AMERICA IN THE 1770s

 

An Introduction to the Project

 

If You Have to "Join or Die"
How DO You Join?

The Importance of Understanding
Communications in the Revolutionary Era

 

 

READING Revolution

 

How do we make sense of a conversation
that took place over 200 years ago?

Reading the Rhetoric of the Revolution

What is Rhetoric? Dialogue and Debate in the Writing of the Revolution

A Rhetoric of Rights:

The Arguments Used in the "American Conversation" in the Era of the Revolution
A Step-by-Step Guide to Constructing Quick Analyses of Revolutionary-Era Texts

Investigating the History of Slavery in Early America:

A Guide to Critical Reading
Evaluate the Reasoning
Evaluate the Reliability of Evidence
Finding Your Own Answers

Texts that Illustrate Typical Arguments and Techniques

 

WRITING Revolution

 

"Magna Charta is such a fellow
that he will have no sovereign"

Constructing an American Rhetoric of "Rights"

Americans are "Englishmen," and Englishmen Have Earned Constitutional Rights

Natural Law Guarantees All Human Beings Fundamental Rights

Divine Law Guarantees All Human Beings Fundamental Rights

Parents Have a Natural Authority Over their Children, but England has Not Behaved as a "Natural" Mother

The Model of Ancient Republics Show that Freemen Should Not Submit to Slavery

"Forefathers" Earned Freedom for All Americans

Colonists are Entitled to Charter Rights Given to Forefathers

America is Entitled to Rights and Respect Because It Is Destined to Be Mighty

 

 

Speaking Revolution

Declaring Independence

 

PRINTING Revolution

 

Would there have been an American Revolution Without Newspapers and Mail? The Role of Communications in the American Revolution 

Getting the Word Out: Franklin's Communications Revolutions

The Dangerous Lives of Printers:
The Evolution of Freedom of the Press

Newspapers in America Before the Era of the Revolution

Newspapers in Revolutionary-Era America and the Problems of Patriot and Loyalist Printers

A Patriot Printer and His "Forge of Sedition":
The Story of Isaiah Thomas

The Role of Newspapers in the Revolution:
Isaiah Thomas's The History of Printing in America

Not Just the News:
A War of Letters, Pamphlets, Broadsides, and Sermons

 

 

PICTURING Revolution

Turning Snakes Back on the British:

Constructing Republican Icons

 

SINGING Revolution

What Happened When Americans
Went to Town
on Yankee Doodle

 

REVOLUTIONIZING the Revolution

 

If "All Men Are Created Equal"
What About African-Americans?

Expanding the Revolution: Race, Slavery and the American Revolution

Investigating the History of Race and Slavery in Early America: A Guide to Critical Reading

Investigating the History of Race and Slavery in Early America: What the Founders Said, Wrote About and Did About Race and Slavery

Revolutionizing the Revolution in the 19th Century: Using the Founders and Founding Documents to Fight Slavery

Expanding the Revolution: An Annotated Guide on Topics and Resources on Africans, African-Americans, Native-Americans, and Women in the Era of the Revolution

 

REMEMBERING Revolution

"What Uncle John Saw at the Fair":

Recreating and
Re-Revolutionizing the Past

 

DIGITIZING the Revolution

Links to Resources

 

 

 

The E Pluribus Unum Project is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is co-directed by Dr. John McClymer, Professor of History, Assumption College; Dr Lucia Knoles, Professor of English, Assumption College; and Dr. Arnold Pulda, Director of Gifted and Talented student programs for the public schools in Worcester, MA. Visitors are encouraged to send inquiries or suggestions.