Free Republic

What Students Read In 1776 | The Books That Shaped The Revolution Have you ever wondered which books shaped the American founding or ignited the American Revolution? What were the students at Harvard and Yale studying in 1776? In this historical analysis, I cover the books the founders would have studied at Harvard or Yale and provide a breakdown of those that would have shaped their thinking. From John Adams, Nathan Hale, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, to the famous Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Warren, and Sam Adams, we learn what the founders were reading on the eve of the American Revolution....

Aaron Houston for The New York Times The 1787 letter from George Washington, beneath his image in a scrapbook begun in 1826. Aaron Houston for The New York TimesBill Schroh, director of operations at the Liberty Hall Museum, looking at the Washington letter. UNION, N.J., April 26 — The letter from George Washington is pasted between poetry and party invitations, stuffed into a dusty scrapbook amid jokes and cutouts of handsome men, and all the highlights of a lucky little girl’s life. It was written in May 1787 and addressed to Jacob Morris, grandfather of Julia Kean, the precocious...

For generations, Americans have been told to celebrate diversity, honor every culture, and preserve the stories that shaped the nation. Yet when it comes to Christianity--the single greatest influence on America's founding and development--many of the same voices suddenly insist that history be edited, minimized, or investigated. That contradiction was on full display this week. Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva vowed that if Democrats regain control of the House, they will investigate the prominent inclusion of Christianity in America's 250th birthday celebrations organized under President Donald Trump. Think about that for a moment. As America approaches one of the most significant...

The personal relationship between Jefferson and Adams had soured under the weight of political rivalry—exacerbated by the brutal campaign of 1800. For years after the election, the two men remained estranged. The physician and mutual friend Benjamin Rush played a pivotal role in bringing the two former friends back together. Encouraged by Rush, Jefferson and Adams began corresponding in 1812, initiating a remarkable exchange of letters that spanned 14 years and addressed topics ranging from politics and philosophy to their reflections on aging and legacy. Through this correspondence, Jefferson and Adams confronted their differences—both political and personal—with candor and a...

The crisis we face today is existential. Too many Americans, both native-born and naturalized, have been taught to despise their country. If it sometimes seems like the American cultural mainstream is ignorant of the role of Christianity in the founding of the United States, or even hostile towards it, that’s because it is. The story told about America’s founding by the corporate media, book publishers, libraries and other institutions is one in which the Christian faith, so central to our history and founding, is almost wholly absent. I don’t mean that anecdotally. A recent report by conservative book publisher Brave...

Detail from a portrait of an elderly Thomas Jefferson as painted by Thomas Sulley, 1821. In a previous post, I examined some of the speculation about George Washington's death, and the curious legend that he had died having confessed himself to a Catholic priest. That has gone on to be the most popular post on this blog, garnering over 15,000 views to date. In the case of death of Thomas Jefferson, there is considerably less cause for speculation. For one thing, Jefferson had been a Unitarian/Deist from his youth, and a consistent critic of Catholic beliefs and practices well into...

During his life, Franklin had many careers... In his later years he became vocal as an abolitionist and in 1787 began to serve as President of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. The Society was originally formed in Philadelphia, as The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage... As a young man he owned slaves, and he carried advertisements for the sale of slaves in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. At the same time, however, he published numerous Quaker pamphlets against slavery and condemned the practice of slavery in his private correspondence. It...

Since 2013, Rubenstein, 72, who co-founded the private equity giant the Carlyle Group, has given millions to entities that repair and upgrade historical monuments and landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument as well as Monticello and Montpelier, the homes of US presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. But some say the restoration at the presidential homes has recast the presidents as sinister racists while downplaying their accomplishments... But a quick dive into Rubenstein’s backstory shows he’s not so pure himself. He made his initial fortune in the 1980s by exploiting a tax loophole in Alaska allowing him...

Paintings are our best visual reference of what the American Revolution was like, for those who lived through it. They offer a glimpse into what people wore, how battles were fought, and what it felt like to live during the Revolutionary War. However, it’s important to remember that paintings of the American Revolution were not intended as realistic depictions of the events portrayed. Most paintings were much more idealistic in nature – even those painted by artists who witnessed the events first-hand... 1. Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze (1851)2. The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull (1819)4. The...

