A cut-paper silhouette of George Washington's head in profile
Portrait of George Washington, ca. 1798
Marked Boston

SubjectIn outline · lessons being written

The American Revolution

Thirteen British colonies in North America rebelled against taxes they had not voted for, declared independence in 1776 and won it in 1783. The new United States wrote a constitution, but kept slavery.

Place
Boston · Philadelphia · Saratoga · YorktownThe Americas, Europe
Laid out as
A revolutionHow things were before, the moment it turned, and how things were after.
Lessons
6 planned, none written yet

The lessons we plan

Titles may change as they are written

BeforeBritish colonies ruled from London, without votes in Parliament.

  1. INo taxation without representation
  2. IILexington and Concord
  3. IIIThe Declaration of Independence
  4. IVWashington’s army
  5. VBlack Patriots and Black Loyalists
  6. VIThe Constitution

AfterAn independent republic with a written constitution, though not free for all.

Still to come

The people and objects these lessons will cover

People

  • George Washington
  • Thomas Jefferson
  • Abigail Adams
  • Crispus Attucks
  • Thomas Paine
  • Joseph Brant

Objects

  • The Declaration of Independence
  • Common Sense

Where it sits

All of human history, era by era

Early human ancestryOur species and the Old Stone AgeFarming and the New Stone AgeFirst cities and the Bronze AgeThe Iron Age and growing statesThe classical worldAfter the empiresMedieval networks and empiresOceans crossedRevolutions and the first factoriesIndustry, empire and world warThe world since 1945

1765 to 1789. Each era is drawn the same width, so the earliest are squeezed: era II alone is over 300,000 years.

Nearby in time and place

This page is an outline. The summary above is a starting point; each lesson, when it is written, will give its sources, its pictures and where historians disagree. Spotted a mistake?