Did the Treaty of Paris Create the United States?

Introduction In this interview: “We like the documents that we wrote. We didn’t write, you know, we Americans had to write the Treaty of Paris with the British. It is a bilateral document. And, you know, it’s not entirely a welcome truth that one of our three founding documents is an international document.” Watch this […]

Who Decides What the American Revolution Means?

Introduction In this interview: “The memory of the Revolution has often done more to divide Americans than to unite them.” Watch this segment in the video below (00:27:30) Most Americans think the meaning of the American Revolution has always been obvious. But has it? Did Americans always celebrate the Declaration of Independence the way we […]

America Compared to History’s Great Empires

Introduction In this interview: “Americans invariably described their new polity, not just as a republic, but also as an empire… They used the word empire over and over and over again. Watch this segment in the video below (00:10:01) America was founded as a republic. So why did early Americans repeatedly describe it as an […]

Did the Declaration of Independence Actually Have Legal Authority?

Introduction In this interview: “They have to wait for the colonies to give them authority to go along with this. So the whole status of exactly the authority of the Declaration of Independence, it couldn’t stand alone. It required each colony to also declare independence, which they basically did.” Watch this segment in the video […]

1776: Seven Months That Changed America

Introduction In this interview: “1776 witnesses the drafting of the first written constitutions in the history of the world. Those were those new state constitutions that Congress called for in May of 1776. So that’s why this year was not a rebellion. That’s why this year was a revolutionary transformation in government…” Watch this segment […]

The Maritime Origins of the American Revolution: Press Gangs and Fishing Rights

Introduction In this interview: “John Adams pushes the British government after Saratoga, 1778. They begin the peace process. And the one thing that holds up the peace process is John Adams insisting on American rights to fish in the Atlantic Ocean. It holds up the peace process for five years.” Watch this segment in the […]

Spain’s Forgotten Role in the American Revolution

Introduction In this interview: “So the politicians, the U.S. politicians at the time, were not very happy when Spain was victorious. They needed Spain to continue to be harassing the Brits in North America in order that those troops were not concentrated against them. But they did not want a victory from Spain.” Watch this […]

Religion and the Revolution: Why the Founders Rejected a National Church

Introduction In this interview: “You could have created a Church of the United States. You could have required the president to be a member, to be a Protestant, right? They didn’t.” Watch this segment in the video below (01:01:02) Religion was everywhere in colonial America. So why didn’t the founders create a national church? Why […]

The American Revolution Myth We Learned Wrong

Introduction In this interview: “You had this thing called the Quartering Act, which forced soldiers into people’s homes, and Americans were so upset about it that they wrote the Third Amendment. That’s a very nice, easy story…. The story is wrong.” Watch this segment in the video below (07:33) Most Americans learned that the Quartering […]

Homosexuality, Single Men and the American Revolution

Introduction In this interview: “Homosexuality infects the nation. It threatens the empire. It upsets the natural order. If men can have sex with men, everything’s topsy-turvy. There is no natural order anymore.” Watch this segment in the video below (20:22) Why would Revolutionary Americans reduce penalties for sodomy… while Britain was intensifying prosecutions? Why was […]