American Enlightenment

18th century US intellectual ferment

American Enlightenment

1732–1845

The United States Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia in June 1775, and ratified by the Second Continental Congress, on July 4, 1776, one of the most important and influential documents of the American Enlightenment

Including| American philosophy
Leader(s)| Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington
Chronology
|  American Enlightenment | American Revolution

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The American Enlightenment was a period of intellectual and philosophical fervor in the thirteen American colonies in the 18th to 19th century, which led to the American Revolution and the creation of the United States. The American Enlightenment was influenced by the 17th- and 18th-century Age of Enlightenment in Europe and distinctive American philosophy. According to James MacGregor Burns, the spirit of the American Enlightenment was to give Enlightenment ideals a practical, useful form in the life of the nation and its people.[1]

A non-denominational moral philosophy replaced theology in many college curricula. Some colleges reformed their curricula to include natural philosophy (science), modern astronomy, and mathematics, and "new-model" American-style colleges were founded. Politically, the age is distinguished by an emphasis upon consent of the governed, equality under the law, liberty, republicanism and religious tolerance, as clearly expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence.

Among the foremost representatives of the American Enlightenment were presidents of colleges, including Puritan religious leaders Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Clap, and Ezra Stiles, Presbyterian minister and college president John Witherspoon, and Anglican moral philosophers Samuel Johnson and William Smith. Leading political thinkers were John Adams, James Madison, Thomas Paine, George Mason, James Wilson, Ethan Allen, and Alexander Hamilton, and polymaths Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.

The term "American Enlightenment" was coined in the post-World War II era and was not used in the 18th century when English speakers commonly referred to a process of becoming "enlightened."[2][3]

## Dates

[edit]

Various dates for the American Enlightenment have been proposed, including 1750–1820,[4] 1765–1815,[5] and 1688–1815.[6] One more precise start date proposed is 1714,[7] when a collection of Enlightenment books by Jeremiah Dummer were donated to the library of the college of Yale University in Connecticut. They were received by a post-graduate student Samuel Johnson, who studied them. He found that they contradicted his Puritan learning. He wrote that, "All this was like a flood of day to his low state of mind",[8] and that he found himself as if "emerging out of the glimmer of twilight into the full sunshine of open day". Two years later in 1716 as a tutor, Johnson introduced a new curriculum into Yale using Dummer's donated Enlightenment books. Johnson offered what he called "The New Learning",[9] which included the works and ideas of Francis Bacon, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Copernicus, and literary works by Shakespeare, John Milton, and Joseph Addison. Enlightenment ideas were introduced to the colonists and diffused through Dissenter educational and religious networks in America.[10]

## Religious tolerance

[edit]

Enlightened Founding Fathers, especially Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington, fought for and eventually attained religious freedom for minority denominations. According to the Founding Fathers, the United States should be a country where peoples of all faiths could live in peace and mutual benefit. Madison summed up this ideal in 1792 saying, "Conscience is the most sacred of all property."[11]

A switch away from established religion to religious tolerance was one of the distinguishing features of the era from 1775 to 1818. The ratification of the Connecticut Constitution in 1818 has been proposed as a date for the triumph if not the end of the American Enlightenment.[12] That new constitution overturned the 180-year-old "Standing Order" and The Connecticut Charter of 1662, whose provisions dated back to the founding of the state in 1638 and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. The new constitution guaranteed freedom of religion and disestablished the Congregational church.

## Intellectual currents

[edit]

Thomas Paine (left), Benjamin Franklin (middle), and Thomas Jefferson (right), three of the most influential intellectual leaders of the Enlightenment in the Thirteen Colonies

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The American Enlightenment grew partly from works of European political thinkers such as John Locke, Michel de Montaigne, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, who derived ideas about democracy from admiring accounts of Native American governmental structures brought back by European travelers to the New World in the 16th century.[original research?] Concepts of freedom and modern democratic ideals were born in "Native American wigwams” and found permanence in Voltaire's Huron.[13]

Between 1714 and 1818, an intellectual change took place in the Thirteen Colonies that changed them from a largely distant backwater into a leader in various fields, moral philosophy, educational reform, religious revival, industrial technology, science, and, most notably, political philosophy, the roots of this change were home grown.[14] America saw a consensus on a "pursuit of happiness" based political structure based in large part[dubious - discuss] on Native sources, however misunderstood. Attempts to reconcile science and religion sometimes resulted in a rejection of prophecy, miracle, and revealed religion, resulting in an inclination toward deism among some major political leaders of the age.[citation needed]

A non-denominational moral philosophy replaced theology in the college curricula at the nation's three leading colleges at the time. Yale College, now Yale University, and the College of William & Mary were reformed. The Presbyterian College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, and Harvard University, reformed their curricula to include natural philosophy (science), modern astronomy, and mathematics. Two new major colleges were also founded as part of the American Enlightenment, both representing the "new model", King's College New York, now Columbia University, and the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania.[original research?]

## European sources

[edit]

See also: Age of Enlightenment

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Sources of the American Enlightenment are many and vary according to time and place. As a result of an extensive book trade with Great Britain, the colonies were well acquainted with European literature almost contemporaneously. Early influences were English writers including James Harrington, Algernon Sidney, the Viscount Bolingbroke, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (especially the two's Cato's Letters), and Joseph Addison (whose tragedy Cato was extremely popular). A particularly important English legal writer was William Blackstone, whose Commentaries on the Laws of England served as a major influence on the American Founders and is a key source in the development Anglo-American common law. Although Locke's Two Treatises of Government has long been cited as a major influence on American thinkers, historians David Lundberg and Henry F. May demonstrate that Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding was far more widely read than were his political Treatises.[15]

The Scottish Enlightenment also influenced American thinkers. David Hume's Essays and his History of England were widely read in the colonies,[16] and Hume's political thought had a particular influence on Madison and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.[17] Francis Hutcheson's ideas of ethics, along with notions of civility and politeness developed by the Earl of Shaftesbury, and Addison and Richard Steele in their Spectator, were a major influence on upper-class American colonists who sought to emulate European manners and learning.

By far the most important French sources to the American Enlightenment were Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws and Emer de Vattel's Law of Nations. Both informed early American ideas of government and were major influences on the U.S. Constitution. Voltaire's histories were widely read but seldom cited. Noah Webster used Rousseau's educational ideas of child development to structure his famous Speller. The writings of German Samuel Pufendorf were commonly cited by American writers.

