You Say You Want a Revolution?

The United States of America became an independent nation on what date?

September 3, 1783.

The Treaty of Paris officially converted thirteen of the British colonies in America into an autonomous collective dubbed the United States. France and Spain were also parties to the treaty with negotiations resembling an imperialist version of a four-team trade in the NBA. (Florida to Britain, Louisiana to Spain, France gets half the Caribbean, and Pennsylvania gets an expansion franchise.)

When I teach World Literature to 10th graders, there is always a point where I attempt to use dates in American history to cross-reference contemporaneous global events. The class would, almost without fail, smack me upside the head with their silence when I posed the question, "When did the American Revolution take place?" I almost always have to reference the Philadelphia 76ers before the dots are connected. Perhaps I judge too quickly, though. The Revolution certainly didn't just start with the Declaration of Independence. British soldiers had occupied the colonies since October 1768, which spurred several violent rows with the locals. Boston became a particular hotbed for these clashes, including the so-called "Massacre" (death toll: 5) that some credit with actually beginning the revolution. More accurately, that skirmish in Beantown ignited a series of acts of sabotage -- some may even call them domestic terrorism -- against King George's minions. (The Tea Party would be the most famous such episode. Wonder if those who bear that name today realize the implications?)

No, the Declaration of Independence galvanized the fight more than starting it. At best, it converted an ongoing series of street fights and demonstrations into a unified struggle for freedom. The rebels found their cause. Of course, Thomas Jefferson wasn't the only politician inspired by the writings of John Locke -- France's revolution with its Declaration of the Rights of Man was introduced on the heels of our own Constitution. When word of that reached Haiti, you soon saw most of the colonies in Latin America and the Caribbean jumping on the bandwagon of revolt. Which brings us back to World Literature: I want my sophomores to see our 1776 uprising in a global context. We weren't the only colonies, ya know, and in fact, most of them fought for their freedom about the same time we did. Before we study Orwell's Animal Farm, we talk about John Locke's successor in revolution-inspiring philosophy -- Karl Marx, whose economic ideas fit pretty nicely into Locke's idea of a social contract. Just ask those Haitian slaves from 1791.

Separating the American Revolution from its historical brethren makes for preposterous pedagogy, but that’s exactly what happens in many of our country’s history classes. The official history and social science content standards for California mention John Locke by name a total of three times, and only in tenth grade are students asked to find patterns between our revolution and those in France and Latin America. Yet in the same section you get this gem:

“Explain how the ideology of the French Revolution led France to develop from constitutional monarchy to democratic despotism to the Napoleonic empire.”

You read that right. This comes from the California state curriculum, folks. Teachers are supposed to show kids that, even though they were inspired by the same ideas we were, the French got it horribly wrong because their ideology was messed up. As opposed to President Polk and the “Manifest Destiny” nonsense he used to justify a three-year war with Mexico. That ended with America tearing off the northern end of that country – the Western coast of which became the state of California!

I honestly cannot distinguish between the ideologies of President Polk and Emperor Bonaparte. Even the protagonist in Animal Farm, the pig that leads a revolution and slowly assumes totalitarian control, is named Napoleon. Orwell’s cautionary tale for self-governance could easily be entitled So, You Overthrew Your Oppressor! Now What? The story, modeled after the Russian Revolution, could easily translate to 1790’s France or 1890’s Mexico. Students are often assigned to read this engaging satire in middle school, so what’s to stop them from connecting our colonial struggles to those who sought freedom throughout the centuries on every continent?

Here’s one answer: Karl Marx is mentioned nowhere in the California Social Science standards.