Semester of Graduation

Summer 2025

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

In its earliest form, the memory of the American Revolution was far from pure, riddled with partisan jabs and purposeful currents of present events. This, however, has received little attention even with the rise of memory studies within professional history. Scholars have addressed the popular memory of a variety of other pivotal moments from the Civil War to both World Wars. Revolutionary memory has been studied within the contexts of later eras, but almost never in the era immediately following the end of the war. Other scholars such as Alfred Young, Margot Minardy, and Michael McDonnell have all done work on Revolutionary memory, but only begin their stories no earlier than the 1820s, fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Americans, though, began building the memory of the Revolution almost immediately following the Treaty of Paris in 1783, and battles over the war’s memory were at the core of politics in the early Republic.

This work seeks to fill in this surprising gap in the literature, focusing on Revolutionary memory in the first decade of the nineteenth century, in the years directly preceding the War of 1812. It is no coincidence that popular discussion of the Revolution increased precipitously in these years, as Americans began to face the overwhelming odds of another war with England.

Date

7-14-2025

Committee Chair

Prince, K. Stephen

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