American historians of the Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783), have dedicated themselves to investigating the origins, motivations, and leaders who created the United States of America. Through the Fulbright Program, they have shared their work with international audiences, and continued the tradition of the American Revolution by spreading the ideals of freedom, individual rights, and the pursuit of happiness throughout the world.
The Revolutionary War was itself an international affair, spanning two continents. It was also the basis of lasting alliances between the American patriots and the nations of France, Spain, and the Netherlands, as well as Native American nations.
American scholars have also found innovative source materials and inspiring comparisons in foreign archives that help us to understand and explain the founding principles and events of the war. Government decrees, letters from sailors, naval manifests, and soldiers’ testimonies are essential parts of the historical record, and reflect the war as a moment of global interest and impact. The British forces were themselves international, with Hessian soldiers from present-day Germany fighting George Washington’s troops at the Battle of Trenton. Back in Germany, some Hessians gave their testimony, which became a unique and under-utilized set of sources to understand the event as a turning point in the war. Historian David Hackett Fischer, a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program alumnus, used this testimony along with American records to reconstruct and analyze Washington crossing the Delaware River to Trenton in his book Washington’s Crossing, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2005.
Prior to Washington’s Crossing, Hackett Fischer’s Fulbright supported him to lecture across New Zealand in 1994 on his book Albion’s Seed (1989), about the impact of British folk culture in North America. Hackett Fischer’s Fulbright allowed him to examine concepts of liberty and equality in both the United States and New Zealand, research that was later reflected in his book Fairness and Freedom (2012). Shortly after returning from his Fulbright, Hackett Fischer published Paul Revere’s Ride (1995) and went on to write Liberty and Freedom (2005) and African Founders (2022).
British archives, libraries, and institutions are some of the richest sources for understanding the conflict. One of the most prolific historians of the American Revolutionary period is Jack P. Greene, who was a participant in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom in 1953. Throughout his career, Green wrote about the influence of British culture and law on America’s laws and the Constitution. Among many books, he is the is the author of Pursuits of Happiness: The Social Development of the Early Modern British Colonies and the Formation of American Culture (1988) and The Constitutional Origins of the American Revolution (2010).
The American Revolution had an impact beyond Britain, inspiring international figures, such as the Marquis de Lafayette of France and Casimir Pulaski of Poland, to play key roles in the Continental Army. Benjamin Franklin recruited Pulaski due to his famed skill to train America’s first cavalry legion, and Pulaski’s strategy at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777 is credited with saving General Washington’s life. Lafayette, who was also at Brandywine, returned to France with news of American victories and rallied support for the American cause, helping to secure an official alliance in 1778.
The American Revolution’s ideals of freedom and liberty also contributed to the movements to abolish slavery and expand women’s political rights in the Revolutionary period and beyond. The relation between the American revolution and abolition of slavery was explored by John Hope Franklin, Fulbright U.S. Scholar to the United Kingdom in 1950, through the ten editions of his book From Slavery to Freedom (first published in 1947). David Brion Davis, Fulbright U.S. Scholar to India in 1967 and France in 1980, showed the American revolution influenced abolition movements in Latin America in the book The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution 1770-1823 (1999). The American Revolution was a key moment for women to champion the cause of liberty and individual rights as well, as demonstrated by the work of historian Rosemarie Zagarri, who, through Fulbright, served as the Thomas Jefferson Chair in American Studies at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 1993. She is the author of the author of The Politics of Size: Representation in the United States, 1776-1850 (1987), A Woman’s Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution (1995) and Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic (2007).
These scholars are also notable for sharing their insights on American history through their teaching abroad. During David Brion Davis’s Fulbright exchange to India he taught an intensive course in American History, and Franklin conducted a lecture tour through Fulbright across Australia, Nigeria, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe. Edmund S. Morgan, author of the books The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution (1953) and The Birth of the Republic, 1763-1789 (1956) was awarded a Fulbright to Japan to lecture on American history in 1968. Similarly, Michael Kammen, who wrote People of Paradox: An inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization (1973), which won the Pulitzer Prize, and The Origins of the American Constitution (1986), taught in Romania through the Fulbright Program in 2004.
These American Fulbright Scholars have made a lasting impact through their writings and teaching on the American Revolutionary War and how it changed the world. Alongside these distinguished scholars, American students, early career researchers, and teachers have joined the Fulbright Program to share inspirational aspects of American culture and enduring principals from America’s founding abroad. From Fulbright English Language Teaching Assistants teaching an English lesson on the significance of Independence Day, to Fulbright Scholar lecturers on the historical origins of American government and values, to Fulbright Specialists consulting on creating new curricula on American Studies, Fulbright continues to offer opportunities for participants to introduce new generations of students, scholars, and everyday citizens to the global significance of America’s founding 250 years ago.