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.
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