Hurricane Assignment for Mr. Richardson's classes

9/14/2018

Dear Mr. Richardson’s Students,
I hope you are staying safe and dry during our hurricane-adjacent weekend! As Hutch said in his prior post, we will reorder based on what happens over the weekend, but I’ll give you two things to consider over that time.
1) Evaluate the extent to which the revolution represented true change for varied social groups.
Please go to http://www.ghhsapush.com/period-3---1754-1800.html and fill out the chart under activity 4 using the readings on women, Native Americans, African-Americans, and Loyalists. Please also read about the experiences of Continental soldiers by reading “plumb martin source,” the 4th document recitation file. Consider the parallels between his experience and modern American soldiers. As continued practice to scaffold the skills necessary for historical writing, plan out an argument and write a thesis statement in response to the first sentence of this paragraph. Feel free to post your thesis as a response here if you'd like individualized feedback before class.
2) Enjoy listening to the soundtrack of “Hamilton.”
This award-winning musical tells the story of our first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. I’d recommend you listen to the entire album, but to cover through period three, these songs are most relevant to our content:
On the ideological basis of the revolution: Alexander Hamilton; Farmer Refuted; You’ll be Back
On fighting the Revolution: Right Man; Ten Duel Commandments; Guns and Ships: History has its Eyes on You: Yorktown: What Comes Next
On the Critical Period: passing the constitution and ruling a new nation: Non-Stop; What’d I Miss; Cabinet Battle 1; The Room where it Happens; Cabinet Battle 2; Washington on your side; one last time; The election of 1800

That’s about an hour of listening. You can find the album on spotify or youtube (searching for tracks or the whole album). As you listen, evaluate the extent to which this information supports/modifies/refutes representations in your textbook and analyze the efficacy of using this as an educational tool rather than a textbook or primary document analysis.
We will discuss these assignments when we are back. Obviously power/internet might go down this weekend so don’t stress if that happens and you cannot get one of these done - you can finish them anytime before the next test.

Please BE SAFE this weekend. I hope you are well and can't wait to see y'all soon.

26 Comments

Bella Allara

9/15/2018 12:03:44 pm

Although the American Revolution improved the rights and liberty of white men, increased the social status of women, and caused some blacks to be freed of slavery and exposed to the idea of liberty, it really didn't have a great representation of true change for Native American conflicts, women's rights, and Loyalist/Patriot relations.

Colin Richardson

9/15/2018 02:50:11 pm

Ms. Allara,
Structurally excellent. I can clearly identify your argument, categories of argumentation, and counterargument.
A few more granular thoughts: You have social status for women as something that changed in your counter but then have women's rights as unchanging. You might be hinting at Republican Motherhood, but this seems to be too fine a line to be drawing in the thesis statement. Consider consolidating the three components of your counter (e.g. "Although the American Revolution improved the rights and liberties of some populations in limited ways..."
"didn't have a representation of true change" seems like a needlessly wordy way to complicate your argument. Don't be afraid to write clearly :)
Similarly, be careful to respond directly to the prompt. You can probably get to the right place on "loyalist/patriot relations," but those relations aren't necessarily the same as previous status for each constituent group.
Again, very strong work! Thanks for posting.
Best, Mr. R

Felipe Yanaga

9/15/2018 02:21:25 pm

Although some groups did not get involved in much change, such as the Natives, who still suffered from the conflict with colonists; most of the groups experienced change to a great extent, as shown by the christian movement against slavery and the recognition of women’s contribution to the society.