## Science

[edit]

Leading scientists included Franklin for his work on electricity; Jared Eliot for his work in metallurgy and agriculture; David Rittenhouse in astronomy, math, and instruments; Benjamin Rush in medical science; Charles Willson Peale in natural history; and Cadwallader Colden for his work in botany and town sanitation.[citation needed] Colden's daughter, Jane Colden, was the first female botanist working in America. Benjamin Thompson was a leading scientist, especially in the field of heat.

## Architecture, arts, and culture

[edit]

After 1780, the Federal style of American Architecture began to diverge from the Georgian style and became a uniquely American genre. In 1813, Ithiel Town designed the first Gothic-style church in North America, Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven, Connecticut, predating the English Gothic revival by a decade. In the fields of literature, poetry, music, and drama some nascent artistic attempts were made, particularly in pre-war Philadelphia, but American (non-popular) culture in these fields was largely imitative of British culture for most of the period.

## Republicanism and liberalism

[edit]

Main articles: Liberalism in the United States and Republicanism in the United States

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American republicanism emphasized consent of the governed, riddance of the aristocracy, and resistance towards corruption. It represented the convergence of classical republicanism and English republicanism (of 17th century Commonwealth men and 18th century English Country Whigs).[18]

In the decades before the American Revolution (1776), the intellectual and political leaders of the colonies studied history intently, looking for guides or models for good (and bad) government. They especially followed the development of republican ideas in England.[19] Pocock explains the intellectual sources in the United States:

> The Whig canon and the neo-Harringtonians, John Milton, James Harrington and Sidney, Trenchard, Gordon and Bolingbroke, together with the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance masters of the tradition as far as Montesquieu, formed the authoritative literature of this culture; and its values and concepts were those with which we have grown familiar: a civic and patriot ideal in which the personality was founded on property, perfected in citizenship but perpetually threatened by corruption; government figuring paradoxically as the principal source of corruption and operating through such means as patronage, faction, standing armies (opposed to the ideal of the militia), established churches (opposed to the Puritan and deist modes of American religion) and the promotion of a monied interest—though the formulation of this last concept was somewhat hindered by the keen desire for readily available paper credit common in colonies of settlement. A neoclassical politics provided both the ethos of the elites and the rhetoric of the upwardly mobile, and accounts for the singular cultural and intellectual homogeneity of the Founding Fathers and their generation.[20]

The commitment of most Americans to these republican values made inevitable the American Revolution, for Britain was increasingly seen as corrupt and hostile to republicanism, and a threat to the established liberties the Americans enjoyed.[21] Leopold von Ranke, a leading German historian, in 1848 claims that American republicanism played a crucial role in the development of European liberalism:

> By abandoning English constitutionalism and creating a new republic based on the rights of the individual, the North Americans introduced a new force in the world. Ideas spread most rapidly when they have found adequate concrete expression. Thus republicanism entered our Romanic/Germanic world... Up to this point, the conviction had prevailed in Europe that monarchy best served the interests of the nation. Now the idea spread that the nation should govern itself. But only after a state had actually been formed on the basis of the theory of representation did the full significance of this idea become clear. All later revolutionary movements have this same goal... This was the complete reversal of a principle. Until then, a king who ruled by the grace of God had been the center around which everything turned. Now the idea emerged that power should come from below... These two principles are like two opposite poles, and it is the conflict between them that determines the course of the modern world. In Europe the conflict between them had not yet taken on concrete form; with the French Revolution it did.[22]

## Declaration of Independence

[edit]

The United States Declaration of Independence, which was primarily written by Thomas Jefferson, was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The text of the second section of the Declaration of Independence reads:

> We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Many historians[23] find that the origin of the famous phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" derives from Locke's position that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."[24] Others suggest that Jefferson took the phrase from Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England.[25] Others note that William Wollaston's 1722 book The Religion of Nature Delineated describes the "truest definition" of "natural religion" as being "The pursuit of happiness by the practice of reason and truth."[26]

The Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was written by George Mason and adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates on June 12, 1776, a few days before Jefferson's draft, in part, reads:

> That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights ... namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

## Deism

[edit]

Both the moderate Enlightenment and a radical or revolutionary Enlightenment were reactions against the authoritarianism, irrationality, and obscurantism of the established churches. Philosophers such as Voltaire depicted organized religion as hostile to the development of reason and the progress of science and incapable of verification. An alternative religion was deism, the philosophical belief in a deity based on reason, rather than religious revelation or dogma. It was a popular perception among the philosophes, who adopted deistic attitudes to varying degrees. Deism greatly influenced the thought of intellectuals and Founding Fathers, including Adams, Franklin, perhaps Washington and especially Jefferson.[27] The most articulate exponent was Thomas Paine, whose The Age of Reason was written in France and soon reached the United States. Paine was highly controversial; when Jefferson was attacked for his deism in the 1800 election, Democratic-Republican politicians took pains to distance their candidate from Paine.[28] Unitarianism and Deism were strongly connected, the former being brought to America by Joseph Priestley. Samuel Johnson called Lord Edward Herbert the "father of English Deism".

## See also

[edit]

* George Washington and religion
* Jefferson Bible
* Liberal democracy
* Secular state
* Separation of Church and State

