Week 3

Week 3 response paper

Write a response paper of 2-3 pages on America Secedes from the Empire, 1775–1783 with following questions to be addressed in the paper. What was radical and new in the Declaration of Independence and what was old and traditional? What did statements like ―all men are created equal‖ mean in their historical context and what did they come to mean later? Was military strategy or politics the key to American victory in the war? How did the two coincide? If the ―Model Treaty‖ that John Adams authored had been the basis for the American alliance with France, would the results of the Revolution have been the same? Did the Loyalists deserve to be persecuted and driven out of the country? What difference does it make to understand the Revolution as a civil war between Americans as well as a war against the British?