This is the final episode in a three-part series on the radicalism of the Declaration of Independence. Part one featured a conversation with historians Sean Wilentz and Jim Oakes. Historian Jack Rakove appeared in part two.
The American Revolution neither ended slavery nor solved the problems facing women. It did not magically create social equality in an 18th century slaveholding republic. But by focusing on the things the revolution did not accomplish – or by calling attention to the personal failings of men like Thomas Jefferson, a lifelong slaveholder – one can overlook how American society fundamentally changed in other ways.
The British colonies broke with the monarchy and shattered a culture of deference that shaped their life as subjects of the crown. Moreover, the egalitarian ideals espoused in the Declaration of Independence breathed life into political movements aimed at addressing entrenched forms of injustice. These points have been made by esteemed scholars of the revolution such as Gordon Wood.
In this episode of History As It Happens, historians Annette Gordon-Reed and Joseph Ellis discuss the paradoxes of the American founding. By accepting the revolutionaries of 1776 as flawed men who still created a new nation under difficult circumstances, it becomes possible to understand why their revolution was also incomplete, they say.
“Powerful words, if they are truthful words, don’t just stay contained in any one space. I understand historians want to keep the context in place but we’re not originalists… It’s a living document. It means different things to different people. And that’s why it’s been used by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, [Martin Luther] King, Harvey Milk and other people,” Ms. Gordon-Reed said of the Declaration of Independence.
“When did the American Revolution begin and when did it end? I’d say it begins in ‘74-’75 when it’s militarized. But it’s not over… we’re still living with the implications of the American Revolution,” Mr. Ellis said.
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