Tag: American Revolution

Revolutionary Summer: Lessons for America’s Semiquincentennial

America's Semiquincentennial
[Photo: The Battle of Long Island by Alonzo Chappel, 1858; Brooklyn Historical Society via Wikimedia Commons]

In celebration of America’s semiquincentennial, Countdown America 250 has created a curated reading list on the American revolution and the story of America’s founding. Each month, we consider one of the books on this list to better understand our own history, rediscover our foundational values, and gaze with hope into our future. Click here for a complete reading list.

Countdown America 250 and the journey to America’s semiquincentennial begins with the explosive summer of 1776. In his book Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence, Joseph J. Ellis zooms in on a critical stretch of time that shifted history and shaped a nation.

Unlike many sweeping Revolutionary War histories, the narrow scope of Revolutionary Summer creates a focused and tension-filled narrative. Ellis invites readers to step into a compressed time frame in which political and military leaders alike were “improvising on the edge of catastrophe.” They did not have the advantage history affords us. We know the outcome; they did not.

As Ellis tells the story, the summer of 1776 was the “crescendo moment in American history.” More than dry chronology, Revolutionary Summer explores a dual timeline rife with intensity and human emotion. Ellis unpacks the political maneuvering in Philadelphia alongside the harsh military realities unfolding in New York. Themes of fragile unity, political and military uncertainty, and character under pressure dominate the narrative.

Though written in 2013, Revolutionary Summer is a relevant read in the lead-up to America’s semiquincentennial. Ellis’ analysis invites comparison between the challenges encountered by America’s founders and the seemingly constant conflict of our current moment.

Following are a few highlights from Revolutionary Summer along with questions for further reflection.

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America’s Money Problem

America's Money Problem

America’s money problems didn’t start with today’s $36 trillion national debt (though that’s a whopper of a problem). In fact, if George Washington were telling the story, he might say that money woes nearly cost America her independence from the start.

For eight long years, despite repeated pleas to Congress, Washington was forced to bootstrap a half-starved, rag-tag, and disease-ridden Continental Army. As Joseph J. Ellis writes in Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence, “The Continental Army was kept on life support but was never provided the money and men Washington requested, even though the resources for a larger and better-equipped army were readily available.”

In part, the brick wall Washington repeatedly ran into centered on a reluctance among delegates to embrace the idea of a central army. A powerful military was one of their chief grievances against the British Crown after all.

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