Video Podcasts

Why France Backed the American Revolution (And Got Nothing in Return)

The featured image brings together images of Dr. Rafe Blaufarb and Adel Aali from the interview, superimposed on the Betsy Ross flag, alongside John Trumbull's iconic painting titled Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, which now hangs in the rotunda of the U.S. Congress. Click here to learn about Trumbull's life, the painting's backstory, and an important person who is surprisingly missing from this painting.

Updated: May 25, 2026 Introduction In this interview: “Well, here’s the mindset of the French government. Coming out of the defeat, the humiliating, crushing defeat of the Seven Years’ War, the dominant mood in the French government among, really, the movers and shakers of that country is, really simple, revenge, revenge, revenge on England…. And […]

Age of Enlightenment, Reason, and Revolution

Featured images from left to right: Adam Smith, James Madison (above Smith), Denis Diderot, David Hume, Thomas Jefferson, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Paine (above Kant), and John Locke. See AARevolution.net for more images of the American Revolution.

Updated: April 20, 2026 Intellectual Foundations of the American Revolution — Part II The Enlightenment is often called the “Age of Reason,” but that label only tells part of the story. While thinkers emphasized logic and skepticism—building on earlier figures like René Descartes—they also recognized that reason alone could be misleading if it wasn’t grounded […]