Here is Gregory Schneider at The Washington Post: Here’s what we know: On March 23, 1775 — probably in the afternoon — a self-taught lawyer named Patrick Henry arose in a little white church in Richmond and unleashed a scorching, […]
American Revolution
Changes at the Museum of the American Revolution
Here is PhillyVoice.Com: Upgrades are underway on the first floor of the Museum of the American Revolution, which soon will house a new video wall, speakers and the Revolution Place discovery center. The Old City museum is moving Revolution Place, […]
The Author’s Corner with Eran A. Zelnik
Eran A. Zelnik is a Lecturer in the Department of History at California State University, Chico. This interview is based on his new book, American Laughter, American Fury: Humor and the Making of a White Man’s Democracy, 1750–1850 (Johns Hopkins […]
James Kirby Martin, RIP
I met James Kirby Martin once. We both spoke at the Fort Ticonderoga Seminar on the American Revolution in 2009. I did not know him well, but he was always kind to me following that meeting and I have learned […]
J.L. Bell on “myths and misinformation” about 1775
Over at Boston 1775, Bell sets the record straight: Learn more about these seven points here.
Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Greenwich Tea Burning
Last night I was in Cumberland County, New Jersey (the Robert Wood Mansion in Millville, to be exact) to help commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Greenwich Tea Burning. I first wrote about the tea burning in The Way of […]
Just how “Mormon” is Mitt Romney’s political theology?
Mitt Romney left the U.S. Senate this week. Over at The Dispatch, Samuel Benson reflects on his “farewell address.” A taste: …There are some today who would tear at our unity, who would replace love with hate, who deride our […]
The Author’s Corner with Jane E. Calvert
Jane E. Calvert is Director and Chief Editor of The John Dickinson Writings Project. This interview is based on her new book, Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson (Oxford University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to […]
The Author’s Corner with Christopher R. Pearl
Christopher R. Pearl is Associate Professor and Chair of History at Lycoming College. This interview is based on his new book, Declarations of Independence: Indigenous Resilience, Colonial Rivalries, and the Cost of Revolution (University of Virginia Press, 2024). JF: What led you […]
David Waldstreicher wins the 2024 George Washington Book Prize
Congrats to CUNY early American historian David Waldstreicher, the winner of the 2024 George Washington Book Prize for The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery. Here is the press release: David Waldstreicher has been awarded the […]
250 years ago today the First Continental Congress opened with prayer. What should we make of that?
On Thursday evening I was in Philadelphia to speak at an event, sponsored by Carpenter’s Hall, commemorating the 250th anniversary of Jacob Duchés prayer on the third day of the Continental Congress. I was joined by the clergy of Philadelphia’s […]
The Author’s Corner with Frances Kolb Turnbell
Frances Kolb Turnbell is Instructor of History at the University of North Alabama and editor of the Tennessee Historical Quarterly. This interview is based on her new book, Spanish Louisiana: Contest for Borderlands, 1763–1803 (LSU Press, 2024). JF: What led you […]
“REVIVAL OR BUST”
Earlier this week, Commonweal published my piece on the way the Christian Right uses the supposed links between the First Great Awakening and the American Revolution to advance its political agenda. And then this comes across my X feed today: […]
The disputed thesis that underpins MAGA evangelicalism
I have a piece today at Commonweal. Read it here. A taste: On April 5, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump announced via Twitter that he would be streaming the Palm Sunday service at Harvest Christian […]
Boston Seminar: Day 4
Day 4 focused on Lexington and Concord and we were honored to have John Bell of Boston 1775 blog as our tour guide. John walked us through the April 1775 battle and debunked some cherished myths. His tour was outstanding. […]
The Author’s Corner with Nathan Perl-Rosenthal
Nathan Perl-Rosenthal is Professor of History, French and Italian, and Law at the University of Southern California. This interview is based on his new book, The Age of Revolutions: And the Generations Who Made It (Basic Books, 2024). JF: What […]
Michael Douglas plays Benjamin Franklin in new miniseries
“Franklin” is coming soon. The miniseries, which will start on April 12, 2024, is based on Stacy Schiff’s A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America. Watch:
More cherry-picking from the Bartons
Watch the clip below. Tim Barton, the president of Wallbuilders, is speaking at an evangelical congregation: So what is Tim Barton doing here? He wants his audience to believe that the founders sought national unity at the time the Revolution […]
Is bad history protected under the free speech clause of the First Amendment?
I mentioned this story in today’s Evangelical Roundup, but I thought it deserved its own post. In case you missed it, David Barton, the political activist who uses the American past to promote his Christian Right agenda, is suing the […]
The Marshfield Tea Burning
Ever since I wrote about the Greenwich (NJ) Tea Burning in The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Philip Vickers Fithian and the Rural Enlightenment in Early America, I have been fascinated by the various copycat tea burnings and tea parties […]