1. Introduction: Freeman's Top Five Tips for Studying the Revolution

The American Revolution (HIST 116)

Professor Freeman offers an introduction to the course, summarizing the readings and discussing the course's main goals. She also offers five tips for studying the Revolution: 1) Avoid thinking about the Revolution as a story about facts and dates; 2) Remember that words we take for granted today, like "democracy," had very different meanings; 3) Think of the "Founders" as real people rather than mythic historic figures; 4) Remember that the "Founders" aren't the only people who count in the Revolution; 5) Remember the importance of historical contingency: that anything could have happened during the Revolution.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction: Is the War Part of the American Revolution?
08:24 - Chapter 2. Reading Materials for the Course
13:45 - Chapter 3. Freeman's Tips One and Two: Facts and Meanings
22:13 - Chapter 4. Freeman's Tip Three: The Founders Were Human, Too
31:33 - Chapter 5. Freeman's Tip Four: The Other Revolutionaries
37:48 - Chapter 6. Freeman's Tip Five and Conclusion

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2010.