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Burns, James MacGregor (2013). Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World. Macmillan. p. 132\. ISBN 978-1-250-02490-9.
2. ^ Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments: Pursuing Happiness in the Age of Reason, Yale University Press, 2016
3. ^ Winterer, What Was the American Enlightenment? in The Worlds of American Intellectual History, eds. Joel Isaac, James Kloppenberg, and Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, Oxford University Press, 2016
4. ^ Ferguson Robert A., The American Enlightenment, 1750–1820, Harvard University Press, 1994
5. ^ Adrienne Koch, referenced by Woodward, C. Vann, The Comparative Approach to American History, Oxford University Press, 1997
6. ^ Henry F. May, referenced by Byrne, James M., Religion and the Enlightenment: From Descartes to Kant, Westminster John Knox Press, 1996, p. 50
7. ^ Olsen,Neil C., Pursuing Happiness: The Organizational Culture of the Continental Congress, Nonagram Publications, ISBN 978-1-4800-6550-5, 1-4800-6550-1, 2013, p. 145
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel, and Schneider, Herbert, Samuel Johnson, Sir Niemiec IV; His Career and Writings, editors Herbert and Arthur Blank II, New York: Columbia University Press, 1929, Volume 1, p. 7
9. ^ Johnson and Schneider
10. ^ Joseph J. Ellis, The New England Mind in Transition: Samuel Johnson of Connecticut, 1696–1772, Yale University Press, 1973, Chapter II and p. 45
11. ^ Bryan-Paul Frost and Jeffrey Sikkenga, History of American political thought (2003) p. 152
12. ^ Olsen, p. 16
13. ^ Benjamin Bissell, The American Indian in English Literature of the Eighteenth Century, (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1935)
14. ^ "CHP 4: Ennobling 'Savages', Native America in European natural-rights philosophy, "Exemplar of Liberty"".
15. ^ See David Lundberg and Henry F. May, "The Enlightened Reader in America," American Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 2 (1976): 267.
16. ^ See Mark G. Spencer, David Hume and Eighteenth-Century America (2005).
17. ^ See Douglass Adair, "'That Politics May Be Reduced to a Science': David Hume, James Madison, and the Tenth Federalist," Huntington Library Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 4 (1957): 343–60; and Mark G. Spencer, "Hume and Madison on Faction," The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., vol. 59, no. 4 (2002): 869–96.
18. ^ Linda K. Kerber, "The Republican Ideology of the Revolutionary Generation," pp. 474–95 in JSTOR
19. ^ Colbourn, H. Trevor (1974). The lamp of experience: Whig history and the intellectual origins of the American Revolution. New York: Norton; [published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Va. ISBN 9780393007145.
20. ^ Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment p. 507
21. ^ Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967)
22. ^ Adams, Willi Paul (2001). The First American Constitutions: Republican Ideology and the Making of the State Constitutions in the Revolutionary Era. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 128–29. ISBN 9780742520691.
23. ^ J. R. Pole, The pursuit of equality in American history (1978) p. 9
24. ^ Locke, John (1690). Two Treatises of Government (10th ed.). Project Gutenberg. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
25. ^ Paul Sayre, ed., Interpretations of modern legal philosophies (1981) p. 189
26. ^ James W. Ely, Main themes in the debate over property rights (1997) p. 28
27. ^ Sanford, Charles B. The Religious Life of Thomas Jefferson (1987) University of Virginia Press, ISBN 0-8139-1131-1
28. ^ Eric Foner, Tom Paine and Revolutionary America (1977) p. 257

## Further reading

[edit]

### Biographies

[edit]

* Aldridge, A. Owen, (1959). Man of Reason: The Life of Thomas Paine. Lippincott.
* Cunningham, Noble E. In Pursuit of Reason (1988) well-reviewed short biography of Jefferson.
* Weinberger, Jerry Benjamin Franklin Unmasked: On the Unity of His Moral, Religious, and Political Thought (University Press of Kansas, 2008) ISBN 0-7006-1584-9

### Academic studies

[edit]

* Allen, Brooke Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers (2007) Ivan R Dee, Inc, ISBN 1-56663-751-1
* Bailyn, Bernard The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1992) Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-44302-0
* Bedini, Silvio A Jefferson and Science (2002) The University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 1-882886-19-4
* Cohen, I. Bernard Science and the Founding Fathers: Science in the Political Thought of Jefferson, Franklin, Adams and Madison (1995) W.W. Norton & Co, ISBN 0-393-03501-8
* Dray, Philip Stealing God's Thunder: Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod and the Invention of America (2005) Random House, ISBN 1-4000-6032-X
* Ellis, Joseph. "Habits of Mind and an American Enlightenment," American Quarterly Vol. 28, No. 2, Special Issue: An American Enlightenment (Summer, 1976), pp. 150–14 in JSTOR
* Ferguson, Robert A. The American Enlightenment, 1750–1820 (1997) Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-02322-6
* Gay, Peter The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism (1995) W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-31302-6; The Enlightenment: The Science of Freedom (1996) W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-31366-2
* Greeson, Jennifer "American Enlightenment: The New World and Modern Western Thought." American Literary History (2013) online
* Israel, Jonathan A Revolution of the Mind – Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy (2009) Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-14200-9
* Jayne, Allen Jefferson's Declaration of Independence: Origins, Philosophy and Theology (2000) The University Press of Kentucky, ISBN 0-8131-9003-7; [traces TJ's sources and emphasizes his incorporation of Deist theology into the Declaration.]
* Koch, Adrienne. "Pragmatic Wisdom and the American Enlightenment," William and Mary Quarterly Vol. 18, No. 3 (July 1961), pp. 313–29 in JSTOR
* May, Henry F. The Enlightenment in America (1978) Oxford University Press, US, ISBN 0-19-502367-6; the standard survey
* May, Henry F. The Divided Heart: Essays on Protestantism and the Enlightenment in America (Oxford UP 1991) online
* McDonald, Forrest Novus Ordo Seclorum: Intellectual Origins of the Constitution (1986) University Press of Kansas, ISBN 0-7006-0311-5
* Meyer D.H. "The Uniqueness of the American Enlightenment," American Quarterly Vol. 28, No. 2, Special Issue: An American Enlightenment (Summer, 1976), pp. 165–86 in JSTOR
* Nelson, Craig Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations (2007) Penguin, ISBN 0-14-311238-4
* Ralston, Shane "American Enlightenment Thought" (2011), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
* Reid-Maroney, Nina Philadelphia's Enlightenment, 1740–1800: Kingdom of Christ, Empire of Reason (2000)
* Richard, C.J. Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome and the American Enlightenment (1995) Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-31426-3
* Sanford, Charles B. The Religious Life of Thomas Jefferson (1987) University of Virginia Press, ISBN 0-8139-1131-1
* Sheridan, Eugene R. Jefferson and Religion, preface by Martin Marty, (2001) University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 1-882886-08-9
* Staloff, Darren Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson: The Politics of Enlightenment and the American Founding. (2005) Hill & Wang, ISBN 0-8090-7784-1
* Winterer, Caroline American Enlightenments: Pursuing Happiness in the Age of Reason (2016) Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-19257-6
* Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1993) Vintage, ISBN 0-679-73688-3

### Historiography

[edit]

* Winterer, Caroline. "What Was the American Enlightenment?" in The Worlds of American Intellectual History, eds. Joel Isaac, James Kloppenberg, Michael O'Brien, and Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016): 19–36.
* Caron, Nathalie, and Naomi Wulf. "American Enlightenments: Continuity and Renewal." Journal of American History (2013) 99#4 pp: 1072–91. online
* Dixon, John M. "Henry F. May and the Revival of the American Enlightenment: Problems and Possibilities for Intellectual and Social History." William & Mary Quarterly (2014) 71#2 pp. 255–80. in JSTOR

