Declaration of Independence at 250

Gilder Lehrman Posters

These posters feature images from the Gilder Lehrman Collection.

• Paul Revere’s engraving of British troops in Boston Harbor, 1768
• Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770
• Phillis Wheatley, 1773
• “The Voice of the Liberty Bell, 1776–1926”
• “Americans Will Always Fight for Liberty, 1778–1943”

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History Now

History Now, the online journal of the Gilder Lehrman Institute, features essays by the nation’s leading historians. To read these essays, subscribe to History Now (free for Affiliate School teachers and their students). 

Full Issues

In 2021, we began devoting full issues of History Now to the Declaration of Independence itself and its impact on US and world history.

• History Now 60 (Summer 2021), “Black Lives in the Founding Era”
• History Now 61 (Fall 2021), “The Declaration of Independence and the Origins of Self-Determination in the Modern World”
• History Now 63 (Summer 2022), “The Declaration of Independence and the Long Struggle for Equality in America”
• History Now 64 (Fall 2022), “New Light on the Declaration and Its Signers”
• History Now 67 (Summer 2023), “The Influence of the Declaration of Independence on the Civil War and Reconstruction Era”
• History Now 69 (Winter 2023), “The Reception and Impact of the Declaration of Independence, 1776–1826”

Essays

In addition to the full issues of History Now, the Gilder Lehrman Institute has also published selected essays on the document in other issues of the journal and elsewhere on the website.

• “The Declaration of Independence in Global Perspective” by David Armitage
• “Thomas Jefferson and Deism” by Peter S. Onuf (History Now 29, “Religion in the Colonial World,” Fall 2011)
• “Revolutionary Philadelphia” by Ray Raphael (History Now 11, “American Cities,” Spring 2007)
• “Lockean Liberalism and the American Revolution” by Isaac Kramnick (History Now 21, “The American Revolution,” Fall 2009)
• “African Americans in the Revolutionary War” by Michael Lee Lanning (History Now 46, “African American Soldiers,” Fall 2016)
• “Unruly Americans in the Revolution” by Woody Holton (History Now 21, “The American Revolution,” Fall 2009)
• “Teaching the Revolution” by Carol Berkin (History Now 21, “The American Revolution,” Fall 2009)
• “The Indians’ War of Independence” by Colin G. Calloway (History Now 21, “The American Revolution,” Fall 2009)
• “Two Revolutions in the Atlantic World: Connections between the American Revolution and the Haitian Revolution” by Laurent Dubois (History Now 34, “The Revolutionary Age,” Winter 2012)
• “The US and Spanish American Revolutions” by Jay Sexton (History Now 34, “The Revolutionary Age,” Winter 2012)
• “Advice (Not Taken) for the French Revolution from America” by Susan Dunn (History Now 34, “The Revolutionary Age,” Winter 2012)

The Gilder Lehrman Book Shop

If you want to learn more about the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution, we recommend the following seminal texts. We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase made through the links to bookshop.org provided. Thank you for supporting our programs.

• Allen, Danielle. Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality. New York: Liveright, 2014.
• Armitage, David. The Declaration of Independence: A Global History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.
• Brunsman, Denver, and David J. Silverman, eds. The American Revolution Reader. New York: Routledge, 2013.
• Calloway, Colin G. The Indian World of George Washington. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
• Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin Press, 2005.
• Horne, Gerald. The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America. New York: New York University Press, 2014.
• Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
• Zagarri, Rosemarie. Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007.

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Self-Paced Courses

Self-Paced Courses offer graduate-level online instruction in American history by eminent historians. These courses will allow you to learn more about the Declaration of Independence through the study of the document itself and its context, intellectual precursors, and legacies. Courses are available to watch or listen to on your own time and at your own pace.

• Revolutionary America with Professor Denver Brunsman, George Washington University
• Women in the American Revolution with Professor Carol Berkin, Baruch College, CUNY
• Declaration of Independence with Professor Eric Slauter, University of Chicago
• The American Enlightenment with Professor Caroline Winterer, Stanford University
• America’s First Civil Rights Movement with Professor Kate Masur, Northwestern University
• Black Lives in the Founding Era with Professor James Basker, Barnard College, Columbia University
• Democracy in the Early Republic with Professor Andrew Robertson, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
• George Washington and His World with Professor Denver Brunsman, George Washington University
• The Age of Jefferson with Professor Peter S. Onuf, University of Virginia
• The History of American Protest with Professor John Stauffer, Harvard University

Hamilton Cast Read Alongs

Hamilton Cast Read Alongs is a program that features Hamilton cast members reading award-winning children’s books followed by a discussion of the history behind the story led by Gilder Lehrman Master Teacher Keisha Rembert.

• “Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton” by Margaret McNamara (Author) and Esmé Shapiro (Illustrator); read by Zoe Jensen
• “A Spy Called James: The True Story of James Lafayette, Revolutionary War Double Agent” by Anne Rockwell (Author) and Floyd Cooper (Illustrator); read by Bryson Bruce
• “Mumbet's Declaration of Independence” by Gretchen Woelfle (Author) and Alix Delinois (Illustrator); read by Meecah
• “Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons” by Gwendolyn Hooks (Author) and Simone Agoussoye (Illustrator); read by Tiffany Mellard

Full Lectures

Explore this seminal event in American History with talks by eminent scholars of the American Revolution.

• “The Global History of the Declaration of Independence” by David Armitage, Harvard University
• “American Scripture: The Making of the Declaration of Independence” by Pauline Maier, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• “Declaring Independence” by Denver Brunsman, George Washington University

Online Exhibitions

The Gilder Lehrman Institute has more than eighty online exhibitions that cover American history from the colonial era to the present day.

• The Declaration of Independence and the Pursuit of Equality
• Timeline: The American Revolution
• Alexander Hamilton and the Founding of the United States
• Spanish Influence on the American Revolution
• Timeline: Fulfilling America's Founding Principles: African American History

Middle and High School Students

• The Declaration of Independence
• Declarations of Independence: Women’s Rights and the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions
• What Does Liberty Look Like?