1776/2026: The American Revolution at 250
Hannah Spahn
Kommentar
“What do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American War?” In a letter from 1818 that has since become famous, John Adams firmly answered his second question in the negative, defining the “real American Revolution” as a “radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affection of the people” that had taken place in their “minds and hearts” before the outbreak of military hostilities. Writing in the midst of what became known as the “biographical war”—the first of a series of American culture wars that extends until today—Adams thus classified the American Revolution as an event in cultural and intellectual rather than primarily military history.
In this lecture, we will take Adams’s influential if contested interpretation as a starting point to explore the cultural and intellectual history of the American Revolution from the perspective of its semiquincentennial. How was the founding of the United States experienced and discussed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and how can we understand it now, as the nation’s 250th birthday approaches? We will answer these questions by examining not only the historical “records, pamphlets, newspapers and even handbills” mentioned in Adams’s letter but also other cultural artifacts, including works of fiction, poetry, drama, painting, and architecture. We will seek to get an overview of the major research questions in the historiography of the American Revolution, such as on the changing interpretations of the Declaration of Independence, on the interventions by women, African Americans, and Native Americans, on the roles played by the Great Awakening and religious freedom, by Enlightenment philosophy and British empiricism, and by classical republicanism and analogies to Greek and especially Roman antiquity. With these questions in mind, we will take a look at the later decades of the revolutionary period as well, including the discussions surrounding the Federal Constitution, the emergence of the first party system and the role of the press, the debates about the relationship to the other Atlantic Revolutions, and the controversies about the slave trade, slavery, and the “first emancipation.” Throughout the lecture, we will also reflect on our own historical moment at the end of the first quarter-millennium following 1776, aiming to take stock of competing cultures of commemorating the origins of American liberal democracy.
The lecture course serves as “Vorlesung” of Culture-Module A (Amerikanische Ideengeschichte und Theorien amerikanischer Kultur) in the M.A. program. Registration: All participants must be registered via Blackboard and Campus Management before the first session. If you cannot register online or cannot attend the first session, please contact PD Dr. Spahn before the beginning of the term. Requirements: See Syllabus and Course Description (on Blackboard). First session: October 15.
Schließen16 Termine
Regelmäßige Termine der Lehrveranstaltung