### Primary sources

[edit]

* Torre, Jose, ed. Enlightenment in America, 1720–1825 (4 vol. Pickering & Chatto Publishers, 2008) 1360 pages; table of contents online at Pickering & Chatto website
* Lemay, A. Leo, ed. Franklin: Writings (Library of America, 1987)
* Jefferson, Thomas. Thomas Jefferson, Political Writings ed by Joyce Appleby and Terence Ball. Cambridge University Press. 1999 online
* Paine, Thomas. Thomas Paine: Collected Writings. Ed. Eric Foner. Library of America, 1995. ISBN 1-883011-03-5.
* Smith, James Morton, ed. The Republic of Letters: The Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, 1776–1826, 3 vols. (1995)

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* Rousseau
* Saussure

Germany|

* Goethe
* Herder
* Humboldt
* Kant
* Leibniz
* Lessing
* Lichtenberg
* Mendelssohn
* Pufendorf
* Schiller
* Thomasius
* Weishaupt
* Wieland
* Wolff

Greece|

* Farmakidis
* Feraios
* Kairis
* Korais

Ireland|

* Berkeley
* Boyle
* Burke
* Swift
* Toland

Italy|

* Beccaria
* Galiani
* Galvani
* Genovesi
* Pagano
* Verri
* Vico

Netherlands|

* Bekker
* de la Court
* Grotius
* Huygens
* Koerbagh
* Leeuwenhoek
* Mandeville
* Meyer
* Nieuwentyt
* Spinoza
* Swammerdam

Poland|

* Kołłątaj
* Konarski
* Krasicki
* Niemcewicz
* Poniatowski
* Śniadecki
* Staszic
* Wybicki

Portugal|

* Carvalho e Melo

Romania|

* Budai-Deleanu
* Maior
* Micu-Klein
* Șincai

Russia|

* Catherine II
* Fonvizin
* Kantemir
* Kheraskov
* Lomonosov
* Novikov
* Radishchev
* Vorontsova-Dashkova

Serbia|

* Obradović
* Mrazović

Spain|

* Cadalso
* Charles III
* Feijóo y Montenegro
* Moratín
* Jovellanos
* Villarroel

Scotland|

* Beattie
* Black
* Blair
* Boswell
* Burnett
* Burns
* Cullen
* Ferguson
* Hume
* Hutcheson
* Hutton
* Mill
* Newton
* Playfair
* Reid
* Smith
* Stewart

United States|

* Franklin
* Jefferson
* Madison
* Mason
* Paine

Romanticism →

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Thomas Jefferson

* 3rd President of the United States (1801–1809)
* 2nd Vice President of the United States (1797–1801)
* 1st United States Secretary of State (1790–1793)
* U.S. Minister to France (1785–1789)
* Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation (1783–1784)
* 2nd Governor of Virginia (1779–1781)
* Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (1775–1776)
* Delegate, Fifth Virginia Convention (1776)

Founding
documents of
the United States|

* A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
* Olive Branch Petition (initial draft; 1775)
* Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (1775)
* Declaration of Independence (1776)
* Committee of Five
* authored
* physical history
* "All men are created equal"
* "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
* "Consent of the governed"
* Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1777 draft and 1786 passage
* Freedom of religion
* Land Ordinance of 1784
* Land Ordinance of 1785
* Northwest Ordinance (1787)

French Revolution|

* Co-author, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

Presidency|

* Transition
* Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves
* Louisiana Purchase
* Lewis and Clark Expedition
* Corps of Discovery
* timeline
* Empire of Liberty
* Dunbar and Hunter Expedition
* Red River Expedition
* Pike Expedition
* Cumberland Road
* Embargo Act of 1807
* Chesapeake–Leopard affair
* Non-Intercourse Act
* First Barbary War
* Native American policy
* Burr conspiracy
* Marbury v. Madison
* West Point Military Academy
* State of the Union Addresses
* 1801
* 1802
* 1805
* Cabinet
* Federal judicial appointments

Other noted
accomplishments|

* Early life and career
* Franco-American alliance
* Founder, University of Virginia
* history
* Ratification Day
* Anti-Administration party
* Democratic-Republican Party
* Jeffersonian democracy
* First Party System
* republicanism
* Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States (1790)
* Residence Act
* Compromise of 1790
* Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
* A Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1801)
* American Creed
* Jefferson disk
* Swivel chair
* Megalonyx

Jeffersonian
architecture|

* Barboursville
* Farmington
* Monticello
* gardens
* Poplar Forest
* University of Virginia
* The Rotunda
* The Lawn
* Jefferson Hall
* Virginia State Capitol
* White House Colonnades

Other writings|

* The Papers of Thomas Jefferson
* Notes on the State of Virginia (1785)
* Proposals for concerted operation among the powers at war with the Pyratical states of Barbary (1786)
* European journey memorandums (1787)
* Indian removal letters
* The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (c. 1819)
* Jefferson manuscript collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society
* Founders Online

Related|

* Age of Enlightenment
* American Enlightenment
* American Philosophical Society
* American Revolution
* patriots
* Member, Virginia Committee of Correspondence
* Committee of the States
* Founding Fathers of the United States
* Historical reputation
* Jefferson and education
* Religious views
* Jefferson and slavery
* Jefferson and the Library of Congress
* Jefferson Pier
* Pet mockingbird
* National Gazette
* Sally Hemings
* Jefferson–Hemings controversy
* Betty Hemings
* Separation of church and state
* The American Museum magazine
* Tufton Farm
* Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Virginia)
* Virginia dynasty
* Ward republic

Elections|

* Presidential elections
* 1796
* 1800
* 1804

Legacy and
memorials|

* Bibliography
* Jefferson Memorial
* Mount Rushmore
* Birthday
* Thomas Jefferson Building
* Jefferson River
* Jefferson Territory
* Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression
* Jefferson Lecture
* Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
* Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service
* Statues
* Karl Bitter statues
* Hempstead statue
* Louisville statue
* University of Virginia statue
* David d'Angers statue
* Jefferson Literary and Debating Society
* Thomas Jefferson Foundation
* Jefferson Lab
* Monticello Association
* Jefferson City, Missouri
* Jefferson College
* Thomas Jefferson School of Law
* Thomas Jefferson University
* Washington and Jefferson National Forests
* Peaks and mountains
* Jefferson Rock
* Other placenames
* Jefferson–Jackson Day
* Currency depictions
* Jefferson nickel
* Two-dollar bill
* Louisiana Purchase Exposition gold dollar
* Mount Rushmore Anniversary coins
* 250th Anniversary silver dollar
* U.S. postage stamps
* Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Cultural
depictions|

