On July 4, 1776, representatives of the United States of America assembled in Congress to formally notify King George III of their intent to separate from British rule. Their Declaration of Independence enshrined many of the political principles that would inform a new nation unlike any other that had ever existed. As we approach the 250th anniversary of this document, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and National Humanities Medal recipient Gordon Wood joins Providence Athenæum Executive Director Matt Burriesci for a conversation about the American Revolution, its radicalism, and its legacy.
Book sale and signing
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Gordon S. Wood is Professor Emeritus at Brown University. He is the author of many works, including The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (1969), which won the Bancroft Prize, and The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992), which won the Pulitzer Prize for History. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (2004) was awarded the Julia Ward Howe Prize. Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 (2009) won several prizes. In 2011 he was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Obama. His most recent book is Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution (2021).