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Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze, 1851 Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Special Report

America’s 250th Anniversary

To mark the 250th anniversary of America’s founding on July 4, 1776, Smithsonian magazine is highlighting the people, places and events that shaped the United States’ fight for independence from Great Britain

Officials unveiled the memorial for the Revolutionary War soldiers at the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery on September 23.

Smart News

These Soldiers Were Buried in an Unmarked Grave During the Revolutionary War. Now, Historians Finally Know Their Names

At a recent memorial ceremony, officials honored 28 Continental soldiers and at least 38 British soldiers who were buried in Wilmington, Delaware, nearly 250 years ago

A close-up view of a 1798 Gilbert Stuart portrait of Louis-Marie, Viscount de Noailles

History

The Marquis de Lafayette’s Brother-in-Law Participated in Three Revolutionary Wars, Supporting American Independence but Brutally Suppressing an Uprising by Enslaved Africans in Haiti

Louis-Marie, Viscount de Noailles, served during the American, French and Haitian Revolutions. “He fights wherever France fights, because he’s a soldier and he believes in France,” a historian says

An illustration of Lancaster in the early 1800s. The Pennsylvania city served as the nation's capital on September 27, 1777.

History

During the American Revolution, the City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Served as the United States’ Capital for Just One Day

The nascent nation’s leaders fled to the inland city as the British advanced on Philadelphia in September 1777. They held one meeting at the local courthouse before moving on to York

A 1783 map of the United States

History

How Did the Nation Get Its Name? Other Suggestions Included the United Colonies, Columbia and the United States of Alleghania

The nascent country adopted its name 250 years ago, on September 9, 1776. Americans have debated the moniker ever since. One congressman even proposed the “United States of the Earth”

A diagram of David Bushnell's Turtle submersible

History

To Defeat the Royal Navy During the American Revolution, a Rebel Inventor Designed a Secret Weapon: a Bomb-Carrying Submarine

David Bushnell developed the “Turtle” submersible as a student at Yale University. The vessel’s attack on a British flagship failed, but the trailblazing boat’s legacy endures 250 years later

Nathan Hale was captured and executed by the British within days of his arrival on Long Island. David Maltbie evaded detection for a much longer time, although he, too, was eventually caught by the enemy.

New Research

This Connecticut Teenager Spied on the British During the American Revolution, Succeeding Where Nathan Hale Failed

Newly uncovered documents reveal the story of David Maltbie, who relayed intelligence to the patriots in 1776, narrowly avoiding execution as a spy

More From the Archives

A John Trumbull painting of George Washington's capture of Hessian soldiers in Trenton, New Jersey, in December 1776

History

The Hessians Were Supposed to Quickly End the American Revolution. Instead, They Endured Years of Battles and Suffered Thousands of Casualties

Some 30,000 German soldiers fought for the British during the war. Contrary to popular belief, they weren’t mercenaries, and not all were actually Hessians

The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor, Nathaniel Currier, 1846

Smart News

A Historian at MIT Discovered the Surprising Truth About This Chinese Label Long Thought to Be a Souvenir of the Boston Tea Party

The saga of the artifact displayed at Boston’s Old South Meeting House demonstrates how the study of history evolves

Before this document was discovered, only ten copies of the Exeter Declaration were known to exist.

Smart News

A Volunteer Stumbled Upon a Strange Document in the U.K. National Archives. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Copy of the Declaration of Independence Printed in July 1776

Michael Scurr, a retired insurance broker, found the text while cataloging boxes of 18th-century correspondence housed at the London archives. It’s the only known copy of its kind outside the United States

A lithograph by Nathaniel Currier, printed between 1835 and 1856, depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence, is on display in the new exhibition.

Smart News

Thomas Jefferson’s Original Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence Can Now Be Seen at the Library of Congress

The new exhibition, which shows how the document was edited, also features an early copy of the Gettysburg Address

Founders and Unsung Heroes

This painting, titled <em>Excelsior</em>, shows Liberty and Justice as allegorical figures. A new exhibition “moves past symbolism to center the real expertise and labor of women who navigated a world of blurred allegiances to help found the United States,” says Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New York Historical.

