In this paper, you will interrogate a prominent dissent movement from the time frame covered in class this semester, put it into conversation with other American dissent movements, and ultimately provide a personal analysis of it. Your paper will follow a prescribed structure (see “organization” section below for specifics). You will be selecting one from the following list of possible topics as your major subject of investigation. You may notice that I have avoided more well-known acts of dissent, such as the Boston Tea Party. Ideally, you will be researching a topic you know little about. I recommend reading a brief, informative article in the
process of choosing (Wikipedia would be great for this). I have also tried to select topics featuring marginalized groups—such as racial minorities, women, and the financially under-privileged.
Possible topic choices:
The Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637)
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
Stono Rebellion (1739)
Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763)
Shay’s Rebellion (1786-1787)
The Whiskey Rebellion (1794)
Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831)
American Anti-Slavery Society (1833-1870)
Second Seminole War (1835-1842, note: you may combine this with the First Seminole
War or do it alone. You may not, however, only do the First Seminole War)
Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
Oneida Community (1848)
John Brown’s Raid (1859)
You must:
o Use at least eight total sources
o use at least four scholarly secondary sources. These may be either from
scholarly journals or books.
o use two primary sources. This should ideally be speeches given by
movement activists, interviews with them, or information posted on
organizational websites.
o The remainder may be popular, primary, or scholarly secondary
You MAY NOT use class notes nor our class text as the basis for foot-noted
material. However, I recommend using either, as well as Wikipedia, to give
yourself a basic familiarity with your topic.
Advice on popular sources
o Beyond requirements, you will want to use newspaper articles for
coverage of dissent movements. You are strongly encouraged, though
not required, to use print media rather than video.
o You may use websites that are not considered scholarly, but you are
responsible for their quality and integrity. I suggest screening them ahead
of time with a writing tutor, research librarian, or me if you are in doubt.
o Practice lateral reading, click restraint, keep guard up for astro turfing (it
is easy to make a website look credible)
Organization of Paper
Part I- Introduction:
Begin your paper with a one paragraph introduction. o Introduction contents: This paragraph will do two things.
The first thing your introductory paragraph needs is a very basic introduction
(perhaps 2 or 3 sentences) to BOTH your specific subject as well as its
historical context. Conclude with a thesis.
o Body Section 1- Long-term Historical Context of Dissent. Dissent movements are
often misunderstood by those not involved with them. It is your job to push the
reader beyond initial impressions. Your job here is to place your dissent movement in the context of their larger story.
o Body Section 2-
Short-Term History of Dissent Movement. Craft a clear topic sentence
that indicates you are now discussing the short-term background of your specific dissent
movement/event. Be mindful that you are elaborating on the descriptive information you
provided in the intro (paragraph 2). Short-term history questions: This is the part where you fit the story of your particular dissent movement into the larger story.
Body Section 3- Interrogation of Dissent Movement. In this section, you are to do a close reading of the
movement.
o Body Section 4- Interrogation of Opposition to the Dissent Movement. Dissenters often
cast their cause much like a bad movie, with right/wrong and protagonist/antagonist
being reduced to simple binaries.
o Body Section 5- Personal analysis of this dissent. Here is where you are making an
argument. This should be consistent with the argument identified earlier in your thesis.
You should argue one of four things: the movement was 1. Justifiable 2. Not justifiable 3.
Beneficial for the country 4. Harmful for the country. and tactics)
Part 3 Conclusion: