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Week 5 · Module overview

Week 5 — The American Revolution

U.S. History to 1877 Free sample edition

Why this matters

A nursing student reading a hospital's founding charter and a business student weighing who a company's promises cover both meet this week's question: who did a grand promise include, and who did it leave out?

In plain language

This week is about how thirteen British colonies declared themselves a new country and won a war to keep that claim. Independence means a people governing themselves, free of another country's rule. You will read the Declaration of Independence, the statement of reasons Congress adopted in 1776, for what it promised and for whom it left out. You will follow the war from its turning point to its end, and ask what it meant for women, for enslaved and free Black Americans, and for Native nations. You will also date a peace treaty from its own words, even when an archive's page gives a different date.

  • Already covered: Week 1's four moves for reading a source, Week 3's laws of slavery, and Week 4's road from 1763 to Lexington and Concord.
  • This week: independence, the Declaration, the war, who the Revolution included, and the Treaty of Paris of 1783.
  • How they connect: you test the Declaration's promise against Week 3's law and Week 4's claims about consent.
  • Where we're going next: Week 6, Confederation & Constitution.

Focus

Why did colonists break with Britain, and who did independence include?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

  • [ ] source the Declaration and keep its date apart from its signing
  • [ ] tell the Declaration of 1776 from the Constitution of 1787
  • [ ] date the Treaty of Paris of 1783 from its own text
  • [ ] weigh who the Revolution's promise covered and who it left out

To-do

Plan your week

  1. Read Chapter 5 (~55–65 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
  2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes).
  3. Work the practice set (15–25 minutes).
  4. Do the Primary Source Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
  5. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: date any document from its own words, and name a heading or signing that disagrees.

You've got this

Old documents are hard to read, and this week's history is serious. Take it one line at a time, and ask your instructor if a step snags.

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