Books, videos, and music - all free from your public library!

TELEVISION

Ordinary Americans in the Revolution

Series: Ordinary Americans in the Revolution

4.2

(15)

Episodes

Rating

TVPG

Year

2021

Language

English

Publisher

The Great Courses

About

The American Revolution was a mass insurgency movement, requiring a single-mindedness of purpose on the part of a huge number of colonists. Meet the soldiers, midwives, artisans, shopkeepers, farmers, enslaved people, and others who made the revolution happen.

Related Subjects

Episodes

1. Ordinary Lives in Revolutionary Times

21m

Begin by considering the focus of this series: the men and women who peopled the American Revolution, who made history happen, but who are largely unknown to us now. Grasp the ways in which the legacy of the revolution was much more complex for common people than it was for the wealthy and privileged. Take a first look at the roles common people played in the revolution and its impact on them.

2. Down and Out in Colonial America

25m

Assess the reality of urban poverty among American colonists in the 1760s. Learn about the economic depression that followed the Seven Years' War, which was exacerbated by incoming waves of poor immigrants. Note how high costs of living, lack of job security, and a stark gulf between rich and poor left many at the bottom rungs of society in extreme hardship, which fueled resentment.

3. Jane Mecom: Franklin's Struggling Sister

23m

Learn about the experience of Jane Mecom, the sister of Benjamin Franklin, whose story we know through letters she wrote to her famous brother. Follow the arc of her life, characterized by poverty and adversity, noting how she became enmeshed in politics in Boston. Observe the details of her circumstances during the revolution and afterward, and how the conflict affected her and her family.

4. Boycotting the Townshend Taxes

26m

Take a broad look at commerce in the pre-revolution American colonies. Take account of the great proliferation of British manufactured goods in the colonies and their role as markers of status. Follow the advent of harsh British taxation of imports and the resulting boycott of British goods, which required vast mobilization and coordination, uniting colonists in a common identity.

5. Ebenezer Mackintosh: Stamp Act Protestor

25m

Ebenezer Mackintosh was a shoemaker who became a leader of mass protests against the British. Trace his early life and how his career as a fireman thrust him into the public eye. Witness the crisis surrounding the Stamp Act, in which Mackintosh led what became violent insurrections. Learn also of his connection with the Sons of Liberty, a powerful group protesting British taxation.

6. The Occupation of Boston

25m

Hear the story of the British military occupation of Boston, beginning in 1768, following violent reprisals against customs and tax officials. Track the simmering tensions between the colonists and the occupying forces, the oppressive stresses on the soldiers, and the types of altercations that grew from a pattern of retaliation and revenge to gang warfare between civilians and soldiers.

7. Crispus Attucks: The Massacre's Martyr

24m

Relive the event known as the Boston Massacre, of March 1770, where shots were fired by British soldiers, killing five colonists. Study how the incident unfolded, the subsequent political fallout, and the sequence of the trial of the perpetrators and its aftermath. Learn how one of the dead, a mixed-race sailor named Crispus Attucks, later became an icon of African American patriotism.

8. Sailors, Shoemakers, Crowds, and Class

24m

Take account of the competing interest groups within the anti-crown protesters in the pre-revolution period. Consider how the tactics used in political actions differed between the lower rungs of society, the artisan class, and the elites. Note how artisans and skilled craftsmen became a distinct, organized political force, often at odds with the merchant and wealthy class.

9. George Hewes: Tea Party Captain

25m

George Robert Twelves Hewes was a shoemaker who became embroiled in revolutionary events. Trace his early life and how he came to be present at the Boston Massacre. Then, witness Hewes' key role in the Boston Tea Party and in a later uprising involving a customs official. Learn how his revolutionary exploits made him famous in his nineties.

10. Forging a Common Cause in the Colonies

26m

Punitive measures by the British following the Boston Tea Party led to the creation of the Continental Congress, an association of insurgents from across the colonies. Observe how the Congress used media coverage, local committees, and a new currency to build a sense of common cause among colonists, transforming a Massachusetts insurgency into an American revolution.

Extended Details

SeriesOrdinary Americans in the Revolution

Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

The Great CoursesDirector

The Great CoursesProducer

Richard BellActor