Exam B ACCORDING TO BERNARD BAILYN, THE COLONIAL CRISIS OF 1765 INSTIGATED A REVOLUTION IN POLITICAL IDEALS, AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED A “CONTROVERSY BETWEEN SOCIAL GROUPS UNDERTAKEN TO FORCE CHANGES IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY OR THE ECONOMY.” HOW MIGHT HOLTON RESPOND TO THIS STATEMENT? BASED ON WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED FOR THIS COURSE, HOW YOU YOU CHARACTERIZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IDEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS?

In Review A Essays Answered the question completely, identified conflict between Bailyn and Holton; offered strong definition of difference (or- non difference) between ideological and economic factors; argued a case for their relationship. One of the distinguishing features of an “A” essay included a willingness to take on “big picture” frameworks B Essays Here, essays were generally very strong, well-argued, but sometimes confused on detail or analytics. Essays answer the question, dutifully, but do not model strong analysis. This is especially true in discussions of ideological factors. Analysis of Holton and Bailyn are either imbalanced, incomplete, or are somewhat off-point C Essays Again, these essays had all the component parts. They included an introduction, a conclusion, and body paragraphs. They each had thesis statements. Generally, however, they either missed a discussion of Holton or Bailyn (or) were really thin on both examples, making it unclear why these examples were being used and how.

Common Arguments Bailyn and Holton Disagree/About What, Exactly? Every student came to the conclusion that Bailyn and Holton disagreed, but very few actually explained why this distinction has significance for this course. Many students did not think about what the ”1765 colonial crisis” actually means. Does it include the American Revolution? When did the 1765 colonial crisis start or end, exactly? How would you define it and why does it matter? Strong support for Holton 0.02 percent of the class (one student) argued in favor of Bailyn; 99.8 percent agreed with Holton. This is a strong indication that nobody actually took Bailyn seriously, and it shows—very few essays gave the ideological aspect of his argument much discussion. Please note that simply arguing for Bailyn did not mean you answered the question better, either. Weakness on ideological aspects Lecture did most of the work to prepare you for thinking about the key ideas and intellectual currents of this period, but few students looked to Dowd, Colin Calloway, or even Holton to deepen your points. Some mentioned liberalism and even individual theorists of liberalism, but most struggled to piece together a coherent picture of how to use these ideas in this essay

Things to Consider: A good number of the essays refused to take sides, signaling support for both Bailyn and Holton, saying both ideological and economic arguments are necessary for explaining the colonial crisis. This may seem like a savvy and even convincing move, but we might further consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of such a position. Can you identify some of the promises and pitfalls of such an approach? One of the more interesting essays sided with Bailyn. If you were to take Bailyn’s view, how would you arrange your evidence in support? How would your essay have differed? A few students took a very hard line on economics. This is a perfectly fine strategy, but it leaves such essays a little short in actually grappling with Dowd. Dowd situates “material” interests as subsidiary to his larger point about “status,” and most students missed this. What is the difference, exactly, between ideology and economics? What happens if you reject the idea of a difference at all and instead consider economics an expression of ideology?

Sample Thesis Statements  Examples tending toward strong thesis statements  “The colonial crisis of 1765 certainly had political and ideological roots…classical enlightenment and English Common Law philosophies influenced many elites...However, Woody Holton is more accurate in arguing that the economic struggles between social groups was more signfiicant in driving the revolution, and thefore should take the precendence over ideological factors.”  “While the Revolution was heavily rooted in changing political ideals, the class resentment and economic affairs of the colonists did motivate changes toward changing both societal organization and the economy.”  Example tending toward weaker thesis statements  “I would argue that there is a strong relationship between economic factors and the ideological factors of the Revolution.”

Lessons Notice a few points about the earlier samples. The first sample listed has many strong points, and in fact engages some of the ideological origins mentioned in lecture. We might ask why or how enlightenment or Common Law theories mattered, exactly; similarly, any reader would want to know which social groups, exactly, were brought into conflict. But there is much to admire in this thesis statement, and its attempts to bridge the various problems introduced in the prompt. The second sample succeeds at being terse and to the point, but again is short on detail. The challenge many students had involved identifying the key, specific dynamics that were the most important. Note how the third example actually does not make a claim. It just observes that there is a relationship.

How to write a good thesis Here are some lessons to take away from Exam B: Make sure that a thesis statement gives you a pathway to answer all aspects of the prompt. This was one of the harder challenges students faced with this question. I think the first sample listed in a previous slide models how to do this nicely. Don’t be afraid to take risks with your arguments, so long as you can support them with evidence.

Evidence and Historical Detail We need to be more detailed in our writing, using specific examples that make sense. Weaker “C” essays had almost no historical detail; some had all kinds of interesting details, but ones that actually did little to advance their argument and analysis. Let’s consider ways of improving on this as we move forward.

Bonus Question Producing a correct bonus question can have a large impact on your final grade, raising it by a full half point. As a result, responses have to be excellent in order to receive credit. Please refer to the “B Exam” rubric for a sample correct answer. Here are my comments on the “B question” bonus exam. We awarded ONE PERSON points for the bonus question, despite the fact that this was an open-note, open-book exam. Even this answer had significant problems, but came closer to a correct answer than anyone else. In fact, most people did not even attempt an answer to this bonus question. This tells me Dowd was either a very difficult read, or people did not read Dowd. What are your views? Let’s discuss.