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A painting of Congress Hall and the New Theater in colonial Philadelphia.

The Mutiny of 1783

America’s only successful insurrection.
Sketch of women traveling with the Continental Army.

How a Curator at the Museum of the American Revolution Solved a Nearly 250-Year-Old Art Mystery

An eye-witness depiction of the Continental Army passing through Philadelphia hung in a New York apartment for decades.
Washington crossing the Delaware painting by Emmanuel Leutze.

What Freedom Meant to the Black Soldier Who Rowed Across the Delaware

The enslaved Prince Whipple acutely felt the contradiction between American ideals and his condition.
A drawing of Nathanael Greene.
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An Unlikely Soldier

On Nathanael Greene’s inauspicious start.
View of a Boston Street, circa 1778.

Commissary Notes and the Dark History of Revolutionary Financing

From the outset of the American Revolution, a lingering problem that plagued the minds of the Continental Congress dealt with its financing.
George Washington and his generals.

George Washington's Information War

Though technologies have altered information warfare, the underlying principles remain unchanged since the day-to-day operations of the Continental Army.
Seashore in the Fog, detail, Caspar David Freiderich, c. 1807.

By Stratagem and Hard Fighting

The historical record reveals the real circumstances that led to the improbable capture of eleven British ships.
Painting of British soldiers surrendering their arms to George Washington.

The Yorktown Tragedy: Washington's Slave Roundup

History books remember Yorktown as a "victory for the right of self-determination." But the battle guaranteed slavery for nearly another century.

Remembered for the Wrong Reason?

Which personality of the American Revolution or the founding era is remembered for the wrong reasons, and why?
Painting of smallpox vaccination

The Long History of Mandated Vaccines in the United States

Vaccines against smallpox during the Revolutionary War are one example of how mandates have protected the health of Americans for more than two centuries.
Painting of attack on Fort Washington

Morale Manipulation As the Central Strategic Imperative in the American Revolutionary War

Actions are more persuasive than words, and manipulating morale often dictates how commanders deploy their troops. Witness the American War of Independence.
Person getting vaccinated

Vaccine Mandates Are as American as Apple Pie

Those who claim that vaccine resistance is an expression of liberty are historically illiterate.
Rick Santorum
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Rick Santorum and His Critics are Both Wrong About Native American History

The Founders terrorized and exterminated Native Americans instead of learning from them.

Foreign Support of the American Cause Prior to the French Alliance

Richard J. Werther discusses how being outmanned by the best army in the world led American revolutionaries to look overseas for the help they needed.
A Continental Army soldier's shirt and a detail from a painting depicting a soldier wearing such a shirt.

“Natives of the Woods of America”

Hunting shirts, backcountry culture, and “playing Indian” in the American Revolution.
Portrait of George Washington in his military uniform.

The Gun Guy and Illegal Militia Founder Who Became President: George Washington

Our first President understood that armed citizens are essential to American freedom.

America Needs Whistle-Blowers Because of People Like This

Since the founding, Congress has supported democracy and public integrity by protecting those who spoke up about abuses of power.

The American Revolution’s Starving, Barefoot, Heroic Troops

Our young nation was very poor, the war was very expensive, and Congress and the states wanted everyone else to pay.

George Washington Was a Master of Deception

The Founding Fathers relied on deceit in championing American independence—and that has lessons for the present.

The American Revolution’s Greatest Leader Was Openly Gay

“Baron Von Steuben” was responsible for whipping the U.S. military into shape when things were looking bleakest.
James Armistead.

How an Enslaved Man-Turned-Spy Helped Secure Victory at the Battle of Yorktown

James Armistead was an enslaved man who provided critical intel to the Continental Army as a double agent during the Revolutionary War.

Medical Mystery: James Madison's Sudden Collapse

The Father of the U.S. Constitution fought a life-long physical battle, too.

America’s Painful, Historic Contempt for Black Soldiers

Donald Trump writes the latest chapter in a long history.
Lithograph of Benedict Arnold.

How Benedict Arnold Helped Win the Revolution

Some historians think Benedict Arnold's treason may well have aided the American cause in the Revolutionary War.
Soldiers in Continental Army
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Rumming with the Devil

A perusal of Benjamin Franklin’s "Drinker’s Dictionary," and a chat about how the drink of choice in revolutionary America switched from cider to rum.
A painting of George Washington on horseback reviewing the Western Army at Fort Cumberland.
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Merry, Manly Militias

Levity and play — eerily combined with anxiety, terror, and deadly violence — shaped the identity and image of Early Republic militias.

Farmer George

The connections between the first president’s commitment to agricultural innovation and his evolving attitudes toward his enslaved laborers at Mount Vernon.
The American Flag, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and a Jewish Star with Hebrew words.

The Spirit of '76: A Jewish Perspective on the American Revolution

What was “exceptional” about the American Revolution wasn’t so much the creation of a single republic but the immediate opportunity it provided for action.
Book cover; painting of Founding Fathers sitting around a table

The Continental Dollar: How the American Revolution Was Financed with Paper Money

Economists and historians have been telling us the wrong story about Continental currency for two centuries.
Silhouette of a Black man's head, against a background of Lord Dunmore's proclamation.

Enslaved by George Washington, This Man Escaped to Freedom—and Joined the British Army

Harry Washington fought for his enslaver's enemy during the American Revolution. Later, he migrated to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone.

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