Video Category: Lectures, Author's Talks & Panels

Christy Pichichero discussed the military enlightenement and the French army at the American Revolution Institute.

The American Revolution and the French Military Enlightenment

Christy Pichichero
October 10, 2019

Christy Pichichero illustrates how the French Enlightenment philosophies of foreign officers in the American Revolution informed their perspective of American customs. Selecting the marquis de Chastellux and the comte de Rochambeau—whose memoirs are a part of the Institute’s rich archival collections—among her examples, Dr. Pichichero labels these men “military philosophers” who brought Enlightenment philosophy to […]

John Buchanan spoke about Nathanael Greene's campaign in the South at the American Revolution Institute.

Nathanael Greene’s Last Campaign

John Buchanan
May 30, 2019

John Buchanan discusses his book about the dramatic conclusion of the American Revolution in the South led by Major General Nathanael Greene. Greene’s Southern Campaign was the most difficult of the war. Insufficient manpower a constant problem, Greene attempted to incorporate black regiments into his army, a plan angrily rejected by the South Carolina legislature. […]

Albert Zambone spoke about his biography of Daniel Morgan at the American Revolution Institute.

The Revolutionary Life of Daniel Morgan

Albert Zambone
May 6, 2019

Daniel Morgan, one of America’s greatest battlefield commanders, arose from humble beginnings. Following a fight with his father, Morgan left home as an illiterate teenage laborer. Through ambition, determination and a great deal of luck, he became a landowner, congressman and Revolutionary War general. This lecture uncovers Morgan’s tumultuous life and recounts his leadership in […]

Patrick Spero is the Director of the American Philosophical Society.

Rebels on the Pennsylvania Frontier

Patrick Spero
December 13, 2018

Patrick Spero examines the overlooked conflict between the Black Boys of Pennsylvania, Native American forces and the British Empire prior to the American Revolution. As the Stamp Act riled eastern seaports, frontiersmen clashed with the British Empire over another issue: Indian relations. When British officials launched a risky diplomatic expedition into Pennsylvania’s Allegheny frontier to […]

Historian Bob Selig discusses burial of the dead on Revolutionary War battlefields.

Battlefield Burial during the Revolutionary War

Robert Selig
October 30, 2018

Although battlefield burial is seldom covered by modern historians, following almost any military engagement, corpses needed to be buried. Who was responsible for disposing of these corpses? How can we tell who buried whom? Were officers and other ranks buried together or separate? Historian Robert Selig answers these and related questions about burying the dead […]

Kathleen DuVal gave the George Rogers Clark Lecture on the Revolution in the Spanish borderlands.

The American Revolution on the Spanish Borderlands

Kathleen DuVal
October 26, 2018

Kathleen DuVal illuminates the American Revolution on the Spanish borderlands—recounting clashes between the Spanish and British forces over the territory along the Gulf of Mexico. The capture of Mobile and the Siege of Pensacola were critical to the outcome of the Revolutionary War, the future of the American South and the lives of the people […]

Colonel Jeremiah Lee of Marblehead

Robert Booth
October 3, 2018

Colonel Jeremiah Lee was a fabulously wealthy colonial merchant who turned against the British Empire and became a leader of the rebel movement in Massachusetts. Historian Robert Booth brings this outspoken revolutionary to life as part of the 250th anniversary celebration of Lee’s achievements, hosted by the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati and the Marblehead […]

The Broadway musical Hamilton has introduced a whole generation of theater goers to the American Revolution.

Historians on Hamilton the Musical

A Panel Discussion
August 2, 2018

Four scholars who contributed to Historians on Hamilton: How a Blockbuster Musical is Restaging America’s Past dissect the musical’s phenomenon and what it means for our understanding of America’s past. Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning musical, has become so popular that it is being used to teach U.S. history in classrooms across the country. But just how historically accurate is this Broadway […]

Dr. Chip Bragg is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati and an authority on the Burr-Hamilton duel.

