Declaring Independence: From British Subjects to an American People

Lindsay M. Chervinsky, executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, and Jane Kamensky, president and CEO of Monticello, explore how Americans made the extraordinary leap from British subjects to citizens of a new nation. They examine the relationships, arguments, and ruptured loyalties behind the Declaration, including the unlikely partnership of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams; what independence meant for the new nation’s sovereignty and place in the world; and the questions about union and self-government that 1776 left for future generations to answer. Julie Silverbrook, chief content and learning officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.