History 494/710: Rebels
and Revolutionaries in the Atlantic World, 1750-1850
Professor Terry Bouton
Phone: 410-455-2056
E-MAIL: bouton[at]umbc.edu
Office: 722 Administration
Bldg.
Office Hours: Wed., 4:00pm-5:00pm, 6:30pm-7:00pm; Fri. 1:30pm-2:15pm…and
more…by appointment
(It is always best to email before you plan
to come to office hours so I can block out time for you. I typically
schedule meetings with students and advisees during office hours, so it's best
to contact me before you plan to arrive to make certain I'm available.)
Course Webpage: http://research.umbc.edu/~bouton/RebelsRevs2010.htm
*I
would advise bookmarking this page since it has links to all the documents and
assignments*
Course Meeting Place: ACADEMIC
BUILDING IV 108
Campus Map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/map_flash.html
Course Meeting Time: Wed. 7:10PM - 9:40PM
Course Description:
History 710 will examine the revolutions that the spread across
the Atlantic World from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, a period some
have called the “Age of Revolution.” The primary focus will be the “successful”
revolutions in the American colonies, France, Saint-Domingue (Haiti), and Latin
America. We’ll also examine unrest, rebellion, and “failed” revolutions in
Europe and the Americas. Finally, we’ll try to understand the global
implications of the revolutions in the Atlantic basin. Given the breadth of
topics, the object is not to gain an exhaustive understanding of any one
revolution, but rather to explore the connections between these diverse
revolutions. In what ways were they similar? Did they share common causes,
trajectories, ideals, and outcomes? How revolutionary was each revolution in
terms opening up rights and freedoms and shifting power to “the people”? What
changes did they bring politically, economically, socially, and in terms of
class, race, and gender? Whose position improved? Whose did not? To what extent
were these diverse revolutions independent events? How much did they inspire
one another? How far did the waves from the Atlantic revolutions spread?
Course Format:
The course will be run as a reading and discussion intensive
seminar. In general, we’ll begin each topic by reading a book in common
from the list below. Then for the second week (and sometimes third) on a
particular topic, each of you will branch out in a different direction within
that broad topic. The choice of direction will be up to you. For
example, for the French Revolution, we’ll all read Jeremy D. Popkin’s, A
Short History of the French Revolution. The following week you can
pick some aspect of the French Revolution to delve into more deeply: it might
be questions of citizenship, it may be "The Terror," it may be
Napoleon, it might be about the role of religion or how the revolution dealt
with issues of race or gender. On these weeks, I’ll provide a list of
books to choose from (you can also select books that are not on the list). For
these classes, each of you will report on the aspect of the revolution covered
by the book you read. The goal is to put all of these pieces together to
see if we can fit them into a broader portrait.
Readings:
The following books will be available for purchase at the campus
bookstore:
1)
Wim Klooster, Revolutions in the Atlantic
World: A Comparative History
(Paperback)
2)
Jeremy D. Popkin, A Short History of the
French Revolution, (5th
Edition) (Paperback)
3)
Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New World:
The Story of the Haitian
Revolution (Paperback)
4) John Charles Chasteen, Americanos: Latin America's Struggle for Independence (Paperback)
5) John Lynch, Simon Bolivar: A Life (Paperback)
6)
David Armitage (Editor), Sanjay Subrahmanyam
(Editor), The Age of
Revolutions in Global Context, c. 1760-1840 (Paperback)
All of these books are (or
will be) available at the campus bookstore.
I have also put a copy of each book on 3-day reserve at the library.
IMPORTANT: The campus bookstore
usually only keeps books in stock for the first half of the semester.
Consequently, you need to purchase your books early in the semester and,
preferably, at the start of the course. I will not accept “the bookstore
ran out” as an excuse for missed reading assignments.
Requirements:
(I reserve the right to make changes to the requirements or to the
schedule.)
Participation:
100 points
Postings:
275 points (11 postings, 25 points for each posting)
Final
Reflection: 25
points
Total
Points
400 points
For those in HIST 495:
360-400 points will be an A
320-359 points will be a B
280-319 points will be a C
240-279 points will be a D
Below 240 points will be an F
For those in HIST 710:
372-400 points will be an A (93%-100%)
360-371 points will be an A- (90%-92%)
348-359 points will be a B+ (87%-89%)
332-347 points will be a B (83%-86%)
320-331 points will be a B- (80%-82%)
308-329 points will be a C+ (77%-79%)
292-307 points will be a C (73%-76%)
280-291 points will be a C- (70%-72%)
268-279 points will be a D+ (67%-69%)
252-267 points will be a D (63%-66%)
240-251 points will be a D- (60%-62%)
Below 240 points will be an F
Participation:
The success of this class will require active participation by every
student. Effective participation starts with preparation before you step into
the classroom: reading the books, understanding them, and thinking through the
issues they raise. Participation also means engaging in class discussion. On
weeks when we’ll all be reading a common book, this doesn’t mean answering one
question and sitting quietly for the rest of class. It means participating
throughout the evening and speaking up when you have something to add to the
discussion. I understand that some people are shy and feel awkward
participating. But you’re going to need to work through your reticence and
speak up if you want a good participation grade. I can’t read minds and won’t
be able to give you credit for ideas you have while sitting in class if you
don’t share them with the group. On “read around” weeks, it will be more
difficult to hide, since we will go around the room and EVERYONE will be
responsible for reporting on her or his book.
Finally, it should go without saying that participation means attendance. We
only meet once a week, which means every class period is critical. If you’re
not in class, you cannot participate and you will receive a zero as
participation for that day. Start accumulating zeros and watch your grade
plummet. You can also watch me get peeved at you.
