Webinar: The American Revolution and Its Place in History

This should be an informative and illuminating discussion. 

https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/jun25-declaration-of-independence-1776-2026.html

 

The announcement:

On Thursday, June 25, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.  Eastern (EDT), the World Socialist Web Site will  host a global online webinar: “The American  Revolution and Its Place in History, 1776–2026:  From the War Against Monarchy to ‘No Kings’”  We urge you to register today and take part. Register now Two hundred and fifty years after the Continental  Congress proclaimed the Declaration of  Independence, American democracy confronts its  gravest crisis since the Civil War. The principles  proclaimed in Philadelphia in July 1776—that all  men are created equal, that governments derive  their just powers from the consent of the governed,  and that the people retain the right to abolish any  government that becomes destructive of these ends —  are being trampled by a government controlled by a  financial‑corporate oligarchy. At the same time, resistance to this assault on  democracy is being undermined by the claim that  there is nothing in the legacy of the American  Revolution worth defending. While rejecting simplistic  nationalist myth‑making, the standpoint of this  webinar is that the American Revolution was a world‑ historic event. Despite its limitations, contradictions,  and compromises, it set into motion a global wave  of democratic revolutions, led inexorably to the  destruction of slavery in the United States, and  opened a new epoch of struggle for the  emancipation of the working class. The webinar will feature a distinguished panel of  historians who have written extensively on the  complex legacy of the American Revolution—James  Oakes, Richard Carwardine, Sean Wilentz, Adam  Hochschild, and Thomas Mackaman—moderated  by David North, International Editor of the World  Socialist Web Site. We encourage all our readers and supporters to   register today to attend and to promote the event  widely on social media and among your friends and  coworkers. Sign up now to  attend: Register now

Panelists

James Oakes A leading historian of slavery,  antislavery politics, and the Civil War  era, and a two‑time winner of the  Lincoln Prize, for The Radical and  the Republican and Freedom National:  The Destruction of Slavery in the  United States, 1861–1865.

Richard Carwardine A two‑time Lincoln Prize–winning  biographer of Abraham Lincoln and  author of Lincoln: A Life of Purpose  and Power and Righteous Strife:  How Warring Religious Nationalists  Forged Lincoln’s Union.

Sean Wilentz A Bancroft Prize–winning historian  and leading interpreter of pre‑Civil  War democracy, party politics, and  social conflict, author of The Rise of  American Democracy: Jefferson to  Lincoln and No Property in Man:  Slavery and Antislavery at the  Nation’s Founding.

Adam Hochschild His work spans imperialism, war,  slavery, and the long struggle for  human rights. His books include   American Midnight, Bury the Chains  (Los Angeles Times Book Prize;  National Book Award finalist), and   King Leopold’s Ghost.

Thomas Mackaman A writer for the World Socialist Web  Site on US and labor history, author  of New Immigrants and the  Radicalization of American Labor,  1914–1924 and co‑editor, with David  North, of The New York Times’ 1619  Project and the Racialist Falsification  of History.

Moderator

David North National chairman of the Socialist  Equality Party and chairman of the  WSWS International Editorial Board.  Active in the leadership of the Fourth  International for 50 years, he is the  author of numerous works, including   The Russian Revolution and the  Unfinished Twentieth Century, and  editor of the newly published   Oligarchy: Trump and the Breakdown  of American Democracy.

Thursday, June 25, 2:00–4:00 p.m.  EDT.  Register now. Register now