Americans no longer understand the biblical roots of our constitutional order. When a professor at Princeton begins a by recounting that students at one of the world’s most prestigious universities had to have the Ten Commandments explained to them, the natural reaction is disbelief. Surely Gregory Conti was exaggerating? But within days, his essay had drawn corroborating testimony from a chorus of academics at other elite institutions. A Northwestern professor teaching students who had never encountered the word “Exodus.” A former University of Virginia faculty member undergraduates who could not parse Martin Luther King Jr.’s references to that same story...

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government... Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools...

This week, Christians around the world of all strands celebrate what we consider some of the most significant events in world history — the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on behalf of the salvation for those who believe in the Lord.There are many historical reasons to believe in these events, which I’ve addressed in previous columns, such as this and this.Meanwhile, as a student of American history, I find it fascinating that, for the most part, the vast majority of our nation’s settlers and founding fathers also believed it.Here are some examples just from the founding era. Special...

There are things that I am definitely aware of even though I don't often or ever bring them up. One of those things is the de-humanization campaign that progressives have engaged in (in varying degrees) ever since our first progressive President, Theodore Roosevelt, and it puts us in the position to ask the question. How can we re-humanize our Founding Fathers? What tools can we rely on or use or else, what tools can we build to have an effect against the problem? First, let's recognize something. There is a lot of power in the spoken word. It is very,...

There is a Christmas manufactured for display windows and marketing campaigns, bright, hurried, and quickly forgotten. There is the Christmas our Founders knew, quiet, severe, inward, and bound to something far older and more demanding than comfort. They did not inherit a nation wrapped in ribbon. They brought one into being through cold hands, empty stomachs, and resolute faith. When George Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night, there were no speeches to stir the heart and no crowds to bear witness. There was no certainty of success. There was only an obligation. The men who followed him were unpaid,...

On MSNBC's The Weekend, in a segment on President Trump's ballroom project co-host Eugene Daniels called the Founding Fathers "nightmarish" on some policies, citing slavery. Daniels acknowledged that the Founders got it right in creating a White House that was relatively small, the goal being to distinguish it from the palaces of royalty. The original Constitution did not forbid slavery because the Southern states, whose economies were heavily dependent on slave labor, had made it clear that they would not join the United States if the Constitution had abolished slavery. Daniels would apparently have preferred a United States composed only...

Blaze Media pioneer Glenn Beck has apparently been sharing this unearthed paragraph since at least 2020, but I heard it for the first time just days ago. It's a passage Thomas Jefferson wrote for a draft of the Declaration of Independence - a paragraph I have never encountered. Given that I've taught U.S. History and Government for two decades, that fact stuns me as much as it embarrasses and frustrates me. Every year, I've made my government students memorize the Declaration's preamble - those immortal words about all men being endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of life,...

This is one of those things that so many times, someone says it, people listen to it, and its a topic all of us know and know to be true. But then everybody moves on. No. Stop. Right here. We need a greater discussion and a greater recognition of the Abolitionist Founding Fathers. We need more of a focus on this instead of everybody just moving on. The progressives do not move on ergo we do not move on. We need sharing the details, knowing the details, being able to in specifics push back against progressivism when they wield the...

This is a special guest speaker, Tim Barton from Wallbuilders. He gives a very thorough run down of American history and the founding of our government. Up until the 25:26 minute mark, it's Jack Hibbs with an intro and update on what's going on in America. Which makes the message about 54 minutes long. The message by Tim Barton begins at the 25:30 mark if you wish to skip the intro.

WILLIAMSBURG. WEDNESDAY, THE 17TH MAY, 1769. About 12 o’Clock his Excellency the Governor was pleased, by his Messenger, to command the Attendance of the House of Burgesses in the Council Chamber, whereupon, in Obedience to his Lordship’s Command, the House, with their Speaker, immediately waited upon his Excellency, when he thought fit to dissolve the General Assembly. The late Representatives of the People then judging it necessary that some Measures should be taken in their distressed Situation, for pre-serving the true and essential Interests of the Colony, resolved upon a Meeting for that very salutary Purpose, and therefore immediately, with...

There are two interesting items in the 1776 Constitution for the State of Virginia. The first one is in the second paragraph and it reads as follows: Whereas George the Third, King of Great Britain and Ireland, and Elector of Hanover, heretofore intrusted with the exercise of the Kingly Office in this Government, hath endeavoured to pervert the same into a detestable and insupportable Tyranny; by putting his negative on laws the most wholesome and necessary for the publick good;"Putting his negative" What this means is a veto. This would upset anybody. The people of Virginia want to do something,...