Undergraduate Course: Revolutionary America, 1763-1815 (HIST10416)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course considers the causes, course, and immediate consequences of the events which led to the creation of the United States, c. 1763-1815. It considers the degree to which those events can be described as "revolutionary" and the impact of the Revolution on all segments of American society as well the geopolitical significance of the creation of a new republic in the Americas at the end of the eighteenth century. |
| Course description |
Revolutionary America explores the crucial events that led to the creation of the United States as well as the first years of the new republic. It considers why some colonists in British North America rebelled against British rule while others did not (although thirteen North American colonies declared independence in 1776, an additional thirteen colonies on the mainland and in the Caribbean chose to remain within the British Empire). Among the themes and topics which the course considers are the causes of the American Revolution, the War of Independence, constitution-making, and the social and political development of the new American republic. The course considers the Revolution in a broad, Atlantic, perspective, assessing the geopolitical significance of the creation of a republic in the Western Hemisphere. It also considers the degree to which the emergence of that republic was shaped by and affected people of various social classes including women, African Americans, and Native Americans.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503780). |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting Students should usually have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 42 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Non-written skills 20%
1000-word essay plan and bibliography 10%
5000-word essay 70%
The non-written skills mark will be based on attendance and class participation. Students should come to class prepared to ask and answer questions related to the week's topic. Students will be advised on their class participation progress to date at the mid-semester feedback meeting and provided with advice on how they might improve. |
| Feedback |
Students will be given feedback on their essay plans and bibliographies in tutorials mid-way through the semester. They will have the opportunity to incorporate this feedback when they prepare their essays for submission later in the semester.
During the semester I will provide students with the opportunity to attend small-group tutorials (c. 3 students) lasting 45 minutes in addition to the weekly seminars. These tutorials are not compulsory, but each student will have the opportunity to attend at least two of these tutorials each semester. At these tutorials students will have the opportunity to discuss the week's topic in greater detail and to ask (and answer) questions.
Students will be given written feedback on their end-of-term essay, the largest component of assessment. They will also have the opportunity to meet with the Course Organiser to supplement this with oral feedback (normally in semester 2). |
| No Exam Information |
|
| Academic year 2017/18, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)
|
Quota: 8 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Non-written skills 20%
1000-word essay plan and bibliography 10%
5000-word essay 70%
The non-written skills mark will be based on attendance and class participation. Students should come to class prepared to ask and answer questions related to the week's topic. Students will be advised on their class participation progress to date at the mid-semester feedback meeting and provided with advice on how they might improve. |
| Feedback |
Students will be given feedback on their essay plans and bibliographies in tutorials mid-way through the semester. They will have the opportunity to incorporate this feedback when they prepare their essays for submission later in the semester.
During the semester I will provide students with the opportunity to attend small-group tutorials (c. 3 students) lasting 45 minutes in addition to the weekly seminars. These tutorials are not compulsory, but each student will have the opportunity to attend at least two of these tutorials each semester. At these tutorials students will have the opportunity to discuss the week's topic in greater detail and to ask (and answer) questions.
Students will be given written feedback on their end-of-term essay, the largest component of assessment. They will also have the opportunity to meet with the Course Organiser to supplement this with oral feedback (normally in semester 2). |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967).
Colin G. Calloway, The American Revolution in Indian Country (1995).
Francis D. Cogliano, Revolutionary America, 1763-1815: A Political History, 3rd ed. (2017).
Sylvia R. Frey, Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age (1991).
Maya Jasanoff, Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (2011).
Jane Kamensky, A Revolution in Color (2016).
Michael j. Klarman, The Framers' Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution (2016).
Robert G. Parkinson, The Common Cause: Creating Race and Revolution in the American Revolution (2016).
Janet Polasky, Revolutions without Borders: The Call to Liberty in the Atlantic World (2015).
Alan Taylor, American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 (2016).
Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1991).
Rosemarie Zagarri, Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic (2007).
Primary Sources:
Founders Online: Correspondence and Other Writings of Six Major Shapers of the United States https://founders.archives.gov/
The Online Library of Liberty: The American Revolution and Constitution http://oll.libertyfund.org/groups/65 [Particularly Charles S. Hyneman, ed. American Political Writing During the Founding Era, 1760-1805, 2 vols (1983)] |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | American Revolution |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Frank Cogliano
Tel: (0131 6)50 3774
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Jonathan Donnelly
Tel: (0131 6)50 3781
Email: |
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