Claiming the American Revolution

This course considers changing interpretations of the American Revolution and its legacies over time, from 1783 to the present. We will begin by exploring key moments in which early Americans argued over the meaning of the war in the decades after its conclusion. How have different groups and individuals used war memory for political purposes? We will then examine how historians and the public have clashed over interpretations of the American Revolution in the twentieth century. This course will ask students to consider how people create narratives about the past.