This Fourth of July, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, depicted in this 1819 painting by John Trumbull.
As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, Americans are reflecting on the nation’s founding and what it means today.
History Professor Abby Chandler has spent her career studying the people, ideas and conflicts that shaped early America. She teaches courses on the American Revolution, and this fall, she will launch a new course examining the Revolutionary era through film.
Chandler is also the founding lead editor of “Remembering the American Revolution at 250,” an open-access journal that explores new research and perspectives on the Revolutionary era. What began as a short-term project has expanded into a multiyear endeavor that Chandler calls “one of the most rewarding things of my career” because it brings academic research about the Revolution to a broader audience.
Chandler's research focuses on Loyalists — American colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the Revolution — and the political divisions that emerged in the years leading up to independence. She is the author of “Seized with the Temper of the Times: Identity and Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary America,” which explores political protest and rebellion in the decade before the American Revolution.
History Professor Abby Chandler is the founding lead editor of the open-access journal "Remembering the American Revolution at 250."
Why does the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence matter?
It gives us an opportunity to go back to the primary sources and revisit our founding moment. It’s incredibly messy and complicated, because history is messy and complicated. One of the most important things to remember is that the people experiencing the Revolution did not know how it was going to end. We have the benefit of hindsight, but they didn't. That's something worth keeping in mind today as well: We don't know where our story is going, any more than they knew where theirs was going.
How has historians’ understanding of the American Revolution changed since the bicentennial in 1976?
The biggest change is that it has become a much broader story. We’re now looking much more closely at the experiences of women and people of color in the Revolution, which wasn’t really happening in 1976. Historians have worked to recover stories that were often overlooked in earlier accounts of the founding era. We’re also looking at the Revolution through a wider lens. One of the classes I teach is The American Revolution in the World, which examines the conflict as a global war. Scholars are increasingly studying the roles of France, Spain and the Netherlands, and how Britain’s need to fight a worldwide conflict affected what happened in North America.
You're the founding lead editor of “Remembering the American Revolution at 250.” What themes are scholars exploring as this anniversary approaches?
The journal has really taken on a life of its own. One thing I've enjoyed is seeing the incredible range of topics that scholars are exploring. Some articles focus on how we remember the Revolution and how historical memory changes over time. Others examine the Revolution as a global event. We also have a growing series looking at Loyalists and how they have been remembered in the United States, Canada, Britain and elsewhere. What excites me most is that we're publishing high-quality academic research that's written for a broad audience and freely available to anyone.
What important stories are still missing from the popular narrative of the Revolution?
We often forget how long the war was. Here in Massachusetts, the Revolution is wrapped up in March 1776 when the British leave Boston. But the war continued until 1783. We also tend to forget how personal the conflict was. In many ways, it was a civil war. These were people from the same communities, reading the same political texts and drawing very different conclusions about what those ideas meant. In places where communities were divided between Patriots and Loyalists, those disagreements could become incredibly intense and deeply personal.
What led you to become a Loyalist scholar?
Image by Abby Chandler While interning at the Newport Historical Society during her doctoral studies in Rhode Island, Abby Chandler was assigned a research project on Martin Howard, a prominent Loyalist whose former home is owned by the society.
Why is it important to remember the Loyalists?
Because they remind us how complicated the Revolution really was. There wasn't a single Loyalist perspective. Some supported Britain for political reasons. Others made choices based on economics, family ties, religion or local circumstances. The British also actively recruited enslaved people by promising freedom to those who escaped Patriot owners and joined the British cause. They sought alliances with Native American nations by promising protection of Indigenous lands. When you look closely at Loyalists, you find people making decisions for many different reasons. That complexity helps us better understand the Revolution itself.
How can looking at the Revolutionary era help put our current moment of political division into historical context?
One thing that concerns me is when people try to simplify the Revolution or use it to support a single modern narrative. The reality is that the Revolution was complicated. The people living through it disagreed about what freedom, liberty and political rights meant. They argued. They debated. They made difficult choices. And they didn't know how things were going to turn out. I think that's one of the most useful reminders the Revolutionary era offers us today. We can look to history for guidance, but we shouldn't assume that any outcome is inevitable. The people living through the Revolution didn't know where their story was going any more than we know where ours is going. And I take some comfort in that.
What lessons should Americans carry into the next 250 years?
I think we should continue to think seriously about the ideals expressed during the Revolution. I take the Declaration of Independence very seriously. But what's interesting is that many of the same ideas about freedom and equality appear in the writings of people who ended up on different sides of the conflict. The fact that so many people were grappling with those ideas reminds us how important they were — and still are. The challenge for every generation is deciding how to live up to them.
What first sparked your interest in early American history?
I can barely remember a time when I wasn't interested in it. The earliest memory I have is from when I was about 7 or 8 years old. My family sailed a lot, and one day we sailed into Plymouth Harbor. My mother took my sisters and me ashore to tour the Mayflower. I remember climbing into one of the ship's bunks. Then that night, because we were living on a boat, I climbed into my bunk on our boat and imagined what it might have been like to be a young passenger crossing the Atlantic in 1620. That was probably the beginning. The interest just grew from there.
How will you spend the Fourth of July this year?
My husband and I have a longstanding tradition. We go to New Ipswich, New Hampshire, climb Kidder Mountain and pick blueberries. There's a beautiful view from the top, and the mountain is covered with blueberry bushes. We usually come home with four or five pounds and freeze them for the winter. It's a pretty nice way to spend the Fourth.
Image by Ed Brennen History Professor Abby Chandler says one of the most important lessons from the nation's founding is that those living through it did not know how the story would end.