History

During the Revolution, American Women Fought for Freedom, Spied on the British, Cared for the Sick and Fell in Love. A New Exhibition Reveals Their Rich Wartime Stories

Now on view at the New York Historical, "Revolutionary Women" spotlights figures with connections to the state, including a Jewish chocolatier, a Mohawk leader and a woman who disguised herself as a man to enlist in the Continental Army

A depiction of George Washington and his mother, Mary Ball Washington, attending a ball celebrating the surrender at Yorktown in 1781

History

The Reinvention of George Washington's Mother, From Paragon of Virtue to Greedy Shrew to Widow Striving for Independence

A new biography examines how 19th-century Americans remembered Mary Ball Washington, who raised the future president largely on her own after her husband’s death in 1743

William E. Leuchtenburg's new book spotlights (from left to right) George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams.

History

What the American Revolution Taught the United States' First Presidents

A new book by historian William E. Leuchtenburg examines how the first six commanders in chief embodied the revolutionary spirit and set precedents that shaped their successors' tenures

The president of Poland, the senior United States senator from Illinois and much of the Chicago political machine gathered beneath this painting, <em>Pulaski at Savannah</em>, on the first Monday in March.

History

Discover the Short Life and Long Legacy of Casimir Pulaski, a Polish Cavalry Officer Who Became an American Revolutionary Hero

On the first Monday in March, Pulaski Day festivities at Chicago's Polish Museum of America honored the "Father of American Cavalry," 280 years after his birth

Catalysts for Revolution

This engraving by Paul Revere offered a specific argument about what happened that day in Boston.

History

A Fresh Look at the Boston Massacre, 250 Years After the Event That Jumpstarted the Revolution

The five deaths may have shook the colonies, but a new book examines the personal relationships forever changed by them too

The Bostonians’ “preferred outcome” was for the tea to be “peacefully sent back to London,” says historian Benjamin L. Carp. “It’s only when they find out … the governor is not going to let [that happen] that they say, ‘Well, we have no choice [but] to destroy [the tea].”

History

The Many Myths of the Boston Tea Party

Contrary to popular belief, the 1773 protest opposed a tax break, not a tax hike. And it didn't immediately unify the colonies against the British

None

History

At a Bold Meeting 250 Years Ago, the Continental Congress Set America in Motion

While far less famous than the coalition that met in 1775, this group of founders found agreement in their disagreements and laid the groundwork for a revolution

“Here … we claim the first blow was struck in the war of independence,” wrote Salem historian Charles Moses Endicott in his account of Leslie's Retreat.

History

Was This Little-Known Standoff Between British Soldiers and Colonists the Real Start of the American Revolution?

On February 26, 1775, residents of Salem, Massachusetts, banded together to force the British to withdraw from their town during an oft-overlooked encounter known as Leslie's Retreat

The Revolutionary War

A John Trumbull painting of the death of General Hugh Mercer at the Battle of Princeton in 1777

History

Ken Burns Says His New Documentary Forced Him to Revisit Everything He Thought He Knew About the American Revolution

Ahead of the PBS production's premiere, the legendary filmmaker and co-director Sarah Botstein share insights on their research process and the surprising, long-overlooked stories featured in the six-part series

John Hancock left this trunk of documents at a Lexington tavern. Paul Revere and fellow Bostonian John Lowell recovered the trove of papers and carried it across the village green.

History

Everyone Remembers Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. But His Forgotten Race to Secure a Trove of Documents Reveals How Government Records Helped Win the War

During the American Revolution, both the British and the patriots fought to keep sensitive papers out of enemy hands

The <em>Philadelphia</em>, a flat-bottomed gunboat, served briefly at the Battle of Valcour Island in October 1776. Thanks to Smithsonian conservators, the <em>Philadelphia</em> is coming back to life in the National Museum of American History.

At the Smithsonian

The Gunboat ‘Philadelphia’ Lasted One Day in Battle. It’s Still Telling Us About the Revolution 250 Years Later

The 29-ton ship went to war against the British, then sat at the bottom of Lake Champlain for 160 years. Now it’s a relic of ragged glory

An 1812 illustration of a private from the Fifth West India Regiment. In the 1790s, the remaining members of the Carolina Corps became part of the newly established First West India Regiment.

History

These Black Soldiers Fought for the British During the American Revolution in Exchange for Freedom From Slavery

The Carolina Corps achieved emancipation through military service, paving the way for future fighters in the British Empire to do the same