In fact, the United States remains the oldest surviving republic in history.Īfter proposing America's history in this way, Ellis asks the reader to consider the American Revolution from myriad perspectives. No other colony at that time in history had ever successfully won its independence to form a lasting republic. Yet these men acted as though there was an air of providence and predestination, and a fortunate combination of luck, intellect, and perseverance served to shape the foundation of the United States. Had certain circumstances favored the British in the war, these forefathers might as easily have been hung for treason as celebrated for victory. Ellis considers the founding members of the revolutionary generation as actors on the stage of history, securing their legacies through battle and later though legislation.Įllis reminds the reader that though Americans take the fact of their independence for granted, their forefathers were not so certain of revolutionary success. Revolutionaries of the revolutionary time period, such as Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, suggested that colonial independence from sovereign England was not only plausible but fated. “No event in American history which was so improbable at the time has seemed so inevitable in retrospect as the American Revolution” (3).
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