Presents a comprehensive of the American Revolution, from early settlement of the continent, through the crises of the 1760's and the 1770's, to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and finally to the election of 1800. Also examines the role played by African Americans and Native Americans.

"Course no. 8520." 48 lectures (30 min. each). Five part set (guidebook + 4 DVD containers).

Part 1. Lecture 1. Self-evident truths -- lecture 2. Ideas and ideologies -- lecture 3. Europeans of colonial America -- lecture 4. Natives and slaves of colonial America -- lecture 5. The colonies in the Atlantic world, c. 1750 -- lecture 6. The Seven Years' War -- lecture 7. The British constitution -- lecture 8. George III and the politics of empire -- lecture 9. Politics in British America before 1760 -- lecture 10. James Otis and the writs of assistance case -- lecture 11. The search for order and revenue -- lecture 12. The Stamp Act and rebellion in the streets. Part 2. Lecture 13. Parliament digs in its heels, 1766-1767 -- lecture 14. The crisis of representation -- lecture 15. The logic of loyalty and resistance -- lecture 16. Franklin and the search for reconciliation -- lecture 17. The Boston Massacre -- lecture 18. The British Empire and the Tea Act -- lecture 19. The Boston Tea Party and the Coercive Acts -- lecture 20. The First Continental Congress -- lecture 21. Lexington and Concord -- lecture 22. Second Continental Congress and Bunker Hill -- lecture 23. Thomas Paine and Common Sense -- lecture 24. The British seizure of New York. Part 3: Lecture 25. The Declaration of Independence -- lecture 26. The war for New York and New Jersey -- lecture 27. Saratoga, Philadelphia, and Valley Forge -- lecture 28. The creation of state constitutions -- lecture 29. Jefferson's statute for religious freedom -- lecture 30. Franklin, Paris, and the French alliance -- lecture 31. The Articles of Confederation -- lecture 32. Yorktown and the end of the war -- lecture 33. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 -- lecture 34. The crises of the 1780s -- lecture 35. African Americans and the Revolution -- lecture 36. The Constitutional Convention. Part 4: Lecture 37. The United States Constitution -- lecture 38. The Antifederalist critique -- lecture 39. The Federalists' response -- lecture 40. The Bill of Rights -- lecture 41. Politics in the 1790s -- lecture 42. The Alien and Sedition Acts -- lecture 43. The election of 1800 -- lecture 44. Women and the American Revolution -- lecture 45. The Revolution and Native Americans -- lecture 46. The American Revolution as social movement -- lecture 47. Reflections by the revolutionary generation -- lecture 48. The meaning of the Revolution.