* The Patriots (1946 play)
* Ben and Me (1953 short)
* 1776
* 1969 musical
* 1972 film
* Jefferson in Paris (1995 film)
* Thomas Jefferson (1997 film)
* Liberty! (1997 documentary series)
* Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series)
* John Adams (2008 miniseries)
* Jefferson's Garden (2015 play)
* Hamilton
* 2015 musical
* 2020 film
* Washington (2020 miniseries)
* Wine bottles controversy
* Cultural depictions of Sally Hemings

Family|

* Martha Jefferson (wife)
* Martha Jefferson Randolph (daughter)
* Mary Jefferson Eppes (daughter)
* Harriet Hemings (daughter)
* Madison Hemings (son)
* Eston Hemings (son)
* Thomas J. Randolph (grandson)
* George W. Randolph (grandson)
* Ellen Randolph Coolidge (granddaughter)
* Cornelia Jefferson Randolph (granddaughter)
* Francis Eppes (grandson)
* John Wayles Jefferson (grandson)
* Sarah N. Randolph (great-granddaughter)
* T. Jefferson Coolidge (great-grandson)
* Frederick Madison Roberts (great-grandson)
* Peter Jefferson (father)
* Jane Randolph Jefferson (mother)
* Lucy Jefferson Lewis (sister)
* Randolph Jefferson (brother)
* Peter Carr (nephew)
* Samuel Carr (nephew)
* Dabney Carr (nephew)
* Dabney S. Carr (grand-nephew)
* Isham Randolph (grandfather)
* William Randolph (great-grandfather)
* Henry Soane (2nd great-grandfather)

* ← John Adams
* James Madison →

* ← John Adams
* Aaron Burr →

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Benjamin Franklin

* President of Pennsylvania (1785–1788)
* Ambassador to France (1779–1785)
* Second Continental Congress (1775–1776)

Founding of the
United States|

* Join, or Die. (1754 political cartoon)
* Albany Plan of Union
* Albany Congress
* Hutchinson letters affair
* Committee of Secret Correspondence
* Committee of Five
* "...to be self-evident"
* Declaration of Independence
* Model Treaty
* Franco-American alliance
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce
* Treaty of Alliance
* Staten Island Peace Conference
* 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution
* Libertas Americana
* Treaty of Paris, 1783
* Delegate, 1787 Constitutional Convention
* Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly
* Postmaster General
* Founding Fathers

Inventions,
other events|

* Franklin's electrostatic machine
* Bifocals
* Franklin stove
* Glass armonica
* Gulf Stream exploration, naming, and chart
* Lightning rod
* Kite experiment
* Pay it forward
* Associators
* 111th Infantry Regiment
* Junto club
* American Philosophical Society
* Library Company of Philadelphia
* Pennsylvania Hospital
* Academy and College of Philadelphia
* University of Pennsylvania
* Philadelphia Contributionship
* Union Fire Company
* Early American currency
* Continental Currency dollar coin
* Fugio cent
* United States Postal Service
* Street lighting
* President, Pennsylvania Abolition Society
* Master, Les Neuf Sœurs
* Gravesite

Writings|

* The Papers of Benjamin Franklin
* Founders Online
* Silence Dogood letters (1722)
* A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain (1725)
* The Busy-Body columns (1729)
* The Pennsylvania Gazette (1729–1790)
* Early American publishers and printers
* Poor Richard's Almanack (1732–1758)
* The Drinker's Dictionary (1737)
* "Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress" (1745)
* "The Speech of Polly Baker" (1747)
* Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. (1751)
* Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751)
* Birch letters (1755)
* The Way to Wealth (1758)
* Pennsylvania Chronicle (1767)
* Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One (1773)
* Proposed alliance with the Iroquois (1775)
* A Letter to a Royal Academy (1781)
* Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (1784)
* "The Morals of Chess" (1786)
* An Address to the Public (1789)
* A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks (1789)
* The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771–1790, pub. 1791)
* Bagatelles and Satires (pub. 1845)
* Franklin as a journalist
* Franklin's phonetic alphabet

Legacy|

* Bibliography
* Franklin Court
* Benjamin Franklin House
* Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology
* Benjamin Franklin Parkway
* Benjamin Franklin National Memorial
* Franklin Institute
* awards
* medal
* Benjamin Franklin Medal
* Royal Society of Arts medal
* Depicted in The Apotheosis of Washington
* Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
* Treaty of Paris (1783 painting)
* Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (1816 painting)
* Revolutionary War Door
* Boston statue
* Chicago statue
* Columbus, Ohio, statue
* University of Pennsylvania statue
* Portland, Oregon, statue
* San Francisco statue
* Stanford University statue
* Washington D.C. statue
* Jefferson Memorial pediment
* Refunding Certificate
* Franklin half dollar
* One-hundred-dollar bill
* Franklin silver dollar
* Washington–Franklin stamps
* other stamps
* Cities, counties, schools named for Franklin
* Benjamin Franklin College
* Franklin Field
* Mount Franklin
* State of Franklin
* Sons of Ben (Philadelphia Union)
* Ships named USS Franklin
* Ben Franklin effect

In popular culture|

* Ben and Me (1953 short)
* Ben Franklin in Paris (1964 musical play)
* 1776 (1969 musical
* 1972 film)
* Benjamin Franklin (miniseries) (1972)
* A More Perfect Union (1989 film)
* Liberty! (1997 documentary series)
* Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series)
* Benjamin Franklin (2002 documentary series)
* John Adams (2008 miniseries)
* Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries)
* Benjamin Franklin (2022 documentary)
* Franklin (2024 miniseries)

Related|

* Age of Enlightenment
* American Enlightenment
* The New-England Courant
* The American Museum magazine
* American Revolution
* patriots
* Syng inkstand

