Browse Themes (4 total)
Crisis and Community: The Revolution divided families and towns
The American Revolution had the power both to unite and divide communities as residents vied for social authority and political control. Townspeople formed committees, drilled minutemen companies, gathered supplies and raised money for the war effort. These same efforts also divided towns and even families.
The Will of the People: Personal stories of sacrifices and hopes of the Revolution
The American Revolution was at its heart a grass-roots event that could not have occurred without individual and community participation and sacrifice. Individual, family, and community histories reveal the personal sacrifices and the ideals that motivated them during wartime as Americans debated and put into practice new ideas about government of and by the people.
Whose Revolution?: Little-known stories of diverse perspectives
The faces of revolution were far more diverse than older, more traditional histories of the struggle for independence suggest. The long struggle for independence engaged poor as well as more well-to-do Americans; African Americans both free and enslaved; Indigenous people; indentured servants and apprentices; women, children, loyalists, Hessians and other prisoners of war.
Living Histories: Memory making and the Revolution
Beginning as early as the war itself, individuals, families and communities began saving and sharing objects relating to the Revolution and personal histories they told. Markers, statues, and other public monuments bear witness to centuries of collective, civic memory making around the Revolution. How do you think the American Revolution will be remembered in the future?