A Fratricidal Affair of Honor: Reactions to the Burr-Hamilton Duel

Cordell Lee Bragg
June 7, 2018

The Hamilton-Burr duel has become one of the most infamous altercations in U.S. history.  Officers in the Revolutionary War and original members of the Society of the Cincinnati—Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr squared off in Weehawken, New Jersey, in the hours of the early morning on July 11, 1804. Although Hamilton led the Society as […]

John Avlon discusses George Washington's Farewell Address and legacy at an Institute event in 2018.

Washington’s Farewell Address

John Avalon
May 11, 2018

George Washington’s Farewell Address is an essential document for the Republic. Its message, a “warning from a parting friend,” remains starkly relevant to a modern audience. By the end of his second term, President Washington was viciously attacked in the press and alarmed by intense partisan bitterness. Determined to avoid the mistakes that had doomed […]

Professor Rod Andrew is the author The Life and Times of Andrew Pickens.

Andrew Pickens: War Hero and Founder

Rod Andrew
January 23, 2018

Andrew Pickens (1739–1817) was the hero of many American Revolution victories against British and Loyalist forces. Rod Andrew vividly depicts the hard-fighting South Carolina militia commander founding churches, acquiring slaves, struggling over Indian territorial boundaries on the southern frontier and joining the patriot cause. Combining insights from military and social history, Andrew argues that while […]

Robert Allison of Suffolk University is the author of several books on Boston in the American Revolution.

Was the American Revolution Inevitable?

Robert Allison
October 27, 2017

“Was the American Revolution inevitable?” is a complex question posed by Robert Allison in the 2017 George Rogers Clark Lecture. The achievement of independence hinged upon the cooperation of colonists from diverse backgrounds to unite in a common cause. The people in British North America had profound differences—religious, social, political and economic—that surfaced in local […]

Rachel Engle discusses her research on camraderie in the Continental Army.

The Social Community of the Continental Army

Rachel Engl
October 24, 2017

Rachel Engl charts social community—the ways individuals initiated and maintained casual and intimate relationships—in the Continental Army. Over the course of the Revolutionary War, tens of thousands of men served in the Continental Army, many of whom formed strong friendships while fighting. Personal connections sustained men within the Continental Army and opened new opportunities for some […]

C.L. Bragg discusses his research on the execution of Isaac Hayne in Revolutionary South Carolina.

The Execution of Isaac Hayne, South Carolinian

Cordell Lee Bragg
March 7, 2017

Col. Isaac Hayne was hung for treason on August 4, 1781, in Charleston, South Carolina, by the British army. The death of a patriot for the cause of liberty was not a unique occurrence, but the unusually well-documented events surrounding the execution of Hayne and the involvement of his friends and family make his story […]

The causes of the Revolution are the subject of this lecture by Andrew O'Shaughnessy.

The British Empire and the Causes of the American Revolution

Andrew O'Shaughnessy
October 28, 2016

Andrew O’Shaughnessy argues that the drive to centralize control over its growing empire led Britain to adopt authoritarian policies to govern its American colonies and was one of the main causes of the American Revolution. Britain’s North American colonists resisted and ultimately rebelled to avoid the fate of Irish, a people denied the rights enjoyed […]

J.L. Bell discussed his research on the British march on Concord at the American Revolution Institute.

The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War

J. L. Bell
August 31, 2016

The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War unfolds a vignette from the beginning of the American Revolution. In the early spring of 1775, British army spies located four brass cannon belonging to Boston’s colonial militia that had gone missing months before. British general Thomas Gage devised plans to regain the […]

Carl Borick discussed his book on Revolutionary War prisoners of war at the American Revolution Institute.

American Prisoners in the Revolutionary South

Carl Borick
April 19, 2016

American prisoners in the revolutionary South held captive by the British forces were a logistical and financial burden that contributed to their failure in the South. During the Siege of Charleston in 1780, British forces under General Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot captured nearly six thousand American troops, the largest number of prisoners […]

Wendy Wick Reaves discussed George Washington in art at the American Revolution Institute.

