1. Exam A HOW EXACTLY DID THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR CATALYZE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION? USE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN LECTURES, DOWD’S CHAPTER FROM WAR UNDER HEAVEN, AND WOODY HOLTON’S FORCED FOUNDERS TO INFORM YOUR ANSWER.

2. In Review A Essays Answered the question completely, including especially strong discussion of both Holton and Dowd 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. Readings and examples from Holton and Dowd 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 Dowd or Holton (or) were really thin on both examples, making it unclear why these books were being used and how.

3. Common Arguments Economics Most students made some kind of point about the economic changes wrought by the Seven Years’ War and made the obvious connections to the efforts at taxation that followed Western Expansion Most students highlighted something like “westward expansion” or ”Indian relations” or some other point related to challenges brought about by how the war added vast new territories to control and administer “Unity” VERY IMPORTANT to remember that in 1763, “Americans were never more British.” Many of you wrote that the war drove a wedge between the colonists and the British; it is important to properly narrate changes in time, noting in this example that unity coming out of the war had to be unmade

4. Alternatives and Possible Alternatives A few students took a very hard and insistent line on economics. This is a perfectly fine strategy, but it leaves you 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. Nobody rejected the premise. That is, few seemed willing to argue that the Seven Years’ War did not have an impact on the coming of the American Revolution. As an exercise, you might think through the merits of such an argument, and how (or if) one might go about making such a claim.

5. Sample “A,” “B,” and “C” Thesis Statements  ”A Thesis”  Sample: “The [Seven Years’] war promoted colonial unity against a common foe, created conflicts over land, and led to heavy taxes, all key contributors to the American Revolution.”  “B Thesis”  Sample: “The Seven Years’ War catalyzed the American Revolution by putting economic strain on the colonies and created strain between the British and Native Americans.”  “C Thesis”  Sample: “A desire to end the violence by restricting the expansion of the colonists created suspicions of tyrannous intentions of Parliament by those colonists, the feelings that the war was not desired by the Colonists…and the various taxes levied by Britain to pay for the war.”

6. Lessons Notice a few points about the previous samples: The ”A” thesis could even be improved, but it at least makes three important and persuasive claims for how the Seven Years’ War helped catalyze the Revolution, noting the promotion of “colonial unity against a common foe” (also note that this is very different point than Colonial unity against the British); conflicts over land (which leaves enough room to talk about both administrative issues like speculation and squatting (and/or) and struggles with Native Americans); and, of course, heavy taxes. The “B” thesis identifies two dynamics, overlooking the point about unity many students raised. This by itself is not necessarily a problem; more importantly, I think the issue with this thesis is the lack of specificity. “Economic strain” and “strain between the British and Native Americans” doesn’t actually give the reader a sense of how or why these dynamics were a problem. It just identifies them, without giving a sense of their character. The “C” thesis also identifies expansion, unity, and taxes to some extent, but it takes a while for the reader to determine what the author is arguing. The points are unclear and even misleading at times.

7. How to write a good thesis Here are few tips to consider on thesis statements: Aim for clarity of presentation. This means writing simple and clear thesis statements capable of speaking to the issues raised across readings and lectures. Note how the economic focus of many essays left little room to account for Dowd; note too how the B and C statements sound increasingly like observations as opposed to arguments. A good thesis statement should include some sense of change over time. In other words, you the author should explain why or how historical events happened. Learn to formulate categories of analysis that are specific yet explain multiple phenomenon (ie: note how ”conflicts over land” allows multiple kinds of discussions under its umbrella, inclusive of speculation, Indian relations, even imperial administration if you wanted to push the analysis some). “Strain” between the English and Native Americans, meanwhile, can probably include a discussion of land speculation, but it becomes more of a stretch. For more information, consult my website at www.jessegant.net, and check out the “History 344” tab, where I have included several of the History Lab’s tip sheets, including the sheet on thesis statements.www.jessegant.net

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

9. 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 rubric for a sample correct answer. Here are the important things the “A” answer needed to touch on. Underlined words explicitly stated in your answer helped your case. That the Leeward Islands were sugar producing islands, thus dependent on slavery That the islands were vulnerable to protest actions in the North American colonies that might limit the shipment of food. Why? See point about slavery above. Very little food is produced on these islands. Food shipments went to feed elites first and foremost; hungry slaves (the majority of island residents) were more likely to revolt if they were hungry.