American Revolution

This course will look at the causes and effects of the American Revolution and some of the myths that surround it. Was the revolution based on grand ideas or long-standing fundamental differences between the colonies and the mother country? What role did both Britain and the colonies play in sparking the war? Were Americans unified before, during, and after the war? When the war ended, what had changed? How did the American Revolution influence people in other parts of the world and how did it affect Americans themselves? What are we to make of the failure to address enslavement and to prevent the theft and removal of Native Americans from their land? How should we characterize it—radical, truly revolutionary, conservative? Was it a war of liberation or was it our first civil war?

Recommended Reading: Instructor will provide readings from historians such as Lepore, Ellis, Taylor, Wood, and Degler, among others.

 Scott Andrews was the founding director of Chewonki Foundation’s Maine Coast Semester where he taught AP US history to high school students from throughout the US for 30 years. Since retiring, he’s taught two previous MSC courses in addition to volunteering at the Maine Maritime Museum.