Take a new look at founding of the USA

Over the past week I watched all six episodes of the Ken Burns's Documentary titled "The American Revolution".  Find it here. 

I hope you'll also find time to watch this.  Understanding our history offers a chance to influence our future.  Below are a few articles that I've read that dig deeper into the documentary, and share links to additional reading.

"Ken Burns' The American Revolution: 10 Big Takeaways from the Directors (Exclusive) - on Military.com - click here 

From the Reader's Digest: "I Watched All 12 Hours of Ken Burns's Revolutionary War Documentary So You Don't Have to - Here Are the 12 Most Interesting Things I Learned" - click here

From the Smithsonian magazine - "Ken Burns Says His New Documentary Forced Him to Revisit Everything He Thought He Knew About the American Revolution" - click here

NPR/WBEZ Chicago interview with Ken Burns "voices the founders overlooked" - click here

The documentary also emphasized the roles of Black Americans (both slave and free) and of Indigenous nations in the American Revolution. Here's one article that describes the role of Native Americans.

Another article: "Unsung Patriots: The Contributions of People of Color in the American Revolutionary War" - click here

Throughout the Ken Burns's documentary there was a revelation of the self-interests driving many leaders of the revolution, including Washington.  This article on AlterNet, is titled "Did the Founding Fathers lead the American Revolution for t he Pursuit of Liberty - Or Personal Greed."

The articles above did not include much about the role John Adams played, in "influencing" the rebellion and subsequent Declaration of Independence.  This article outlines his involvement.  I include this because when I watched the first episode and saw the role John Adams played, I thought of FOX News, and talk radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh, and how they have influenced the actions of today's Republican Party.  

The final 15 minutes of the concluding episode showed how much the founders feared that the government would be taken over by a despot (Trump?).  

This quote is from a US History Collection on LumenLearning.com.  "In our opposition to monarchy, we forgot that the temple of tyranny has two doors. We bolted one of them by proper restraints; but we left the other open, by neglecting to guard against the effects of (the people's) ignorance and licentiousness."   This quote is from a US History Collection on LumenLearning.com. click here

I'm finding that there are a lot of websites with information about the American Revolution and early US history.  Here's a page on the Library of Congress website titled "The American Revolution in Context"

Several years ago I created a concept map that could be used as a study guide to a book titled "Uncharitable", by Dan Pallotta.  You can see it below:

I wonder if anyone has created a similar study guide for the ideas included in the Ken Burns documentary, with links to the articles I listed above.  If you have such a resource, please share the link in the comment box.

I've been posting articles on this blog since 2005. In the 12 years prior to that I shared them in visual essays on the www.tutormentorexchange.net and in printed newsletters.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving I want to thank everyone who has volunteered time, talent and dollars to help me over the past 50 years.  And, I want to urge you to form learning groups and dig into my archives, then create your own media to share what I've been sharing.  

Become part of the effort needed to create an "informed population" that the founders realized was needed for their democracy to work.

Let's connect on LinkedIn, Twitter, BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and other platforms. (see links here).

Next Tuesday,  December 2, is "Giving Tuesday" when nonprofits throughout the world will be seeking donations.  I'll be sending small gifts to five Chicago tutor/mentor programs, plus to Wikipedia, the Internet Archive and Illinois Wesleyan.  I encourage you to browse my lists of Chicago tutor, mentor and learning programs and pick a few to support. 

I also hope you'll look for the HelpT/MI and Support Dan's December 19th Birthday pages on the www.tutormentorexchange.net and make December contributions that help me continue this work in 2026.