How Revolutionary Americans Imagined George Washington

Wendy Wick Reaves
February 23, 2016

Prints of an imagined George Washington circulated around the country in the late eighteenth century as Americans yearned for images of their new leaders. At the start of the Revolutionary War, almost any fictitious image could pass as a portrait of an American hero. George Washington, as commander-in-chief, warranted extra efforts and American printmakers searched […]

Archaeologist Meg Watters was the lead investigator at Parker's Revenge, a Revolutionary War battle site between Lexing and Concord, Massachusetts.

Archaeology at Parker’s Revenge

Meg Watters
December 9, 2015

Parker’s Revenge, the scene of intense fighting between the retreating British and militia on April 19, 1775, is the site of recent archaeological discoveries. Because contemporary documents reveal little about this fight, an archaeological survey was needed to reveal clues left behind in the soil. Meg Watters and her team, using ground penetrating radar and […]

Maya Jasanoff presents her research about the global migration of American Loyalists after the Revolution at the American Revolution Institute.

American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World

Maya Jasanoff
October 23, 2015

Global migration of American Loyalists following the Revolutionary War is a topic easily overlooked by scholars and educators as they trace the path of the victorious Patriot forces. However, at the end of the American Revolution, sixty thousand Americans loyal to the British cause fled the United States and became refugees throughout the British Empire, […]

Robert Selig presents a lecture on the march to Yorktown at the American Revolution Institute’s headquarters.

The March to Yorktown

Robert Selig
July 16, 2015

The epic march to Yorktown undertaken by the French and patriot forces was the largest troop movement in the Revolutionary War. From 1781-1782 French forces marched under the command of the comte de Rochambeau to and from Yorktown, alongside their American allies led by George Washington, as they traveled from Newport, Rhode Island, and West […]

At the American Revolution Institute, John Ruddiman presents his research about the experience of young soldiers during the Revolutionary War.

Youth and Military Service in the Revolutionary War

John Ruddiman
May 8, 2015

The experience of young soldiers in the Revolutionary War was shaped by their drive to achieve personal independence and autonomy. The war offered an entire generation of young men unusual opportunities for social advancement, honor and distinction, but diverted those who served from the established path through young adulthood. John Ruddiman focuses on soldiers as […]

Andrew O'Shaughnessy is the author of a study of the Revolution in the Caribbean.

The American Revolution in the Caribbean

Andrew O'Shaughnessy
December 4, 2014

In British America in 1776, there were twenty-six, not thirteen colonies—the majority of the colonies outside the mainland were in the Caribbean. Even though they shared many important similarities and connections with the mainland colonies, they did not rebel. Andrew O’Shaughnessy argues that the economic and political differences in the British colonies in the Caribbean […]

James Kirby Martin of the University of Houston is an authority on the military history of the American Revolution.

George Washington and the Newburgh Conspiracy

James Kirby Martin
October 24, 2014

In March of 1783, the Newburgh Conspiracy threatened to derail the fragile calm at the end of the Revolutionary War. The rumors of peace after Yorktown brought anxiety to soldiers in the Continental Army. The Continental Congress had not paid them for some time, and they would soon return home, many impoverished. The soldiers had […]

Dennis Conrad, formerly an editor of the Nathanael Greene Papers, now edits Naval Documents of the American Revolution, presents a lecture about the Continental Navy.

Naval Warfare in the Spring of 1778

Dennis Conrad
September 24, 2014

Dennis Conrad recounts the significant alterations the Continental Navy underwent during the American Revolution in the spring of 1778. Naval warfare in the Revolutionary War took place in the Atlantic and beyond—stretching as far away as the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. The internationalization of naval conflicts and an increase in the number and […]

Nathaniel Philbrick presents a lecture about the Battle of Bunker Hill at the Boston Athenaeum.

Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution

Nathaniel Philbrick
May 20, 2014

Nathaniel Philbrick brings a fresh perspective to the Battle of Bunker Hill. The real central character in this battle is Boston—where vigilantes fill the streets with a sinister and frightening violence, even as calmer patriots struggle to see their way to rebellion. The core of Philbrick’s lecture, building on his book Bunker Hill: A City, a […]

Farar Ellliott, curator of the U.S. House of Representatives, discusses portraits of Revolutionary War in the U.S. Capitol in a lecture at the American Revolution Institute.

