Diary of a Revolutionary War Woman ; Devin Pepe

1. The Revolutionary War has had a very large impact on my life. My husband has left me to go fight in the war. I am now left at home to take care of our family farm on my own.This job is very difficult considering my only job before this was to maintain the house and work the kitchen. This is very different than what I have ever experience before. I am also very lonely without my husband. Of course I am very proud of him for fighting for our freedom, but hope that he returns home safe very soon. 2. My husband has returned home again, but only for a short period of time. He leaves again in the morning. This time I am going with him and staying in a Patriot camp. I will be put to work on necessary tasks around the camp, such as cooking, cleaning and nursing. Although this seems like a very tough job, I will be happier with my husband by my side. Although many say this journey will be very difficult, I am happy to be doing anything I can to help this country and my husband. Any sacrifice will help gain our freedom that we deserve. 3. I am now at the Patriot camp with my husband. It is not at all luxurious, but I do not complain. Nothing is as bad as when I was left alone at home to take care of the farm. I have spent most of my hours of the day preparing meals, nursing to the wounded and maintaining the campsite. My husband says he is much happier with me around. There are also other women at the camp, but only a few. One woman even goes out to fight with the men, but I would never. I am very content with my role at the camp and happy to be helping my country in anyway I can.

Applying the American Revolution Classwork

Mistakes were Made

Lauren Yagoda 

Hello,

     Thank you for inquiring my advice regarding Britain’s current situation. I am sorry for your loss of the thirteen colonists, but I firmly believe that this ordeal could have been avoided. First, the instability of the Great Britain government played a large role in the tension leading up to the war. If you had not run the colonies inefficiently and loosely they would not have had the chance to form colonial assemblies or govern themselves. You then tried to recompense for the lose government, like King George I or II, Pitt, with strict officials such as the King George III, Townshend, North, or Grenville. This was a sudden change for the colonists, who had grown accustomed to self-governing. Therefore, if you wish to be a large empire then make sure your own government is stable first. Second, the communication with the colonies was very poor and led to feelings of resentment from the colonists. If you want to have a colony a three-day boat ride away, make sure you communicate with it. This could have been prevented through representation in Parliament, a major desire of the colonists. You can prevent this in the future through colonial ambassadors or Parliament representatives. If you had allowed for this one concession, the entire war would have been avoided. Lastly, policies in your colonies should be fair and just. For example, the Navigation Acts may have helped Britain’s economical trade, however America is part of the empire as well. Restricting their foreign trade only hurts their economy and angers colonists. Therefore, I hope you take my advice into consideration and account for political instability, communication, and legislature before developing any more colonies in the New World.

Sincerely,

Lauren

Mistakes were made

         Harsh punishments make them pull away even more.  After the Boston Tea Party, you responded by putting in place the Coercive Acts, shutting down Boston harbor, taking complete control of Massachusetts’s government, taking away their right to try British soldiers for crimes committed in Boston, and requiring them to provide housing for British troops.  These Acts caused the American colonists to feel their rights were being taken away.  Instead of these Acts, you could have punished the colonists by greatly raising taxes until the cost of the damage is paid off (plus extra for the inconvenience) then return them to equal or slightly higher than they were originally.

         Sudden, drastic, forced, changes in their government are a bad idea.  If they are used to governing themselves, don’t just suddenly take all of that away from them.  If you want tighter control, do it more gradually.  After the French and Indian war, you took much tighter control of the American colonies and started controlling aspects of government that had previously been controlled by American politicians.  Change scares people and a scared populace will place the blame on you, their leadership.

         Do not take away their rights!  Taking away their rights is the worst thing you can possibly do in the eyes of the people.  They will be forever against you if they begin to suspect it.  You made the Americans suspect it when you suddenly took away their right to representative government and made it possible to have trials without a jury.  Then they decided that every act passed after that was either in some way infringing on their rights, or that it was part of a British plot to slowly take away their rights.  Taking away the American colonists rights was really the main reason they began to turn away from Britain.

Enlightenment values

Students in these classes worked in pairs to choose the six most important Enlightenment values, and put together short presentations around them connecting them to the modern world.  Below is a word cloud of those values.  The presentations themselves can be found in posts on this blog.

Audrey and Francesca's Presentation

Enlightenment

6 Ideas of Enlightenment Bobby and Devin

Six main ideas of the enlightenment

6 Terms

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog for Dr. Korfhage's classes in Revolutions.  We'll be posting some work here as we go through the class, so feel free to check in regularly.