Professor Freeman discusses the national debate over the proposed Constitution, arguing that in many ways, when Americans debated its ratification, they were debating the consequences and meaning of the Revolution. Some feared that a stronger, more centralized government would trample on the rights and liberties that had been won through warfare, pushing the new nation back into tyranny, monarchy, or aristocracy. The Federalist essays represented one particularly ambitious attempt to quash Anti-Federalist criticism of the Constitution. In the end, the Anti-Federalists did have one significant victory, securing a Bill of Rights to be added after the new Constitution had been ratified by the states.

Reading assignment:
Bailyn, Faces of Revolution, chapter 10

Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, pp. vii-xxxi, lix, #1-10, 15, 21, 33, 70, 84-85

Brown, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, pp. 389-438, 451-81

1. Introduction: Freeman's Top Five Tips for Studying the Revolution
2. Being a British Colonist
3. Being a British American
4. "Ever at Variance and Foolishly Jealous": Intercolonial Relations
5. Outraged Colonials: The Stamp Act Crisis
6. Resistance or Rebellion? (Or, What the Heck is Happening in Boston?)
7. Being a Revolutionary
8. The Logic of Resistance
9. Who Were the Loyalists?
10. Common Sense
11. Independence
12. Civil War
13. Organizing a War
14. Heroes and Villains
15. Citizens and Choices: Experiencing the Revolution in New Haven
16. The Importance of George Washington
17. The Logic of a Campaign (or, How in the World Did We Win?)
18. Fighting the Revolution: The Big Picture
19. War and Society
20. Confederation
21. A Union Without Power
22. The Road to the Constitutional Convention
23. Creating a Constitution
24. Creating a Nation
25. Being an American: The Legacy of the Revolution

The American Revolution entailed some remarkable transformations--converting British colonists into American revolutionaries, and a cluster of colonies into a confederation of states with a common cause--but it was far more complex and enduring then the fighting of a war. As John Adams put it, "The Revolution was in the Minds of the people... before a drop of blood was drawn at Lexington"--and it continued long past America's victory at Yorktown. This course will examine the Revolution from this broad perspective, tracing the participants' shifting sense of themselves as British subjects, colonial settlers, revolutionaries, and Americans.

Course Structure:
This Yale College course, taught on campus twice per week for 50 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Spring 2010.