Revolutionary War Heroes in the Art of the U.S. Capitol

Farar Elliott
November 15, 2013

The Revolutionary War portraits that adorn the U.S. Capitol serve a purpose beyond artistic decoration. In the early nineteenth century, Americans searched for icons to unite them as a new nation, particularly ones that evoked civic virtue. The only symbols that the fractured and growing nation could agree on were Revolutionary War heroes. Learn how […]

Carol Berkin, a leader in Revolutionary era women's history, presents the vital role Patriot and Loyalist women played in the American Revolution.

Women in the American Revolution

Carol Berkin
October 25, 2013

The American Revolution was a home-front war that brought scarcity, bloodshed and danger into the life of every American, women included. While men left to fight, women shouldered greater responsibility as they maintained their farms alone and tried to prevent confiscation of property. Patriot women maintained boycotts of imported goods, joined the army disguised as […]

Benjamin Carp, author of Defiance of the Patriots, a history of the Boston Tea Party.

The Boston Tea Party

Benjamin Carp
October 24, 2013

In addition to objecting to taxation without representation, Bostonians protested the Tea Act of 1773 in part because it forced them to pay a tax on top of the monopoly prices set by the East India Company. They also opposed supporting the sons of the royally appointed governor who would benefit from the tax revenue. […]

Gordon Wood speaks about Washington's moral leadership in Princeton, New Jersey.

The Greatness of George Washington

Gordon Wood
May 10, 2013

Gordon Wood examines the virtues of George Washington that aided the Chief Commander of the Continental Army and first President of the United States to shape the young country. Wood highlights Washington’s concerns with his reputation—citing his letters to friends and fellow statesmen. Washington’s disinterest in power and awareness of his legacy shaped his moral […]

David Fisher discusses George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas in 1776 as a turning point in the Revolutionary War.

From George Washington’s Crossing to Victory in Princeton

David Hackett Fischer
May 10, 2013

In summer of 1776, George Washington suffered many crushing defeats and lost 90 percent of the army under his command. British and Hessian forces had recovered much of  New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island. By late November, thousands of Americans took an oath of allegiance to George III. Leaders on both sides believed that […]

Gordon Wood and Gordon Wood and Steven Pincus discuss the British national debt and the political economic forces in the British Empire that led to the American Revolution.

The Political Path to Revolution and War, 1760-1776

Gordon Wood and Steven Pincus
May 9, 2013

Why did the British government pass the Stamp Act, the Townshend Duties, the Tea Act and the Intolerable Acts? Why did they pass a series of measures seemingly calculated to offend and provoke North American colonists? These measures cannot be fully understood without taking into account a profound political economic debate taking place across the […]

Historian Robert Allison discusses the coming of the American Revolution in Massachusetts that led to war.

The Coming of the Revolution in Massachusetts

Robert Allison
January 15, 2013

Did events in the Massachusetts colony make the American Revolution inevitable? The people of Massachusetts had more power over their own government than anyone else in the British empire. As the British crown raised taxes on American goods and soldiers arrived to enforce new polices, the independent minded colonists in Massachusetts became embittered and resentful. Rising tensions […]

Walter Edgar, Professor Emeritus of History, University of South Carolina presents the American Revolution in the South.

The American Revolution in the South

Walter Edgar
October 26, 2012

The American Revolution in the South is neglected in many accounts of the period, Walter Edgar explains, but it involved some of the most vicious battles and intense partisan struggles of the entire war. The British failed in their first attempt to suppress the American Revolution in the South when a Royal Navy flotilla was […]

Pauline Maier is the author, most recently, of Ratification, a history of the ratification of the Constitution.

The People Debate the Constitution

Pauline Maier
October 11, 2011

The ratification of the Constitution is usually treated as an afterthought. There are dozens of books about the Federal Convention, and history textbooks conventionally deal with debates in the convention, but few studies deal with the critical process through which the Constitution was ratified by the states in a succession of state conventions. Ratification, as […]