Colin Richardson

9/15/2018 03:01:07 pm

Mr. Yanaga,
Strong structure: I see all three components of a good thesis statement.
A few thoughts:
In general, don't be overeager to use a semicolon. ~90% of sentences containing semicolons would be better off by being split into two sentences. (I write this as someone who deeply enjoys a good semicolon). Here, your counter is supplementing your argument. Would the first clause of the sentence work with a period? If not, then you can't use a semicolon :)
The lack of specificity in your "groups" fits with the broader vagueness of your thesis. Don't be afraid to reuse/appropriate language from the prompt to be absolutely clear. Your thesis should stand on its own as the embodiment of your entire argument.
Talking about slavery and women's groups seems a bit simplistic here. Are there any broader characteristics of continuity or change you can look at?
Again, good improvement. Thanks for posting!
All best,
Mr. Richardson

Madelyn Mudd

9/16/2018 12:43:40 pm

Some may argue that the American revolution sparked true change to occur for varied social groups in the the way they were thought of, but at the end of the revolution slavery was still the main labor system, women were still viewed as objects and trophies, and Native Americans were still belittled; overall while some views on these groups shifted no true action and change was brought about.

Colin Richardson

9/17/2018 02:38:14 pm

Ms. Mudd,
Good job structurally. There are some grammatical issues here that I think you'll resolve yourself if you read this sentence out loud. For instance, 'to occur' seems redundant b/c the verb in that clause is 'sparked.'
Something to consider, which seems to be a common issue with everyone's thesis, is planning and thinking a bit more broadly than individual groups. The prompt is asking you to consider change, as opposed to groups in isolation. In what ways can we explain similarities and differences in trends between groups?
Good job :)
All best, Mr. Richardson

Isabelle Dalton

9/16/2018 12:49:59 pm

Although the soldiers of the American Revolution and the American soldiers today both fight for what they believe in and experience hardships such as extreme conditions and lack of food, there are many differences between their experiences in the ways of promises about money and supplies, respect for the soldiers, and the clothes and resources that are provided for the soldiers.

Isabelle Dalton

9/16/2018 04:01:39 pm

Mr. Richardson,
I read the paragraph wrong and wrote the thesis on the life of the soldier. I was hoping that you could still give me comments for the thesis I did. Thank you

Colin Richardson

9/17/2018 02:39:14 pm

Ms. Dalton,
No worries about the misunderstanding. Structurally this thesis is very sound.
Good work,
Mr. Richardson

Pranav Singla

9/16/2018 02:35:29 pm

The American Revolution provided opportunities of change and improvement for some groups of people like women who were fighting for reformed gender roles, but on the other hand the revolution did not have an affect on other groups like the Native Americans and African Americans; as white superiority and western expansion was still a priority among the white population.

Colin Richardson

9/17/2018 02:41:23 pm

Mr. Singla,
Overall nicely done! Think a little more broadly when talking about groups that did experience social change - what about gender norms changed and can you draw connections to any other changes?
Great job with your final clause, connecting issues of Native and African Americans to white supremacy and western expansion is an excellent idea.
Keep it up,
Mr. Richardson

Reshma Goud

9/16/2018 10:52:49 pm

Though the American Revolution provided minimal change for varied social groups such as women earning more respect and some African Americans gaining freedom, the Revolution didn’t represent true change in terms of women’s rights, legalization of slavery, and conflicts between the colonists and Native Americans.

Colin Richardson

9/17/2018 02:41:59 pm

Ms. Goud,
Structurally perfect and well written.
Something to consider, which seems to be a common issue with everyone's thesis, is planning and thinking a bit more broadly than individual groups. The prompt is asking you to consider change, as opposed to groups in isolation. In what ways can we explain similarities and differences in trends between groups?
All best,
Mr. Richardson

Miranda Tran

9/17/2018 12:42:20 pm

While the American Revolution did result in an increase of women and African Americans being exposed to the ideals of liberty and equality that would become the foundation of future social movements, the revolution did not represent true change for many social groups immediately following its end, except for wealthy, white, land-owning men.

