What was the revolutionary era like for ordinary people? What was army life like? Assign pairs of students to prepare brief reports on different aspects of these questions. Very old but still interesting is James Schouler, Americans of 1776: Daily Life in Revolutionary America (1906). See also Russell Blaine Nye, The Cultural Life of the New Nation, 1776-1839 (1960). For the military see Lawrence D. Cress, Citizens in Arms: The Army and the Militia in American Society to the War of 1812 (1982), and Charles Royster, A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character (1980). For blacks see Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the American Revolution (1961). For women see Joy Day Buel and Richard Buel, Jr., The Way of Duty: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America (1984).

How others view the American Revolution provides an interesting exploration for students. Have two students consult United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, The American Revolution: Selections from Secondary School History Books of Other Nations (1976), and make a presentation for class consideration on, say, the chapters dealing with books from Great Britain and the former Soviet Union. See also Gordon S. Wood and Louise G. Wood, editors, Russian-American Dialogue on the American Revolution (1995).

A series of direct questions for one or two individual students can be used as the basis for a short report and further class discussion. Here are two examples:

1. When Congress organized the Northwest Territory it determined that the region would not remain permanently subordinate--even though the importance of the eastern states would thereby subsequently decline. Why? See Merrill Jensen, The New Nation: A History of the United States During the Confederation, 1781-1789 (1950), and Forrest McDonald, E Pluribus Unum: The Formation of the American Republic, 1776-1790 (1965).
2. Slavery was a political and not a moral issue at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Why? See Charles L. Mee, Jr., The Genius of the People: The Constitutional Convention of 1787 (1987), and Clinton Rossiter, 1787: The Grand Convention (1966). The use of similar questions can be fruitful at any time during the course of instruction. Students will benefit from being asked to develop their own questions.The textbook provides a lucid explanation of the concept of republicanism held during the Revolution and Confederation periods. Federalists and Antifederalists differed somewhat in their views. Ask students to explain in their own words what republicanism and democracy mean today. And then ask how the understanding of these terms varied at the end of the eighteenth century according to party. The ensuing discussion may be based on the textbook's explanation. For further help consult Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (1969), and Willi Paul Adams, The First American Constitution: Republican Ideology and the Making of the State Constitutions in the Revolutionary Era (1980). See also Linda K. Kerber, "The Republican Ideology and the Revolutionary Generation," American Quarterly 37 (Fall 1985): 474-495.Consider holding a constitutional convention. A new nation has been born and it needs a frame of government. The members of the class will come as delegates from various parts of the new nation. Each student will prepare twelve important questions that must be answered before the framework of the new nation can be developed. The questions will deal with the nature and character of this new nation. How large is it? Does its geography encourage integration or division? How homogeneous is its population? The objective will be to encourage students to ask the kinds of questions that need to be answered before a reasonable structure can be created.