Pursuits of Happiness: Ordinary Lives in the American Revolution

So we’ll be talking this semester about the marginalized, the downtrodden, the rank and file, the rabble – all the people who never make it onto monuments or money. The point of this is to allow us all to recognize the fundamental fact that fighting a Revolution is a collective act that requires a genuine mass movement. Declaring independence on a piece of parchment on a summer’s day in Philadelphia in 1776 doesn’t mean anything unless tens of thousands of people are willing to support that cause and fight to make it a reality. To revolt, then, is not an individual act – it’s for crowds, for mobs, and for whole communities to do together. Declaring independence is a fundamentally cooperative act.

Restricted to UH students matriculating in Fall 2020 or later.

This course is part of the “Revolution” cluster. Revolution courses will be offered through Spring 2022.