What are some basics to know about the American Revolution?
I don’t always write it here, but every year I reflect on what it means to me to be a historian on the fourth of July. I think about how important history is to our civic health. And how seriously I take the work of exploring and sharing early American history. The above isn’t a great picture, but I’ve been wearing this sparkly flag and scarf a lot. They were a gift decades ago from a late beloved relative. At the time she gave it to me I thought “when will I *ever* wear that? But this year it’s seemed a good talisman, an emblem for what the flag means to me. Being a historian is patriotic work.
This year commentators, journalists, –and thankfully some historians, too– are out in force for the semiquincentennial. 250! I won’t try to round up the volume of pieces on the history and meaning of the founding, but I’ll note that there are some really great historically informed reflections on the origins of the United States. And there is some terrific journalism exploring this essential history.
Here’s what I’ve been emphasizing for public audiences and with journalists in conversations and on the record.
- People have been arguing about the American Revolution since… the American Revolution! The Founders disagreed, for heaven’s sake. When anyone tells you that the revolution was about “x” you should ask “for whom?” and “at what point?”
That’s historical thinking, understanding that perspectives are shaped in the moment as well as retrospectively and understanding who is experiencing or saying what and why and in what context really matters.
Among other things, it was a long road from July 4, 1776 not just to the end of the war, but to revising the original frame of government (the Articles of Confederation) and ratifying the Federal Constitution. So much scope for debate and disagreement there.
And very quickly afterwards there was disagreement among the founding generation about what the revolution was about and for and how the government they made did or didn’t reflect its goals.. John Adams famously argued with the brilliant writer Mercy Otis Warren about how she characterized his presidency, for example.
That doesn’t mean anything goes. Recognizing that history is complicated just means you need to be attentive to the complexity.
- History is like medicine– you should be careful where you get it. There are some wonderful social media folks who share terrific history and there are many, more more people on social media sharing nonsense.
History is consequential stuff. It shapes what you think about how we got here, and it can shape what decisions you make for our future.
I don’t follow any anonymous accounts on social media, or any that won’t share their sources. Good historical work reflects some of the core values of democratic government: transparency and accountability. You should want more and better than simple assertions. It’s easy to find great accounts! Historical societies and libraries as well as individual historians who will tell you about their background and experience in the bio.
Here in Rhode Island among others I always follow the Rhode Island Historical Society, RI250, which is the state semiquincentennial commission, Newport Historical Society and of course the John Carter Brown Library. I’ll also always recommend my favorite history podcast, Ben Franklin’s World.
- I get asked a lot about whether we should worry that people are distorting history “on both sides.” I assume this means across the political spectrum and I can’t really answer that in the abstract. It is absolutely the case that the current administration is acting to distort and erase history in ways that are extreme by any measure.
But I’m not sure what people mean about “both sides” although I think they mean loosely people who want to emphasize the positive, inspiring aspects of our country’s past, and people who want to emphasize the problematic, violent history. I don’t see those as two side per se. There is history informed by evidence, and then there is something else which is seeking specific meaning (of all kinds) in the past. We confuse the two a lot.
Professional historians have an obligation to seek the most complete, full, and truthful account of the past possible. To understand that only some material remains to tell us much about what happened, to seek multiple perspectives, to use different methods to get to that most truthful possible rendering. You can and should expect that from historians. From politicians? Caveat emptor.
- The revolution didn’t end on July 5th! And neither should our enthusiasm for understanding the founding.
It’s not just that there are many, many anniversaries ahead– per above that long decade+ to ratification of the Federal Constitution– but that early America has always been the foundation on which we are built. It informs and inspires and we should want that fullest understanding to inform and inspire us most fully. Much of the consequential research, programming, and publication followed the bicentennial– it didn’t happen before July 4, 1976.
So let’s stay busy. I’m ready for a vacation, and then to get right back at it. Festive fourth to you and yours, and kudos to colleagues and friends who have been working so hard to bring us good history for this holiday.