Venture A

U.S. History to 1865

Michael Trotti
History Department
412 Muller
(607)274-1591

At the time of the Revolutionary War, the British North American colonies were spread along the eastern seaboard, separated from one another, and much of the interior of the continent was completely unknown. In time of war, a knowledge of the terrain is essential, and this venture is designed to allow you to peruse some of the maps from this era. Historians call materials from the time under study "primary sources," differentiating them from historians' later perspectives upon the era (called "secondary sources"). Our documents reader is a collection of primary sources; our textbook is secondary. It is important to historians to consistently check the historical record against existing primary sources, and this venture allows you to dive into some materials from the time and informally respond to what the experience teaches you.

1. Read the short essay (a secondary source) on "Mapping the American Revolution and Its Era" on the Library of Congress's site titled The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789. (click the title). This site is huge, but this essay gives very helpful (and concise) context for understanding the maps in the collection we'll peruse. Feel free to look at some of the maps here too, but it is not required for this assignment.

2. Peruse the maps and other information on the Rochambeau Map Collection site. (click the title). The home page offers a brief overview, and a slightly more lengthy overview can be seen by clicking on the "about the collection" link to the left. The maps are searchable by title, place, etc., over the to the left. You needen't look at them all, but peruse them until you find some interesting elements to discuss. You might want to look at the map showing Rochambeau's march from Rhode Island to Yorktown, referenced in the essay as one of the era's most detailed. Note that you can make the maps larger by clicking on them.

3. List briefly the maps you are considering in your response, then Write a brief, informal response (no more than a 1 or 1-1/2 pages, double spaced) characterizing what you find to be important about cartography in the age of the Revolutionary war and anything else of interest to you from the venture. Unlike more formal essays, this is designed to be informal -- the work here is in your seeing, working with, and thinking about historical mateirals from the era; the written work is simply a response to that experience.