Declaration of Independence

http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html

Many Americans think they are thoroughly familiar with this document, but in fact, the phrases and rhetorical flourishes known to so many constitute only a small portion of it. Read the text, focusing particularly on the grievances listed against King George. What are the primary complaints listed in this document? Do any of these complaints surprise you? Why focus all the blame on King George rather than Parliament? Does this unfamiliar part of the document change the message of the Declaration in any way? If so, how?

French Revolution

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1791degouge1.html

Read these excerpts from the Olympe de Gouge' Declaration of the Rights of Women. Compare the text to the Declaration of the Rights of Men in your book (p. 347). In what ways are these arguments similar? How are they different? Are the pronouncements in these documents different in any way from the rhetoric of the American Revolution as seen in the Declaration of Independence? If so, how?

Haitian Revolution

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/105.1/ah000103.html

Read this short article about the Haitian Revolution by an historian of Latin America. What is his central argument? How does he believe the Haitian Revolution compared to the American and the French? How did these revolutions influence Haiti, if at all? How did the events in Haiti influence the revolutionary movements in the U.S. and France?

Nationalism

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1784herder-mankind.html

According to Herder, what is the basis of nationalism? What evidence does he use to make this argument?
How does the language he uses compare to that of the revolutionary documents of the French and the Americans? What does this language tell us about the cultures that emerged in the Atlantic world during this period?

Voting Rights and Restrictions

http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/suff.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1913pankhurst.html

What arguments did Frederick Douglass make in favor of African-American suffrage? Are they persuasive? Why or why not?

How does Emmeline Pankhurst characterize the struggle for women's suffrage in Great Britain? Based on her statement and the textbook, how did the suffrage movement in England compare with its counterpart in the United States?