Choose one general question (A or B) AND one text-specific question (C, D, or E) and answer both for this week’s discussion forum post. Please post at least one clear paragraph for each of your two answers and label your answers with the appropriate letters. See the Class Discussion Guidelines for expectations for this post and how it will be graded.
GENERAL
A The Age of Reason is a time when the Puritan ideas that the colonizers who came to what we now understand as the United States of America shifted to ideas of the the science, technology, and progress instead. Why do you think the tides changed from a focus on religion to a focus on governing and independence? Consider our lessons about the Puritans when answering–and that “shifted” doesn’t mean the Puritan ideas were left completely in the dirt. Also consider that the Age of Reason led to the Revolutionary War, which Thomas Paine’s texts and Hamilton’s soundtrack/film guides us through–why? How did the ideas of the time lead to the war for independence?
B Our Norton includes passages that were eventually struck from the Declaration of Independence–why would they include this important American document as part of Jefferson’s autobiography and not just the final version everyone knows? How does having the underlined passages that were eventually struck out affect your reading of it? Why do you think Jefferson included the struck parts in his autobiography? Should the Norton have also separately included a version that is the final version alone? Why or why not?
TEXT-SPECIFIC
C Name at least one thing you learned from the Declaration of Independence podcast that you didn’t know about the Declaration of Independence before listening. Then, in the rest of the paragraph, explain how you might help others to better understand the Declaration based on everything you learned this week about it including the specific thing/s you learned from the podcast.
D Find a passage in one of these texts (not Hamilton) that illustrates what is commonly understood today as the American Dream–the idea that America is a place where people can come to or grow up in and become whatever they want to be, a byproduct of the American Exceptionalism that began with Winthrop’s “City on a Hill” passage. Explain why the passage you chose from this week’s readings supports that idea in at least one paragraph.
E Close read one of the following songs in Hamilton–what does a close reading of the lyrics add to your understanding of how the musical works into the lessons of this course thus far and through to this week? What does it tell us about a theme of your choice from the musical as a whole? Mention, in your answer, at least one of the close reading skills learned in this class and at least one of the literary devices we’ve learned in this class so far!
https://genius.com/Jonathan-groff-and-original-broadway-cast-of-hamilton-youll-be-back-lyrics
https://genius.com/Original-broadway-cast-of-hamilton-yorktown-the-world-turned-upside-down-lyrics
https://genius.com/Original-broadway-cast-of-hamilton-who-lives-who-dies-who-tells-your-story-lyrics
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|