Bridging the North-South Divide: Jonathan Edwards and James Thornwell

By |2024-03-21T22:35:03-05:00March 21st, 2024|Categories: American Republic, American Revolution, Christianity, Civil War, History, Religion, South, Theology, Timeless Essays|

The narrative of a North-South divide in American History is a powerful, yet problematic one. However, closer metaphysical inspection of both regions uncovers a series of considerable similarities and ironic connections between the Puritans of New England fully embodied in Jonathan Edwards, and the Presbyterians of the Old South fully embodied in James Thornwell. Their [...]

Divine Providence: The Witness of Two American Heroes

By |2024-02-22T06:17:26-06:00July 3rd, 2022|Categories: American Republic, American Revolution, Catholicism, Communism, George Washington, History|

In very different historical circumstances, two strong-willed, athletic men with intelligence and leadership ability survived multiple dangers, but neither attributed his survival to his abilities or to sheer willpower. Instead, both men consistently and publicly credited Divine Providence. Their stories are well-known, but worth reviewing, since they serve as witnesses to us in our own [...]

Independence of Community and Republic

By |2022-04-12T16:49:52-05:00April 12th, 2022|Categories: American Republic, American Revolution, Bradley J. Birzer, Declaration of Independence, Senior Contributors|

For many in the American colonies, it was an open question: Should you favor independence, are you also willing to surrender your lives, your honor, and your sacred fortunes? One of my greatest duties at Hillsdale College is teaching an upper-level course entitled Founding of the American Republic. My colleague, David Raney, and I share [...]

The Baleful Comet of Boston: Samuel Adams & the Puritan Republic

By |2021-09-26T18:09:35-05:00September 26th, 2021|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, American Revolution, M. E. Bradford, Samuel Adams, Timeless Essays|Tags: |

Samuel Adams believed that men are ruled more by fear or other emotions than by reason. And Sam Adams knew how to generate anger and fear. Thus he kept up the flow of propaganda that followed from the town's versions of what had happened in the Boston Massacre. Samuel Adams (September 27, 1722-October 2, 1803), [...]

George Orwell on Charles Dickens and Revolutions

By |2021-07-14T21:19:35-05:00July 14th, 2021|Categories: American Republic, American Revolution, Charles Dickens, George Orwell|

George Orwell was initially tempted to dismiss Charles Dickens because he seemed to have “no political program” to offer. But soon Orwell recognized this presumed defect to be a virtue and decided that Dickens was a moralist, not a revolutionary. Having recently celebrated the anniversary of our revolution of 1776, let’s remember the kind of [...]

“The World Turned Upside Down”

By |2021-04-18T16:47:06-05:00October 16th, 2020|Categories: American Revolution, Audio/Video, Music|

The World Turned Upside Down" is an English ballad. It was first published on a broadside in the middle of the 1640s as a protest against the policies of Parliament relating to the celebration of Christmas. Parliament believed the holiday should be a solemn occasion, and outlawed traditional English Christmas celebrations. There are several versions [...]

British Surrender at Saratoga: Turning Point of the American Revolutionary War

By |2020-10-17T07:37:07-05:00October 16th, 2020|Categories: American Republic, American Revolution, History, War|

On October 17, 1777, with his troops surrounded and vastly outmanned, British General John Burgoyne surrendered. The final battle of Saratoga was a major defeat for the British and word of British surrender further rallied troops in the Continental Army and the Militias. Although the end of the war and full British surrender was years [...]

The Birth of the United States Navy

By |2023-10-12T18:00:07-05:00October 12th, 2020|Categories: American Republic, American Revolution, History, Politics, War|

The United States Navy celebrates October 13, 1775 as its birthday because that is the date on which the Continental Congress officially authorized the funding of two ships to interdict British forces. Over the course of the Revolutionary War, more than 50 Continental vessels harassed the British, seized munitions, supplied the Continental Army, and engaged [...]

July 4, 1776: Congress Adopts the Declaration of Independence

By |2020-07-03T15:41:32-05:00July 3rd, 2020|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, History, Independence Day, Thomas Jefferson|

The adoption of the Declaration of Independence of “the thirteen united States of America” on July 4, 1776 formally ended a process that had been set in motion almost as soon as colonies were established in what became British North America. The early settlers, once separated physically from the British Isles by an immense ocean, [...]

Battles of Lexington & Concord: The American Revolution Begins

By |2020-04-19T08:30:36-05:00April 18th, 2020|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, American Revolution, History, War|

During the first six decades of the eighteenth century, the American colonies were mostly allowed to govern themselves. In exchange, they loyally fought for Great Britain in imperial wars against the French and Spanish. But in 1763, after the British and Americans won the French and Indian War, King George III began working to eliminate [...]

“Paul Revere’s Ride”

By |2020-04-19T08:33:11-05:00April 18th, 2020|Categories: American Revolution, Poetry|

Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five: Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, — "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern [...]

“Concord Hymn”

By |2022-04-18T11:41:31-05:00April 19th, 2017|Categories: American Republic, American Revolution, Poetry|

"Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836" By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; And Time the [...]

The American and French Revolutions Compared

By |2023-07-13T21:28:03-05:00September 14th, 2013|Categories: American Founding, American Revolution, Revolution, Sean Busick|

One of the many differences between the American and French Revolutions is that, unlike the French, Americans did not fight for an abstraction. Americans initially took up arms against the British to defend and preserve the traditional rights of Englishmen. The slogan “no taxation without representation” aptly summed up one of their chief complaints. The [...]

Virginia’s American Revolution: From Dominion to Republic

By |2020-05-11T11:52:05-05:00April 29th, 2012|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, American Revolution, Books, Kevin Gutzman, Republicanism, Thomas Jefferson|

The American Revolution proceeded simultaneously on two levels: the state and the federal. While federal reform was essential, and while Virginians took the lead in achieving it, the state-level activity of those years struck contemporaries as more important. Virginia’s revolutionary May Convention adopted its three resolutions of May 15, 1776. In doing so, it decided [...]

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