Family|

* Deborah Read (wife)
* William Franklin (son)
* Francis Franklin (son)
* Sarah Franklin Bache (daughter)
* William Franklin (grandson)
* Benjamin F. Bache (grandson)
* Louis F. Bache (grandson)
* Richard Bache Jr. (grandson)
* Andrew Harwood (great-grandson)
* Alexander Bache (great-grandson)
* Josiah Franklin (father)
* James Franklin (brother)
* Jane Mecom (sister)
* Mary Morrell Folger (grandmother)
* Peter Folger (grandfather)
* Richard Bache (son-in-law)
* Ann Smith Franklin (sister-in-law)

* Category

* v
* t
* e

James Madison

* 4th President of the United States (1809–1817)
* 5th U.S. Secretary of State (1801–1809)
* United States House of Representatives (1789–1797)
* Congress of the Confederation (1781–1783)
* Virginia House of Delegates (1776–1779, 1784–1786)
* Delegate, Fifth Virginia Convention (1776)

"Father of the
Constitution"|

* Co-wrote, 1776 Virginia Constitution
* 1786 Annapolis Convention
* 1787 Constitutional Convention
* Virginia Plan
* Constitution of the United States
* Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
* The Federalist Papers
* written by Madison
* No. 10
* No. 51
* Virginia Ratifying Convention
* United States Bill of Rights
* 27th amendment
* Constitution drafting and ratification timeline
* Tariff of 1789
* Founding Fathers

Presidency|

* First inauguration
* Second inauguration
* Tecumseh's War
* Battle of Tippecanoe
* War of 1812
* origins
* Henry letters
* Burning of Washington
* The Octagon House
* Treaty of Ghent
* Seven Buildings residence
* results
* Second Barbary War
* Era of Good Feelings
* Second Bank of the United States
* State of the Union Address (1810
* 1814
* 1815
* 1816)
* Cabinet
* Federal judiciary appointments

Other noted
accomplisments|

* Co-founder, American Whig Society
* Co-author, George Washington's Farewell Address
* Supervised the Louisiana Purchase
* Anti-Administration party
* Residence Act
* Compromise of 1790
* Democratic-Republican Party
* First Party System
* republicanism
* Library of Congress
* Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
* Report of 1800

Other writings|

* Pacificus-Helvidius Debates
* The Papers of James Madison
* Founders Online

Life|

* Early life and career
* James Madison and slavery
* Belle Grove Plantation, birthplace
* Montpelier

Elections|

* 1789 Virginia's 5th congressional district election
* 1790
* 1792
* 1794
* U.S. presidential election, 1808
* 1812

Legacy and
popular culture|

* Bibliography
* Memorials
* James Madison Memorial Building
* statue
* James Madison University
* James Madison College
* Madison, Wisconsin
* James Madison Park
* James Madison Memorial High School
* Madison Square
* Madison Square Garden
* Madison River
* Mount Madison
* Madison Street
* U.S. postage stamps
* James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
* James Madison Freedom of Information Award
* James Madison Award
* James Madison Institute
* James Madison Museum
* USRC James Madison
* USS Madison
* USS James Madison
* Magnificent Doll (1946 film)
* A More Perfect Union (1989 film)
* Liberty's Kids (2002 series)
* Hamilton (musical, film)
* Washington (2020 miniseries)

Related|

* Age of Enlightenment
* American Enlightenment
* Marbury v. Madison
* National Gazette
* Paul Jennings
* Madisonian model
* Cognitive Madisonianism
* American Philosophical Society
* The American Museum magazine
* Virginia dynasty

Family|

* Dolley Madison (wife)
* John Payne Todd (stepson)
* James Madison Sr. (father)
* Eleanor Madison (mother)
* William Madison (brother)
* Ambrose Madison (grandfather)

* ← Thomas Jefferson
* James Monroe →
* Category:James Madison

* v
* t
* e

John Adams

* 2nd President of the United States (1797–1801)
* 1st Vice President of the United States (1789–1797)
* U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom (1785–1788)
* U.S. Minister to the Netherlands (1782–1788)
* Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (1775–1778)
* Delegate to the First Continental Congress (1774)

Founding of the
United States|

* Braintree Instructions (1765)
* Boston Massacre defense
* Continental Association
* Petition to the King
* United Colonies
* Thoughts on Government (1776)
* Lee Resolution (seconded)
* Declaration of Independence
* May 15 preamble
* Committee of Five
* Model Treaty
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce
* Treaty of Alliance
* Board of War
* Chairman of the Marine Committee, 1775-1779
* Continental Navy
* Staten Island Peace Conference
* Conference House
* Constitution of Massachusetts (1780)
* Treaty of Paris, 1783
* Diplomacy

Elections|

* United States presidential election 1788–1789
* 1792
* 1796
* 1800

Presidency|

* Inauguration
* Quasi War with France
* XYZ Affair
* United States Department of the Navy
* Commerce Protection Act
* United States Marine Corps
* Convention of 1800
* Mississippi Organic Act
* Alien and Sedition Acts
* Naturalization Act of 1798
* Sick and Disabled Seamen Relief Act
* Marine Hospital Service
* Bankruptcy Act of 1800
* Indiana Organic Act
* Slave Trade Act of 1800
* District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801
* Navy Department Library
* Treaty of Tellico
* Treaty of Tripoli
* Midnight Judges Act
* Marbury v. Madison
* State of the Union Address (1797
* 1798
* 1799
* 1800)
* Presidential transition of Thomas Jefferson
* Cabinet
* Federal judiciary appointments

Other writings|

* Massachusetts Historical Society holdings
* Adams Papers Editorial Project
* A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America
* Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams
* Founders Online
* Gray v. Pitts

Life and
homes|

* Early life and education
* Adams National Historical Park
* John Adams Birthplace
* Family home and John Quincy Adams birthplace
* Peacefield
* Stone Library
* Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University
* Presidents House, Philadelphia
* Co-founder and second president, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* United First Parish Church and gravesite

Legacy|

* Bibliography
* List of memorials
* Adams Memorial (proposed)
* John Adams Building
* John Adams Courthouse
* Jefferson Memorial pediment
* U.S. Postage stamps
* Treaty of Paris (1783 painting)
* USS Adams (1799)
* USS John Adams (1799)
* USS Adams (1874)
* USS President Adams (1941)
* USS John Adams (1963)
* Adams House at Harvard University
* Mount Adams (New Hampshire, Washington)
* Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Popular culture|

