Discussion Questions II

 1. How does the colonists’ philosophical understanding of the nature of government shape the content and style of the Declaration Independence?

 2. To whom is the Declaration addressed?

 3. Discuss the importance of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton.

 4. What was the British strategy that led to the Battle of Saratoga? What understanding of the situation in America and the challenge facing them did this represent?

 5. What happened at Saratoga and why is it important?

 6. Why did Cornwallis shift operations to the South after 1777? What strategy did this reflect?

 7. Discuss the significance of the battles of Camden, Cowpens, and Guilford Courthouse.

 8. What elements combined for the decisive American victory at Yorktown?

 9. Be able to identify the following people: Marquis de Lafayette, Lord Charles Cornwallis, Gen. Henry Clinton, Admiral Thomas Graves, Comte de Rochambeau, Comte De Grasse, Marquess of Rockingham, Gen. Nathanael Greene, Gen. Horatio Gates.

 10. Washington played a number of roles between 1775 and 1789 -- military commander, revolutionary leader, founding father. Assess how the first two of these roles developed between 1775, when he took command of the Army at Cambridge, and 1781, when he addressed the Continental Army officers at Newburgh.

 11. What were the underlying reasons why Britain failed to retain control of its colonies in North America? What did England need to do to win the war and why couldn’t they do it?

 12. What role did the French Alliance play in American success.

 13. Who were the loyalists (a socio-economic profile) and generally how were they treated in the colonies?

 14. What consequences, if any, did the Revolution have for Native Americans (a.k.a. Indians) and African Americans?

 15. One of the classic questions about the American Revolution is "How revolutionary was it?" So, based on the two texts: how much did the Revolution change the lives of Americans?

 MID TERM ESSAY

It can be argued that the American struggle for Independence, or the creation of the American nation if you wish, had three distinct stages -- the revolution in the minds and hearts of the people which led them to see themselves as a separate nation from England; the military struggle for recognition of this separation; and finally the construction of a new political order that institutionalized these changes.

First, what was this earlier revolution, the one described by John Adams, and how did it unfold prior to 1775? Second, do you agree or disagree with the idea that the war, the military action between 1775 and 1781, merely gained recognition for this earlier transformation? Or, did the war, itself, contribute to the new definition of America?