Humanities

Conference organized by Professors Craig Yirush (University of California, Los Angeles), and Brad A. Jones (California State University, Fresno) On the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution in 1976, Americans celebrated it as the story of a struggle for liberty which culminated in the creation of the world’s first democratic republic. Leading historians largely concurred with this nationalistic view of the Revolution’s significance. They disagreed about whether the republicanism of the new nation was liberal and individualistic, or classical and communitarian; but they all agreed that the Revolution sparked a “contagion of liberty” which transformed American society. Approaching the 250th anniversary in 2026, things...