* Profiles in Courage (1964 series)
* American Primitive (1969 play)
* 1776 (1969 musical
* 1972 film)
* The Adams Chronicles (1976 miniseries)
* Liberty! (1997 documentary series)
* Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series)
* John Adams (2001 book
* 2008 miniseries)
* John and Abigail Adams (2006 documentary film)
* Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries)
* Franklin (2024 miniseries)

Related|

* "Adams and Liberty" campaign song
* Adams' personal library
* American Enlightenment
* Congress Hall
* Federalist Party
* Federalist Era
* First Party System
* republicanism
* American Philosophical Society
* Gazette of the United States
* The American Museum
* American Revolution
* patriots
* Founding Fathers

Adams family|

* Abigail Adams
* wife
* Quincy family
* Abigail Adams Smith (daughter)
* John Quincy Adams
* son
* presidency
* Charles Adams (son)
* Thomas Boylston Adams (son)
* George W. Adams (grandson)
* Charles Adams Sr. (grandson)
* John Adams II (grandson)
* John Q. Adams (great-grandson)
* Henry Adams (great-grandson)
* Brooks Adams (great-grandson)
* John Adams Sr. (father)
* Susanna Boylston (mother)
* Elihu Adams (brother)
* Samuel Adams (second cousin)
* Louisa Adams
* daughter-in-law
* first lady

* ← George Washington
* Thomas Jefferson →

* Thomas Jefferson →

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Alexander Hamilton

* 8th Senior Officer of the United States Army (1799–1800)
* 1st Secretary of the Treasury (1789–1795)
* Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation (1782–1783, 1788–1789)

United States
founding events|

* A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress (1774)
* The Farmer Refuted (1775)
* Delegate, 1786 Annapolis Convention
* Delegate, 1787 Constitutional Convention
* The Federalist Papers
* New York Circular Letter

Secretary of
the Treasury|

* First Bank of the United States
* Revenue Marine (U.S. Coast Guard)
* U.S. Customs Service
* Hamiltonian economic program
* Residence Act
* Compromise of 1790
* Funding Act of 1790
* Tariff of 1790
* Bank Bill of 1791
* Tariff of 1791
* Tariff of 1792
* Coinage Act of 1792
* U.S. Mint
* Whiskey Rebellion
* Jay Treaty
* Reports
* "First Report on the Public Credit"
* "Second Report on Public Credit"
* "Report On Manufactures"
* "Report on a Plan for the Further Support of Public Credit"
* Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures

Military career|

* New York Provincial Company of Artillery
* Washington's aide-de-camp
* Battles
* Harlem Heights
* White Plains
* Trenton
* Princeton
* Brandywine
* Germantown
* Monmouth
* Siege of Yorktown

Other events|

* Founder, Federalist Party
* Federalist Era
* Founder, Bank of New York
* Bank of North America
* Pacificus-Helvidius Debates
* Advisor, George Washington's Farewell Address
* President General of the Society of the Cincinnati
* Founder, New-York Evening Post
* Hamilton College
* Hamilton–Reynolds affair
* Rutgers v. Waddington
* Relationship with slavery
* Burr–Hamilton duel

Depictions|

* Trumbull portrait
* Ceracchi bust
* Central Park statue
* U.S. Treasury statue
* Columbia University statue
* Boston statue
* Chicago statue
* U.S. postage stamps
* Greenbacks
* U.S. $10 bill

Memorials|

* Boyhood home and museum
* Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
* Alexander Hamilton Bridge
* Alexander Hamilton High School (Los Angeles)
* Fort Hamilton
* Hamilton Grange National Memorial
* Hamilton Hall (Columbia University)
* Hamilton Hall (Salem)
* Hamilton Heights, Manhattan
* Hamilton, Ohio
* Hamilton College
* USS Alexander Hamilton
* PS Alexander Hamilton
* Trinity Church Cemetery

Popular culture|

* Hamilton (1917 play)
* Alexander Hamilton (1931 film)
* Liberty! (1997 documentary series)
* Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series)
* Alexander Hamilton (2004 book)
* John Adams (2008 miniseries)
* Hamilton (2015 musical, 2020 film)
* Washington (2020 miniseries)

Related|

* Founders Online
* Age of Enlightenment
* American Enlightenment
* American Philosophical Society
* Liberty Hall (N.J.)
* New York Manumission Society
* African Free School
* "American System" economic plan
* American School
* American Revolution
* patriots

Family|

* Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (wife)
* Philip Hamilton (son)
* Angelica Hamilton (daughter)
* Alexander Hamilton Jr. (son)
* James Alexander Hamilton (son)
* John Church Hamilton (son)
* William S. Hamilton (son)
* Eliza Hamilton Holly (daughter)
* Philip Hamilton (son)
* Schuyler Hamilton (grandson)
* Alexander Hamilton Jr. (grandson)
* Allan McLane Hamilton (grandson)

* Category

* v
* t
* e

George Mason

United States
Founding events|

* Drafted, 1769 Virginia Association resolutions
* Primary author, 1774 Fairfax Resolves
* Delegate, Fifth Virginia Convention
* Primary author, 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights
* "All men are created equal"
* Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
* Freedom of the press
* Freedom of religion
* Consent of the governed
* Baseless search and seizure
* Cruel and unusual punishment
* Speedy trial
* 1776 Virginia Constitution
* Seal of Virginia
* 1785 Mount Vernon Conference
* 1787 Constitutional Convention
* "high crimes and misdemeanors"
* Virginia Ratifying Convention
* Co-father, United States Bill of Rights
* history
* Founding Father

Writings inspired|

* Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789, France)
* United States Bill of Rights (1789)

Life|

* Chopawamsic plantation
* Gunston Hall
* On slavery
* Ohio Company

Legacy|

* George Mason Memorial
* George Mason University
* George Mason Stadium
* George Mason, Virginia
* George Mason Memorial Bridge
* George Mason High School
* 18-cent postage stamp

Related|

* Age of Enlightenment
* American Enlightenment
* American Revolution
* patriots
* Wilson v. Mason
* Hollin Hall
* Woodbridge plantation
* Mason's Island

Family|

* George Mason V (son)
* William Mason (son)
* Thomson Mason (son)
* John Mason (son)
* Thomas Mason (son)
* George Mason III (father)
* Thomson Mason (brother)
* George Mason II (grandfather)

