"America's 1776: Independence and its Enduring Legacies," June 4-6, 2026

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Program

July 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This central moment in American history has shaped our national self-perception for 250 years even as writers and scholars have debated the origins and meaning of the events of 1776 from the time they occurred until today. Inspired by these discussions and the national commemoration of independence, the David Center for the American Revolution at the American Philosophical Society is convening a conference in June 2026. 

What beliefs turned a diffuse movement protesting imperial policy into a radical republican revolution in 1776? How did the events of 1776 play out in the communities that experienced them? How did independence change American society? And how have the legacies of independence shaped America? This conference will bring together scholars, public intellectuals, leaders of cultural organizations and others who have an interest in the Revolution and its commemoration to examine and debate these and related questions. 

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Register to attend "America's 1776"

This event is free and open to the public. Please register to attend this event in person or virtually. Livestream will be available via the Society's YouTube page.

Program

America’s 1776, June 4-6, 2026

Note: times are subject to change All times are listed in ET

Thursday, June 4, 2026

Morning: Arrivals and optional site visits

12:45-1:00PM: Welcome

1:00PM-2:45PM, Panel 1: The Origins of Independence Reconsidered

  • Andrew Shankman, Rutgers University, “The Stamp Act Conversation: Transatlantic Empire-Men and the Resolution of an Imperial Conflict”
  • Karen Barzilay, Massachusetts Historical Society, “‘An Assembly as never before came together’: A Second Look at the First Continental Congress”
  • Eva Landsberg, Library Company of Philadelphia , “The Sugar Act Revisited: Merchants, Planters, and the Politics of Imperial Prioritization”
  • Chair/Comment: Eric Slauter, University of Chicago

3:00-4:45PM, Panel 2: Ideological Structures of Independence

  • Helena Yoo-Roth, The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania, “Breaking the Imperial Clock: Information, Delay, and the Temporal Politics of Independence”
  • Sarah Pearsall, Johns Hopkins, “Pursuing Happiness”
  • Evan Haefeli, Texas A&M University, “The Declaration of Independence as Conspiracy Theory: Anti-Popery and the Origins of American Nationalism”
  • Chair/Comment: David Waldstreicher

4:45-6:00PM: Opening Reception

6:00-7:00PM: Opening Keynote: July 4th 1776

  • Steven Sarson, Jean Moulin University, Lyon
  • Annette Gordon-Reed
  • Bertrand Van Ruymbeke
  • Patrick Spero, American Philosophical Society, moderator

Friday, June 5, 2026

8:30AM-9:00AM: Light Breakfast

9:00AM-11:00AM, Panel 3: The Declaration as Text, Declaration as Icon

  • Emily Sneff, Independent Historian and Consulting Curator, “Time, Truth, and the ‘African Trade’: The Hidden History of Thomas Jefferson’s Fair Copies of the Declaration of Independence”
  • Hannah Spahn, Freie Universität Berlin, “The African American Declaration of Independence and the Emergence of Modern Universalism”
  • Christina Carrick, Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Princeton University, “Edits and Editions: Publishing the Drafts of the Declaration of Independence”
  • Nicholas Mauer, United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri, “The Declaration of Independence and the Possibilities for Constitutional Faith”
  • Chair/Comment: Jack Rakove

11:15-12:00PM, Panel 4: Power of Representation

  • Chloe Chapin, Harvard University, “Plain Ordinary Men: the Founding Fathers and the Un-Fashioning of America”
  • Arinn Amer, The Graduate Center, CUNY, “Birth of a Nation: Tar and Feathers, 1775-1776”
  • Chair/Comment: David Brigham

12:00-1:30PM: Lunch Break

1:30-3:15: Panel 5, War and Society

  • Andrea Miles, Middle Tennessee State University, “The Birth of North Carolina’s Black Citizen Soldiers”
  • Sveinn Johannesson, University of Iceland, “‘Scientia in Bello Pax’: Rethinking Military Power in the American Revolution”
  • Blake McGready, The Graduate Center, CUNY, "Petite Guerre upon the Land: A Revolutionary Myth from an Environmental Perspective"
  • Chair/Comment: John McCurdy, Eastern Michigan University

3:30-5:15PM, Panel 6, Independence Across Cultures

  • Sandra Rebok, Center for US-Mexican Studies, University of California San Diego, “Friends or foes? The Spanish Borderlands and the American Revolution:
  • Richard Tomczak, Stony Brook University, “Canadian Women and the Politics of Insurgency in the Saint Lawrence, 1775-1776”
  • Taylor Gibson, Deyohahá:ge: Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Richard W. Hill, and Talena Atfield, University of Waterloo, “Displaced by Independence: Hodihnohso:ni’ Migration to the Grand River and the Unfulfilled Promises of the American Revolution”
  • Kristofer Ray, College of the Holy Cross, “Interpreting the American Revolution from Native Country: The View from Trans-Appalacia, 1763-1783”
  • Chair/Comment: Christopher Bilodeau, Dickinson College

5:15-6:00PM Light Reception

6:00-7:00PM: Keynote Conversation: Jefferson's Moment

  • Frank Cogliano, University of Edinburgh
  • Peter Onuf, University of Virginia 
  • Brendan McConville, Boston University
  • Mary Bilder, Boston College Law School, moderator

Saturday, June 6, 2026

8:30-9:00AM: Light Breakfast

9:00-10:15AM, Panel 7: Meeting Independence, Public History and the Declaration

  • Anna Danziger Halperin and Tessa Bangs, The New York Historical, “Bringing Revolutionary Women to Public Audiences”
  • Elizabeth Allan and Jesse Gordon Simons, Morven Museum & Garden, “Morven: A House on the Brink of Revolution"
  • David Gary, American Philosophical Society, on APS exhibit “These Truths”
  • Chair/Comment: Michael Quinn

10:30-12:30PM, Panel 8: The Problems of Peace

  • Mary Bilder, Boston College Law School, “George Washington at Valley Forge: The Constitutional Convention as Revolutionary Remembrance”
  • Travis Perusich, University of Arkansas, “A Legacy of Freedom: How Black Revolutionary War Veterans Shaped Abolitionism”
  • James Fichter, University of Hong Kong, “American Caribbeans”
  • Chair/Comment: Katherine Grandjean, Wellesley College