Postings:
The grade for postings on the reading assignments will depend on the
quality of your written submissions to the Blackboard Discussion Board.
There will be THIRTEEN posting assignments throughout the semester. Each
posting will be worth 25 points. At the end of the semester, your top ELEVEN
postings will count (meaning I will drop your lowest two). Although this
means that you can take two mulligans (that is, blow off two postings), I still
expect you to do that week’s reading and report on it in class—even if you do
not post. Your participation grade doesn’t get a mulligan.
Each posting will be a review of the book to be discussed for that week's
class. For each review, you should provide a general recap of the books
main arguments and then provide an ANALYSIS of the book: Was the argument
convincing? What were the book's strengths and weaknesses? How does the
book help us to understand revolutions or resistance? How does it mesh with the
other things we have been learning this semester? You should support your
analysis with specific examples and quotes from the book to demonstrate your
points. Remember: I do not want just a description of what the book said, I
want you to reflect on the book's effectiveness, its persuasiveness, and how it
fits into the broader picture.
Postings
are due by 6:00pm on the night that we are discussing the book.
Notes on Blackboard: Students enrolled in this course must have an
active email account and access to the Internet. HIST 495/710 uses
Blackboard On-line software. This means that you will have access to course
materials 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the Internet. Most
assignments will be submitted on-line at the Blackboard course website. As a
UMBC student, you have a personal email account and access to the Internet and
through the many on-campus computer labs (locations, hours, etc.). You can also
access Blackboard off campus through a personal account or from the UMBC
dial-up. Getting started on Blackboard: Your registration with the
UMBC Registrar for HIST 495/710 will make you eligible to enroll in Blackboard.
To gain entrance to discussion boards and course material, you MUST enroll in
the on-line version of HIST 495/710 on the course Blackboard site in order to
have full access. BEFORE you do anything else, enroll in the course
on-line by going to: http://blackboard.umbc.edu
IMPORTANT: I require
everyone to save a personal copy of all of their discussion postings (as well
as the final reflection paper) on their home computer, thumb drive, cd, or
whatever storage device they choose.
IMPORTANT: Blackboard is
occasionally buggy. I HIGHLY suggest that you type out your response
with a word processing program and then cut and paste into Blackboard rather
than the other way around. If you have a problem with Blackboard, it is your
responsibility to ensure that I receive a copy of your posting by the
deadline. DO NOT automatically email me a copy of every posting. ONLY
email postings in the event of a Blackboard emergency.
Final Reflection:
Each student will write a final ten-page paper that compares and contrasts
the different revolutions and rebellions that we studied this semester.
The objective of the paper is to take a step back and reflect on the insights
you have gained over the semester and the conclusions you have drawn about the
revolutionary Atlantic World. I’m flexible about how you want to handle this
assignment. You make want to focus on broad issues of comparison and contrast
between the different revolutions. You might want to hone in on a particular
aspect of the revolutions that caught your interest: origins, ideology, or
outcome, questions of citizenship, the role of religion, the place of class,
race, or gender—or some other topic. The only real requirement is that you off
conclusions based on analysis that runs across most of the revolutions we
covered (you need not hit them all).
Final
Reflection due Dec. 8 (the last night of class)
Academic
Integrity:
I expect students enrolled in this course to uphold the UMBC Policy on
Academic Integrity http://www.umbc.edu/provost/integrity/acc_policy/. In the
Spring of 2002, the UMBC Faculty and Student Senates adopted the following
statement emphasizing the importance of academic integrity:
By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UMBC's scholarly community in which everyone's academic work and behavior are held to the highest standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts are all forms of academic dishonesty, and they are wrong. Academic misconduct could result in disciplinary action that may include, but is not limited to, suspension or dismissal. To read the full Student Academic Conduct Policy, consult the UMBC Student Handbook, the Faculty Handbook, or the UMBC Policies section of the UMBC Directory.
Don’t cheat. Seriously. Don’t plagiarize. Don’t even think about it. I will catch you. And I will bust you. And I will laugh with glee about it as I fill out the mountain of paper work to get you expelled from the program. I’ve done it before—with a graduate student no less. I’d rather not do it again. Thank you.
Class Schedule:
Sept. 1: Introduction
Revolutionary Traditions Before the “Age of Revolution”
Creating a Framework for Studying Revolutions
Sept. 8: Comparing Revolutions: Refining Our Framework
Reading: Klooster, Revolutions in the Atlantic World: A Comparative History
Sept. 15: The American Revolution: Origins
Reading: TBA
Sept. 22: The American Revolution: Ideals
Reading: TBA
Sept 29: The American Revolution: Outcomes
Reading: TBA
Oct. 6: The French Revolution
Reading: Popkin, A Short History of the French Revolution
Oct. 13: The French Revolution: Origins and Ideals
Reading: TBA
Oct. 20: The French Revolution: Outcomes
Reading: TBA
Oct. 27: The Haitian Revolution
Reading: Dubois, Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian
Revolution
Nov.3: Latin American Revolutions
Reading: Chasteen, Americanos: Latin America's Struggle for Independence
Nov. 10: Latin America: The Ubiquitous Simon Bolivar
Reading: Lynch, Simon Bolivar: A Life
Nov. 17: Latin America: Compare and Contrast
Reading: TBA
Nov. 24: “Failed” Revolutions: European Upstarts, Slave Rebels, and a
Pan-Indian Movement
Reading: TBA
Dec. 1: Atlantic Revolutions or Global Revolutions?
Reading: Armitage and Subrahmanyam eds., The Age of
Revolutions in Global Context, c. 1760-1840
Dec. 8: Final Reflections on the Age of Revolution
A wrap up discussion about where we’ve been this semester.