American Revolution Free Essays

This lecture examines the American Revolution from a broad perspective. The best part about her lecture is that she breaks it down into five easy steps to understand, and for her being a professor at Yale she probably is one of the top favorite teachers Just because of how easy she breaks her lectures down. Freeman relates herself to one of the Founders, John Adams, because he wasn’t up to the status quo of every other Founder as she states it. We will write a custom essay sample on American Revolution or any similar topic only for you Order Now John was humorous and blunt, but serious and revealing, and that’s how she is in her lectures. Professor Joanne Freeman is a very intelligent woman that likes to see her students succeed in such a long and very detailed class. Freeman’s video starts off by unraveling her plan for the class, and predicts what she thinks her students thoughts are about the American Revolution. Joanne explains how in high school all that was mainly stressed about the American Revolution was the Declaration of Independence and George Washington, Paul Revere, and Just a â€Å"bunch of battles†. Freeman makes it clear to the students to be aware and get passed what you’ve been taught earlier in your life, and she breaks it down into five simple and comprehensive tips to help understand the Revolution and Just piece it altogether. The first tip that Freeman lectures about is by avoiding thinking about the Revolution in terms of a series of facts and dates, in her terms â€Å"a fact bubble. † (Freeman). In greater detail Freeman means that a lot of dates are involved with the Revolution and some are more important than others, and some are Just a string of facts that are there to explain the outcomes that occurred. Like the outcomes that occurred there was a word that disgusted the Founders of that time period, so tip number two is words like democracy, liberty and freedom, aren’t all that they seem to be. Democracy has little to no meaning in the colonial era, but you have to understand the subtle ways this was a moment of defining terms and transformation. † (Freeman). In greater detail Joanne tells the students to think about the meaning of words, not to Just read the definitions, but also to not assume about the words and how they describe the event because they could’ve meant something completely different now than what they did back then. An example of one of the many words that were brought up around the American Revolution era is democracy. The professor says that â€Å"democracy is a good thing to us now, but not ace then. † Especially Alexander Hamilton, she reads a quote from him and he states democracy as chaos, a disease in fact, and being a Founder it was part of the status quo. Speaking of The Founders, tip three from Freeman is: think of the â€Å"Founders† as real people rather than a mystical historic figure. In easier ways to understand, what Joanne means is that the Founders were normal people, she expressed that we tend to forget that they were people not deem-gods walking around with their chest and head held high. The professor also stressed about not getting caught up on trying to dead the way they spoke, reading and listening to their language from their era sounds more intelligent and inspiring than it really is. A big point that was brought to the student’s attention was the breakdown of looking over the opposing points and putting them together like a puzzle to better understand how it all happened and why. The fourth tip from Freeman was â€Å"remembering the Founders aren’t the only people who made the Revolution. An easier way to understand this is to know that the Founders weren’t men that were dressed up to have a quiet conversation. The Revolution was a popular uprising by a vast amount of colonists fought on American ground by all kinds of Americans. The Founders aren’t the only ones who mattered, the Revolution grounded on the ideas and beliefs of the people throughout many levels of society. Last but not least the fifth tip is remembering the importance of historical contingency and that anything could’ve happened during the Revolution and the outcome wasn’t inevitable. The way Freeman explains this tip is that a lot of people assume too much of what went on about the colonists, and that it’s important to know body knew what was going to happen in that era because if they did it would’ve probably been much more dramatic. Professor Joanne Freeman does a great Job of presenting the logic behind the decisions of the day and the feelings of the people and she doesn’t spend a lot of time on dates and facts. Also, to be able to take out the preconceived notions out of the way and to view what happened, and to understand nothing was certain throughout the American Revolution are an eye opener. References Professor Joanne Freeman: Five Tips for Studying the American Revolution. Peer. Joanne Freeman. Web. How to cite American Revolution, Papers American Revolution Free Essays Between 1760 and 1800 the thirteen colonies rejected the British Monarchy and became the sovereign United States of America, The American revolution is a term used to describe the events that occurred during this time of political turmoil. It was characterized by a number of new social and intellectual ideals that lead to many debates and eventually formed the core values of the United States. This essay will discuss how the revolution affected women, African Americans and working class whites. We will write a custom essay sample on American Revolution or any similar topic only for you Order Now Before and after the American Revolution the concept of mothers instilling values of republicanism in children gave them the identity of the â€Å"Republican Motherhood. † They would encourage their children to uphold the ideas of liberty and their daughters were held responsible of bringing these values to the next generation. This new role allowed a greater number of women to be educated. They also contributed by using ordinary domestic behaviors to influence the war. They boycotted British goods, spied on them, cared for the soldiers, followed armies into battle and cared for families (Berkin, 2006). When speaking about slaves the British would often exploit fear of slave revolts to lower support of the colonists. Though the colonists refuted these claims the British continued making them and in order to still their calls of hypocrisy regarding the rights of those slaves, they abolished slavery altogether in all the northern territories by 1804 freeing their children. The southern states however upheld the slavery laws (Davis p. 148-150, 2006). Additionally the working/poor class situated mainly in the south gained great power after the American Revolution due to their sheer numbers. This allowed them to not only control congress and the Supreme Court. Eventually certain citizens from the south also became president (Heer, 2008). References Berkin, C. (2006). Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence. New York: Vintage . Davis, D. B. (2006). Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World p. 148-150. New York: Oxford University Press. Heer, J. (2008, March 24). The American Revolution: A Mistake? Retrieved May 20, 2009, from Word Press: http://sanseverything. wordpress. com/2008/03/24/the-american-revolution-a-mistake/ How to cite American Revolution, Papers American Revolution Free Essays The phrase â€Å"no taxation without representation† was used in Boston but no one is sure who first used it. Boston politician James Otis was famously associated with the phrase â€Å"taxation without representation is tyranny. † The British Parliament had controlled colonial trade and taxed imports and exports, and the Americans have been deprived of a right. We will write a custom essay sample on American Revolution or any similar topic only for you Order Now The English Bill of Rights written in 1689 had forbidden the imposition of taxes without the consent of Parliament. Since the colonists had no representation in Parliament the taxes violated the guaranteed Rights of Englishmen. Parliament said that the colonist had â€Å"virtual representation. † George Greenville defended all the taxes by arguing that the colonist were virtually represented in Parliament. William Pitt, a defender of colonial rights, ridiculed virtual representation. However Parliament rejected criticism of the concept and the passed the Declaratory Act in 1766, stating the right of Parliament to legislate for the colonies in all cases. Americans such as Joseph Galloway debated and circulated plans for the creation of a representative of British Parliament or imperial powers that was to consist of American and British members of Parliament. Despite the facts these ideas were debated and discussed seriously no demand for this development was made.The Americans rejected the Stamp Act of 1765, violently rejected the remaining tax on tea imports, under the Tea Act, at the Boston Tea Party. When the British then used the military to enforce laws the colonist believed Parliament had passed illegally. The colonist responded by forming militias and seized political control of each colony, ousting the Royal governors. The British finally passed a law in 1775 which ended taxation for any colony. Americans possess all the rights of the Englishmen, and the principle of â€Å"no taxation without representation† was an essential part of the British Constitution. How to cite American Revolution, Papers