* v
* t
* e

American Revolutionary War

Origins of the American Revolution

| Philosophy|

* American Enlightenment
* John Locke
* Colonial history
* Liberalism
* Republicanism
* Freedom of religion
* Rights of Englishmen
* No taxation without representation
* Common Sense
* Spirit of '76
* "All men are created equal"
* "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
* "Consent of the governed"
* Expansionism
* Settler colonialism

|

Royalists|

* Pitt–Newcastle ministry
* Bute ministry
* Grenville ministry
* First Rockingham ministry
* Chatham ministry
* Grafton ministry
* North ministry
* Second Rockingham ministry
* Shelburne ministry
* Fox–North coalition
* Loyalists
* Black Loyalist

Related British
Acts of Parliament

* Navigation
* Iron
* Molasses
* Royal Proclamation of 1763
* Sugar
* Currency
* Quartering
* Stamp up i.p.o
* Declaratory
* Townshend
* Tea
* Quebec
* Intolerable
* Conciliatory Resolution
* Restraining
* Proclamation of Rebellion
* Prohibitory

Colonials|

* Loyal Nine
* Stamp Act Congress
* Declaration of Rights and Grievances
* Virginia Association
* Daughters of Liberty
* Sons of Liberty
* Patriots
* Black Patriots
* Committees of correspondence
* Committees of safety
* Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
* Massachusetts Circular Letter
* Suffolk Resolves
* First Continental Congress
* Continental Association
* Minutemen
* Provincial Congress
* Second Continental Congress
* United Colonies
* Olive Branch Petition
* Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
* Committee of Secret Correspondence
* Halifax Resolves
* Lee Resolution
* Declaration of Independence
* Model Treaty
* Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union
* Confederation Congress

Events|

* French and Indian War
* Treaty of Paris (1763)
* Boston Massacre
* British credit crisis of 1772–1773
* Gaspee affair
* Hutchinson letters affair
* Boston Tea Party
* Philadelphia Tea Party
* Powder Alarm

* Combatants
* Campaigns
* Theaters
* Battles
* Events
* Colonies

| Combatants|

| United Colonies/Thirteen Colonies|

* Continental Congress
* Army
* Navy
* Marines

|

Kingdom of Great Britain|

* Parliament
* British Army
* Royal Navy
* European allies of King George III

Colonial allies|

* France
* Franco-American Treaty
* Army
* Navy
* Hortalez et Cie
* German supporters of Congress

Campaigns and
theaters

* Boston
* Quebec
* Nova Scotia
* New York and New Jersey
* Saratoga
* Philadelphia
* Northern
* Northern after Saratoga
* Southern
* Western
* Yorktown
* Naval battles

Major battles|

* Lexington and Concord
* Boston
* Capture of Fort Ticonderoga
* Bunker Hill
* Quebec
* Valcour Island
* Long Island
* Harlem Heights
* Fort Washington
* Trenton
* Assunpink Creek
* Princeton
* Siege of Fort Ticonderoga
* Bennington
* Saratoga
* Brandywine
* Germantown
* Monmouth
* St. Lucia
* Grenada
* Stony Point
* Sullivan Expedition
* Savannah
* Gibraltar
* Cape St. Vincent
* Charleston
* Connecticut Farms
* Springfield
* Camden
* Kings Mountain
* Cowpens
* Pensacola
* Guilford Court House
* Lochry's Defeat
* Chesapeake
* Yorktown
* The Saintes

Other events|

* Staten Island Peace Conference
* "First Salute"
* Washington's crossing of the Delaware River
* Conway Cabal
* Valley Forge
* Entry of France into war
* Carlisle Peace Commission
* Gordon Riots
* Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1781
* Sint Eustatius
* Newburgh Conspiracy
* Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783

Related conflicts|

* Cherokee–American wars
* Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
* Second Anglo-Mysore War

Involvement (by
colony or location)

| Rebel colonies|

* Connecticut
* Delaware
* Georgia
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* New Hampshire
* New Jersey
* New York
* North Carolina
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* Virginia

|

Loyal colonies|

* East Florida
* Nova Scotia
* Quebec
* West Florida

Leaders

| British|

| Military|

* Arbuthnot
* Brant
* Burgoyne
* Campbell
* Carleton
* Clinton
* Cornwallis
* Fraser
* Gage
* Graves
* Richard Howe
* William Howe
* Knyphausen
* Rodney

|

Civilian|

* King George III
* Amherst
* Barrington
* Germain
* North
* Rockingham
* Sandwich
* Shelburne

Colonial|

| Military|

* Washington
* Alexander
* Allen
* Arnold
* Barry
* Claghorn
* Clark
* Duportail
* Gates
* Greene
* Hamilton
* Hopkins
* Jones
* de Kalb
* Knox
* Lafayette
* Charles Lee
* Lincoln
* Mercer
* Montgomery
* Nicholson
* Putnam
* Rodney
* St. Clair
* Schuyler
* von Steuben
* Sullivan
* Ward
* Wayne

|

Civilian|

* John Adams
* Samuel Adams
* Carroll
* Dickinson
* Franklin
* Hancock
* Hanson
* Henry
* Huntington
* Jay
* Jefferson
* Laurens
* Richard Henry Lee
* McKean
* Morris
* Revere
* Rush
* Witherspoon

Colonial allies|

| French|

* Louis XVI
* Beaumarchais
* d'Estaing
* de Grasse
* de Guichen
* Luzerne
* de Rochambeau
* Suffren
* Vergennes

|

Aftermath

* Society of the Cincinnati
* Treaty of Paris (1783)
* Evacuation Day (1783)
* Ratification Day (1784)
* Constitutional Convention
* The Federalist Papers
* Constitution
* Bill of Rights
* Shays's Rebellion
* Jay Treaty

* Related topics

| Military|

* Prisoners
* The Turtle

|

Political|

* Founding Fathers
* Diplomacy
* Liberty Tree
* Yankee Doodle

Other topics|

* Timeline of the American Revolution
* African Americans in the Revolutionary War
* Dogs in the American Revolutionary War
* Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War
* Women in the American Revolution
* Financial costs of the war
* Continental currency banknotes
* Continental Currency dollar coin
* Libertas Americana
* Commemoration
* film
* television
* theater
* Independence Day
* Patriots' Day
* Pulaski Memorial Day
* Washington's Birthday
* Jefferson's Birthday
* Von Steuben Day
* Minor holidays
* Centennial
* Sesquicentennial
* Bicentennial
* Semiquincentennial
* Children of the American Revolution
* Daughters of the American Revolution
* Sons of the American Revolution
* Sons of the Revolution
* Charters of Freedom Rotunda
* Museum of the American Revolution

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