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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.
by Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick via Journal of the American Revolution on November 19, 2024
Patrick Henry giving a speech to a crowd of Virginians.

What Spurred the South to Join the American Revolution?

How a dispute with a Scottish lord over westward expansion, gunpowder, and the future of enslaved labor made the southern colonies’ embrace the radical cause.
by Andrew Lawler via Smithsonian on April 4, 2025
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.
by Zach Thompson via Journal of the American Revolution on October 12, 2023
Colonists in front of the Old State House in Boston.

‘King Hancock’ Review: The Biggest Name in Boston

More than an artful calligrapher, John Hancock forswore the austerity of his fellow Bostonians, and their extremism.
by William Anthony Hay via The Wall Street Journal on October 6, 2023
Jacob Duché delivers the first prayer in the Continental Congress, 1774.

The Traitor Chaplain Who Gave Government Prayer to America — A 4th of July Corrective

When drafting the Constitution, our founders had no need of prayer.
by Andrew L. Seidel via Religion Dispatches on July 3, 2023
Painting of Daniel Boone escorting settlers through the Cumberland Gap by George Caleb Bingham. (Washington University, St. Louis)

The Articles of Confederation and Western Expansion

In settling a rivalry between Maryland and Virginia and preventing individual states from getting into bed with France and Spain, maybe the Articles weren't a failure after all.
by Richard J. Werther via Journal of the American Revolution on June 14, 2022
Abraham Lincoln speaking to a crowd.

Stop Making Sense

Are the truths in the Declaration of Independence really self-evident?
by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on November 8, 2021

Was Declaring Independence Even Important?

Reflections on the latest public debate between historians about the causes of the American Revolution.
by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on September 15, 2021
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.
by Lindsay M. Chervinsky via Governing on August 5, 2021
1747 map of Nova Scotia

Phraseology and the "Fourteenth Colony"

There have been at least eight provinces in British North America labeled the "fourteenth colony." They cannot all claim the same title.
by George Kotlik via Journal of the American Revolution on August 4, 2021
Title page of a collection of the letters that debated Great Britain, inscribed to President John Adams.

Massachusettensis and Novanglus: The Last Great Debate Prior to the American Revolution

James M. Smith explains the last debates between Loyalists and Patriots prior to the official outbreak of the American Revolution.
by James M. Smith via Journal of the American Revolution on May 25, 2021
A cartoon of Boston colonists in a cage.

How Did the Colonies Unite?

The drive for American independence coalesced in only a few years of rapidly accelerating political change.
by T. H. Breen via New York Review of Books on March 1, 2021

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.
by Richard J. Werther via Journal of the American Revolution on September 8, 2020
Illustration of Founders signing the Declaration of Independence.

How the Meaning of the Declaration of Independence Changed Over Time

When Thomas Jefferson penned ‘all men are created equal,’ he did not mean individual equality, says Stanford scholar.
by Jack Rakove, Melissa De Witte via Stanford University on July 1, 2020

What Two Crucial Words in the Constitution Actually Mean

I reviewed publications from the founding era, and discovered that “executive power” doesn’t imply what most scholars thought.
by Julian Davis Mortenson via The Atlantic on June 2, 2019

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.
by Jay Cost via National Review on May 27, 2019
A stone marker for a post road, slightly chipped, reading "Boston 8 miles 1734 A.I."

"To Undertake a News-Paper in This Town"

How printers in the 1770s assembled the news for their papers, how they used the postal system, and how they may have approached Twitter.
by Emily Sneff via Declaration Resources Project on September 20, 2017

America's 100 Other Declarations of Independence

The document we celebrate today wasn't just the work of Thomas Jefferson's individual genius. Everyone was doing it.
by David Greenberg via Politico Magazine on July 4, 2017

Was John Hancock’s Signature Too Big? Or Was Everyone Else’s Too Small?

We hold this truth to be self-evident: John Hancock's signature on the Declaration of Independence was too big.
by Ben Blatt via Slate on August 5, 2014
Trumbull painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Dusting Off the Declaration

The Declaration of Independence seems to Pauline Maier to be "peculiarly unsuited" for the role that it eventually came to play in America.
by Gordon S. Wood via New York Review of Books on August 14, 1997
Painting of Troops, an American Flag and Eagle.

Echoes of Lexington and Concord

The 250th anniversary of "the shot heard round the world" is a reminder of the rights the Patriots fought for.
by Richard Alan Ryerson via Law & Liberty on April 1, 2025
The ruins of Ft. Ticonderoga, and a note left in a knapsack a soldier carried in battle there.

A Knapsack’s Worth of Courage

Now, and for some years to come, we will need a lot less Paul Weiss, and a lot more Benjamin Warner.
by Eliot A. Cohen via The Atlantic on March 31, 2025
An 1851 painting of Patrick Henry speaking to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Discover Patrick Henry’s Legacy, Beyond His Revolutionary ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’ Speech

Delivered 250 years ago, the famous oration marked the Henry’s influence. The politician also served in key roles in Virginia’s state government.
by Cassandra A. Good via Smithsonian on March 21, 2025
"Rip Van Winkle Awaking from His Long Sleep," painting by Henry Inman (1823).

Bewilderment as a Way of Understanding America’s Present – and Past

Circumstances in which people are feeling extreme disorientation are potent breeding grounds for people who are willing to exploit it in moments of crisis.
by Robert G. Parkinson via Commonplace on February 18, 2025
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.
by Michael Hoberman via Marginalia Review of Books on September 27, 2024
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.
by Timothy Messer-Kruse via Commonplace on August 6, 2024
A sheet of Thomas Jefferson stamps.
partner

Thomas Jefferson Fights for the Metric System

A story of math and political stasis.
by Amir Alexander via HNN on June 5, 2024
Image of a man distributing newspapers at a post office.

The Post Office and Privacy

We can thank the postal service for establishing the foundations of the American tradition of communications confidentiality.
by Matthew Wills, Anuj Desai via JSTOR Daily on May 19, 2024
A presidential portrait of George Washington.

The Enduring Power of Purim

Since colonial times, the Book of Esther has proved a powerful metaphor in American politics.
by Stuart Halpern via Tablet on March 21, 2024
Continental Congress voting for independence.

Mother’s Milk of the Revolution

Right from the beginning, a commercial spirit and the wealth it generated were essential to creating and constituting America.
by John O. McGinnis via Law & Liberty on March 7, 2024
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