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Stamp commemorating "Contributors To The Cause... Haym Salomon, Financial Hero."

Dusting Off the Old Stories

What does the Jewish experience in the Revolutionary War say about America?
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.
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“In the White Interest”

Many founders expressed their hope that slavery would be abolished, while simultaneously exerting themselves to defend it.
Engraving of the Battle of Lexington After Alonzo Chappel: American colonists and British soldiers exchange fire at the Battle of Lexington, the first skirmish in the US War of Independence.

Taking Up the American Revolution’s Egalitarian Legacy

Despite its failures and limitations, the American Revolution unleashed popular aspirations to throw off tyranny of all kinds.
Painting of the Boston Tea Party.

“Boston Harbor a Tea-pot This Night!” 

The dumping of tons of tea in protest set the stage for the American Revolution and was a window on the culture and attitudes of the time.
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.
Colonists leaving families to fight the British.

How Fake Foreign News Fed Political Fervor and Led to the American Revolution

Fuel for the revolution came from a source familiar today: distorted news reports used to drum up enthusiasm for overthrowing an illegitimate government.
Left: cover of "The New Yorkers," a book by Sam Roberts, featuring a collage of black and white photographs of different people. Right: 1884 illustration of British soldiers in long coats fighting with New York men
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Isaac Sears and the Roots of America in New York

Like so many other reluctant revolutionaries in New York, he seemed the antithesis of the rabble in arms that the British identified with the mobocracy.
The cover of "Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History."

An “Imperial Bridge” Between Britain and the North American Colonies

How British protestantism connected colonies and empire until the rupture of the American Revolution.
Silhouette of a woman's head against a blue and green back drop, with writing within the outline.

The Myth of Agent 355, the Woman Spy Who Supposedly Helped Win the Revolutionary War

A single reference in the historical record has spawned an array of adaptations, most of which overstate the anonymous figure's role in the Culper Spy Ring.
Image of George Washington in front a map of the United States.

The Storm Over the American Revolution

Why has a relatively conventional history of the War of Independence drawn such an outraged response?

Remembered for the Wrong Reason?

Which personality of the American Revolution or the founding era is remembered for the wrong reasons, and why?
A cracked picture of Washington crossing the Delaware River.

The Incoherence of American History

We ascribe too much meaning to the early years of the republic.
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.
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.
"Head of a Negro" (1777 or 1778), by John Singleton Copley.

The Declaration of Independence’s Debt to Black America

When African Americans allied themselves with the British, the Patriots were enraged, and they acted.
Miniature portrait of Benjamin Tallmadge.

George Washington's Culper Spy Ring: Separating Fact from Fiction

Bill Bleyer dives into the secret Culper Spy Ring during the American Revolution while disproving many of the urban myths surrounding the characters involved.
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.

A Loyalist and His Newspaper in Revolutionary New York

The story of James Rivington, the publisher who got on the wrong side of the Sons of Liberty.
Peale family portrait.

Domestic Tranquility: Privacy and the Household in Revolutionary America

British occupation brought challenges to the very foundation of the American home.

What to an American Is the Fourth of July?

Power comes before freedom, not the other way around.

The Fourth of July Has Always Been Political

The question is which vision of America it’s being used to advance.

In Defense of the American Revolution

1776 began as a petty squabble among odious and powerful elites. It soon became the lodestar of emancipatory movements everywhere.

Purchasing Patriotism: Politicization of Shoes, 1760s-1770s

Materials themselves, like shoes reflected and shaped political cultures around the revolutionary Atlantic and World.

Patriot Propaganda

A new book argues that race and racism fueled the fires of the American Revolution.
Painting of the Roman Senate.

Rome's Heroes and America's Founding Fathers

Why the statesmen of the Roman Republic had such an influence on the patriots of the Revolutionary era.

Capitol Hill Needs Thomas Paine Memorial

Why is there still no memorial to Paine, the immigrant whose writing galvanized the American Revolution?

Revisiting the Prayer at Valley Forge

The fable of George Washington's prayer was meant to foster religious tolerance, not paint him as a pious leader.

Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty

A review of Stephen Brumwell's most recent book.

The Attention Economy of the American Revolution

How Twitter bots help us understand the founding era.

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