Declaring the Revolution: America's Printed Path to Independence

Historical Works from the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection

The American Revolution was a period from 1765 to 1783 when the original thirteen colonies, once separately controlled territories of Great Britain, became a self-governing, democratic alliance with a shared nationhood and destiny. This eighteen-year movement began with Americans questioning their status as British subjects and culminated with their forming a doctrine of beliefs—about liberty, equality, and self-determination—worth fighting for in the promise of a new country that aspired to adequately represent its citizenry. While the path to independence had a bloody war at the center of it, it more broadly was a revolution of ideas and identity.

The Declaration of Independence is America’s founding document because it is the best written and most consequential statement of the doctrines of the Revolution. Appearing in 1776, it drew upon progressive European Enlightenment philosophies, as well as a decade of domestic writings wherein Americans defended their liberties as citizens, protested their second-class political standing, organized economic protests, established fighting forces and shadow governments, and affirmed their legal bonds with one another. These writings were all “declarations” of various kinds, and they were all expressed through the dominant medium of the time: print.

To honor its 250th anniversary, this exhibition celebrates the Declaration of Independence by exploring the writings that influenced it, the circumstances that led to it, and the individuals from the revolutionary generation who embodied its principles. Declaring the Revolution is composed of printed materials from the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection together with a special selection of objects from the holdings of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

This collaboration between David M. Rubenstein and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library contributes to our national efforts of commemorating 1776 by seeking to explain the origins of democracy in the United States.