The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

In his February 13, 1818 letter to Weekly Register editor, Hezekiah Niles, John Adams wrote that the American Revolution “was in the minds and hearts of the people…This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.” The Revolution is an event that many Americans–then and now– identify with a few great men and a few key events. However, a careful reading of Adams’s words reveals an opportunity for US History teachers to offer a new perspective on the Revolution – the people’s perspective. Teaching the Revolution through an examination of the people’s “minds and hearts” and the people’s changing “principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections” does not diminish the accomplishments of the well known and prominent. Instead, it provides our students with a richer picture of the war that created the United States.

When studying the American Revolution, it is important for students to understand that the colonists’ declaration of independence was not the work of a few. Often, students hold the misconception that the Revolution occurred spontaneously with a few angry colonists – led by Samuel Adams and John Hancock – throwing tea into the Boston Harbor. Rather, the activities, meetings and conversations conducted in taverns throughout the colonies were critical to the making of the Revolution. Text and e-mail messaging and twenty-four-hour news networks did not exist. News only traveled as quickly as a newspaper could be printed or as a person with news could travel. Thus, meetings and conversations in taverns were vital in uniting people and spreading the message of the American Revolution. As Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin write in Drinking in America, “The taverns were a vital early American institution – an institution highly regarded by most colonials and attended as faithfully as many churches.” As a motivator for student learning and as a way for students to analyze primary source material, a teacher could begin with the image of the famous Old Tun Tavern – the birthplace of the U.S. Marine Corp. By using similar images or tavern broadsides, the student can become historically empathetic to the people and places where the Revolution really began.

While men talked politics and stirred emotions of rebellion in taverns, the ideas to boycott and engage in resistance to British authority could not have become reality without the support and actions of the women in colonial America. Incorporating documents like A Society of Patriotic Ladies, at Edenton in North Carolina, the famous 1775 London newspaper cartoon, into our classrooms allows students to see not only what vital roles women played, but how they were ridiculed for their actions. Teaching about women’s roles on and off the battlefield extends far beyond the gratuitous nod often given to the likes of Betsy Ross and “Molly Pitcher.” From boycotting British goods to acting as spies and soldiers (sometimes dressed as men), women were not immune to the changing sentiments and opinions. Women did not bury these feelings – they acted on them. In Revolutionary Mothers, by Carol Berkin, numerous examples of the social, political, and military roles that women played can be easily incorporated into the traditional classroom narrative. The drama of America’s War for Independence is much richer and not as trite when more actors are brought to the stage.

In that drama, students are often bombarded with stories of George Washington’s famous crossing of the Delaware or the victory at Yorktown. We have students read letters to the Continental Congress where Washington pleads for supplies and money. However, to truly appreciate the hard earned victories and the hardships faced by the Continental Army, students need to realize it was the militias and volunteers who won these battles and faced these hardships. One of the best accounts of a Revolutionary War soldier’s experience is Joseph Plumb Martin’s memoir. Written years after the war, Martin recounts his experiences as one of the people who changed opinions, sentiments, and affections when he took up arms against the British. The opening pages of his memoir recount his vague memory of the Stamp Act’s repeal and his more vivid memory of why he became a soldier at such a young age. Because Martin was just a common colonial teenager when he joined the fight, his memoir allows our students to see his change of heart and his war experience through the eyes of someone their age. His presence at nearly every major Revolutionary War event allows teachers to present the war from an average soldier’s perspective.

While there is nothing wrong with romanticizing the American Revolution by focusing on the great, heroic individuals whose statues and images appear everywhere, our students need to recognize that our history does not belong solely to the elite. In his 1818 letter, John Adams did not single out a few heroic, wealthy, or prominent individuals. He made note that the real Revolution was in the hearts and minds of the people. Providing additional perspectives on the war does not diminish nor trivialize the accomplishments of the well known. Rather, it stresses the importance of history by allowing students to see their own faces in the past. Incorporating the perspectives of the “people” allows students and teachers to create a richer historical timeline.