The sequence of events that gave birth to an independent United States was early on—and is still today—called the American Revolution. There has been an equally persistent debate over just what gave rise to that revolution, what it aimed for, what it achieved, and to what extent the latter two items were the same. Some have questioned whether the “American Revolution” was really a revolution at all. If so, in which way/s? If not, what was it? And how might different participants in the original process have given different answers to these questions? This presentation will address these issues by tracing the principal schools of interpretation that have arisen over the past 100 yearsto explain this key episode in American history. Each school will be analyzed according to its leading claims, assumptions, and methodology. Along the way will pass in review the chief elements of class, race, ideology, religion, imperial policy, regionalism, and identity-formation that have been elevated, erased, combined, and re-combined to give an account of America’s founding—and to define, implicitly or explicitly, the nation’s enduring normative character.
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