Week 5 · Readings & resources

Week 5 — Readings & Resources

U.S. History to 1877 Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 5 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 91–115 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text. One video and one reading describe slavery and wartime violence directly; take them at your own pace.

Pick-one quick path (19–24 min total)

① Declaring independence, and dating the Declaration

Chapter 5, Section “Date the Declaration and keep it apart from the Constitution” · Session 1, Segment 4, “Adopted, then signed” · Remember: the Declaration's date is the day Congress adopted its text, and most delegates signed the parchment weeks later.

The Declaration of Independence: A History — National Archives — the archive's own account of how the Declaration was made: Richard Henry Lee's resolution, the committee of five, Jefferson's draft and the changes Congress made, the vote for independence two days before the adoption, and the engrossed parchment signed in August. Read through the section on the signing, where the page says that the belief that every delegate signed on the date in the heading is a common mistake, and stop where it turns to the parchment's later travels. (reading, 15–20 min)
The Declaration of Independence: A Conversation with a Conservator — US National Archives — a conservator who handled the signed parchment explains how years of travel by ship and horse, rolling, folding, and display wore it down, and how it is now sealed against the air. Watch it as a reminder that the engrossed parchment is an object with its own history, separate from the text Congress adopted. (video, 3 min) (captions: creator)

② The war and its alliances

Chapter 5, Section “Follow the war: strategy, alliances, and turning points” · Session 2, Segment 5, “Three turning points” · Remember: a victory at Saratoga helped bring the French alliance, and French help made the surrender at Yorktown possible.

Treaty of Alliance Between the United States and France — the Avalon Project — the treaty that made the French alliance of 1778. Its second article names the alliance's purpose as keeping the United States independent, and its eighth says neither side will make peace with Britain without the other's consent. Notice that the treaty's last line and Avalon's heading agree on its date, unlike the Treaty of Paris of 1783. (reading, 8–12 min)
Year in Revolution 1781: Overview — American Revolution Institute — a short overview of the war's last major campaign, from the southern battles to the siege of Yorktown and the British surrender to American and French forces, with Spanish pressure on the Gulf Coast along the way. It notes that the First Rhode Island Regiment, which included Black and Indigenous soldiers, served at the siege. It also mentions the states finishing ratification of the Articles of Confederation that year; stop there, because next week takes up the Articles. (video, 4 min) (captions: automatic)

③ Who the Revolution included

Chapter 5, Section “Weigh who the Revolution included” · Session 2, Segment 6, “Choices with high stakes” · Remember: women, enslaved and free Black Americans, and Native nations each faced their own choices, and a private letter speaks for its writer alone.

Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams — Massachusetts Historical Society — a transcription of Abigail Adams's letter from the family papers the society keeps, with images of each page of the original manuscript. Its heading dates the letter 31 March to 5 April 1776, because she kept writing for several days; compare that with Founders Online's date of 31 March 1776 and decide what each date describes. (reading, 10–15 min)
Abigail Adams' 1776 Letter: "Remember the Ladies" — Fort Ticonderoga — a museum's reading of portions of the letter aloud, including her doubt that people used to taking away others' liberty could love liberty as strongly, and the passage the course quotes. Listen for her warning that women will not hold themselves bound by laws in which they have no voice or representation. This builds on Week 4's work with taxation and representation. (video, 4 min) (captions: creator)
Lord Dunmore's Proclamation — Encyclopedia Virginia — a reference entry on the governor's offer of freedom: how enslaved Virginians first asked to join him and were turned away, the proclamation of martial law in November 1775, and the Black soldiers of the Ethiopian Regiment who fought for the Crown. It gives its own dates and figures; the course keys none of them. (reading, 15–20 min)
The American Revolution: Crash Course Black American History #8 — CrashCourse — the host opens by reading the Declaration's grievances as if they described Black Americans' lives, then traces Black soldiers on both sides, Dunmore's offer, Rhode Island's regiment, and the Black Loyalists who left with the British. His numbers are estimates, so treat them as the video's, not the course's. One slip to catch: the phrase about liberty and justice for all comes from a much later pledge, not from the Revolution's documents. Use it while working through the Week-5 module overview. (video, 11 min) (captions: creator)
Oneida Indian Nation: America's First Allies — Oneida Indian Nation — the Oneida Indian Nation's own account of its alliance with the Americans: the Grand Council's first decision to stay neutral, the Battle of Oriskany, where Oneida warriors fought Haudenosaunee relatives on the British side, and the corn carried to the army at Valley Forge. Watch to about the seven-minute mark; the closing part turns to a treaty of 1794 the course does not cover. (video, 9 min) (captions: automatic)

④ The peace and its date

Chapter 5, Section “Date the Treaty of Paris of 1783 from its text” · Session 2, Segment 7, “The text wins” · Remember: the treaty's own last line dates it to the third day of September 1783, whatever an archive's heading says.

Year in Revolution 1783: Treaty of Paris — American Revolution Institute — a two-minute account of the peace talks in Paris and the treaty's terms on independence, borders, and fishing rights, ending with its signing in September 1783. Check it against the record: the narration says the preliminary articles were signed in January 1783, but the treaty's own opening dates the provisional articles to November 1782, so trust the treaty's text. (video, 2 min) (captions: automatic)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription — National Archives — the full text of the week's Primary Source Workshop document, in the transcript the National Archives keeps. Find the date in its heading, the line on equality the course quotes, and the grievance about the frontier, then read the names at the end and remember that those names were signed on the engrossed parchment weeks after the text's date. (reading, 10–15 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

Provenance: Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com