Friday, March 28, 2014

The American Revolution in 140 Characters

The Journal of the American Revolution has asked historians to explain the American Revolution in 140 characters, the length of a tweet.  Here are some of the better entries:

Thomas Fleming: "The American Revolution was a complex eight year semi-civil war that was won, in George Washington’s opinion, by divine providence."

John Ferling: "Chiefly about autonomy for economic reasons and republicanism, but for some it was to start the world anew by spreading democracy, equality."

J.L. Bell: "The British colonial elite went all the way to war to keep things as they were, and ended up changing far more than they ever imagined."

Jim Piecuch: "Transforming political movement accomplished by war."

Jimmy Dick: "A fateful event which changed the world, but not as many desired, and its results were mostly from circumstances beyond anyone’s control."

Read more here.