Colin Richardson

9/17/2018 02:42:36 pm

Ms. Tran,
Excellent structure and grammar.
Something to consider, which seems to be a common issue with everyone's thesis, is planning and thinking a bit more broadly than individual groups. The prompt is asking you to consider change, as opposed to groups in isolation. In what ways can we explain similarities and differences in trends between groups?
All best,
Mr. Richardson

Erhan Rehman

9/17/2018 01:56:57 pm

Although many societal norms remained the same, the revolution did indeed represent true change for varied social groups, seen through the subtle shifts in women's education, antislavery movements in the north, and western settling of the Patriots

Colin Richardson

9/17/2018 02:15:19 pm

Mr. Rehman,
Structurally excellent. Nicely written.
Big point of emphasis will be to think about how groups experienced changes in even bigger shifts. Rather than making a category for women, slaves, and natives (which is what I assume you would talk about in the West), how can you consider the experiences thereof within broader "macro" trends?
I'm not sure I'd argue norm staticity is the opposite as social change. Consider that the physical action of norms can stay constant even as society changes around them. I wear a watch, which has been a horological class signifier for ages, but today it is also connects me to others through texting and signals various socially constructed virtues (ah, I stood for 1 minute each of 12 hours today! truly I am an enlightened being.) Anyway, you can tell I just miss teaching sociology :)
Very well done.

Maya Mitchall

9/17/2018 09:46:43 pm

Although an argument could have been made that there was a change in ideals during the Revolution, there was no true change for varied groups in the Revolution as seen through the legal actions, social interactions and continued inter-group tensions. It can also be said that the changes in ideals did the opposite of encouraging change, as it fueled the lack of true change after the Revolution (for example, fear driving certain actions in the South).

Skyla Hoskins

9/17/2018 10:48:03 pm

The American Revolution led to toxic events, such as the whites tightening their strictness on slavery in attempt to reduce retaliation, women falling into poverty due to their male family members departing for war, Native American tribes being attacked by the whites, and loyalists having to leave their homes from the overpowering patriots, but the revolution also resulted in more or less positive things, like women announcing their needs for rights, Natives and Africans openly resisting the whites, and wealthy loyalists seizing opportunities to use their riches to gain power.

Sophie Sternkopf

9/18/2018 12:31:14 am

Although the American Revolution represented a change in the mindsets of people, various social groups such as Natives, African Americans, and Women did not see the change they wanted and were still not seen as equal through not being able to vote unless you were a wealthy land owning white male, not being able to be independent under marriage, and unable to gain freedom.

9/18/2018 07:45:50 am

Structurally excellent. I'm not sure your argument is thinking big enough.

Ahmed Ali

9/18/2018 01:02:37 am

Although the American Revolution exposed women and African slaves to ideas of liberty and independence, and equality, it did not result in true change in in their social statues; while the Native Americans and British loyalists where negatively affected by the revolution, for many were forced to flee the colonies and where robbed of their properties and statues making White male patriots the victors of the revolution in terms of advancement in social and political statues.

Giuli Hoffmann

9/19/2018 05:39:14 pm

Although the American Revolution did not alter the status of Loyalists and Native Americans, it did lead to the re-evaluation of the enslavement of African Americans, which many now considered immoral, the role women had in society because of their important contributions to the war effort, as well as the political power of the average white male because of Shay's Rebellion.

Isabelle Dalton

9/19/2018 05:43:11 pm

Although the Revolution improved social groups right's in some ways, such as many African slaves being freed and reform being enacted in the northern colonies, there was little change for the status of women, despite their war efforts, Native American relations, and Loyalists.

Emma Walker

9/19/2018 08:29:33 pm

Though the American Revolution provided short-term changes among social groups, little change was achieved in the long-term because of the continued white supremacy, dominance of wealthy men and western expansion after the war.

Sabrina Hess

9/20/2018 06:02:52 am

Despite the facts that women garnered greater respect in the minds of men because of ideas such as Republican Motherhood; that new ides of liberty began to circulate among African Americans; and political power followed new ideas of Universal Manhood Suffrage, extending political power to more men than simply the property-holding elite, true change did not occur posterior the American Revolution as political power still remained among white men; the wealth distribution remained relatively the same, in fact, the wealthy became even wealthier as plantations moved westward in an effort to find new soil; and encroachment upon native land intensified, eventually leading to drastic events such as the Trail of Tears, as previous British laws prohibiting further expansion became void and new efforts such as commercializing Western land to boost the failing American economy became binding.

Hurricane Assignment for Mr. Richardson's classes

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