Class Contradictions within the American Revolution

I've put some important materials on our Home Page which I would like you to read and think about.

Please read carefully through the following passage, a letter of two pages from Gouverneur Morris, who was a young lawyer of aristocratic, landowning background.

Please study this letter, including the notes I've provided, so that you can understand what Morris is talking about.

Then please read the first three paragraphs or so from America's Permanent Class War. I mean the passages up to and including the famous quotation from Amos Singletary.

Finally, read through a short essay on Charles A. Beard.

Please print these out and bring them to class with you as well.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Please consider these writings in the light of the historical background for The Proud and the Free, of course. But please write about Gouverneur Morris' letter, which is an important, and fairly rare, statement of the class view of the aristocracy before the American Revolution.

What similarities do you see between Morris' views and those in Fast's novel?

Write about 300 words, and email it to your whole group (including me).