S. Scott Rohrer is a historian of early America. This interview is based on his new book, The Folly of Revolution: Thomas Bradbury Chandler and the Loyalist Mind in a Democratic Age (Penn State University Press, 2022). JF: What led...
independence
Make the Fourth of July Safe Again!
Over at Smithsonian.Com, history student Michael Waters tells the story of early 20th-century reformers and activists who were concerned that Independence Day celebrations were too dangerous. They championed a “Safe and Sane Fourth.” Here is a taste of his Waters’s piece:...
What Happens When You Tweet the Declaration of Independence in the Age of Trump?
This. Apparently Trump supporters are worried the the “liberals” at National Public Radio are trying to foment a revolution by tweeting the words of the Declaration of Independence. There are a lot of things to say here, but I will...
The 100 Other Declarations of Independence
By this point you are probably getting sick of July 4th posts. But I have at least more for you before we put them aside for another year. In 1997, the late Pauline Maier taught us that the Declaration of...
Happy Independence Day
I wanted to get this post up before midnight. Why? Because July 2, 1776 is the actual day that the Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Great Britain. July 4th, as historian Joseph Ellis points out in today’ Los Angeles...
Can an Independent Counsel Be Truly Independent?
I hope so. But, as Yale historian Beverly Gage argues, history reminds us that partisanship is difficult to overcome. Here is a taste of her New York Times piece “Can Anyone Be Truly ‘Independent’ in Today’s Polarized Politics“: In colonial America, “independence”...