.

1. “Inventing the Republic” asserts that the cultural system under the Articles is different from that of the Constitution of 1787. Does that mean there were two American Revolutions between 1770 and 1790?

“Inventing” argues that the Articles established 13 nations based on a “British colonial mentality” – the US Constitution established one nation with 13 parts based on an “American identity”. So, what happened?

2. One prominent interpretation of the
American Revolution asserts that the process of colonization created new
cultures in the colonies – What information in your text and readings supports the
development of a unique identity in colonial America that directly contributed to the American Revolution? or is it possible that the Revolution was an event related to British culture of the colonists?

This question has nothing to do with the United States today, which has a diverse population from around the world. In 1776 about 90% of the free people in the colonies were British by ethnicity, language and culture. African Americans made up about 20% of the population and Germans about 10%. There were almost no other groups, so do not define the British colonies as a diverse place with people from around the world. Just not supported by evidence. At some point you have to think about colonial culture that was established by the large % of English settlers who wanted to replicate English patterns – maybe they did, maybe they did not – that is the point of the question, and if they did not establish a unique identity that would have made them want to be independent then what were the factors that motivated independence?

3. The Founders were able to get rid of monarchy in the Revolution, so how come they couldn’t or didn’t get rid of slavery even though they based the Revolution on “all men are created equal,” the protection of rights and consensual (democratic) government?
This question is about why white Revolutionaries did not extend freedom to African Americans – the Founders wrote that “all men are created equal” but they did not develop a society like that. Why? Were there real cultural reasons or was it just hypocrisy? What is the role and meaning of racism in this decision?