Lectures

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  1. The Roots of Revolution

  In our introductory lecture, Dr. Thompson outlines the intellectual origins of the American Revolution through a four-stage theory of imperial relations between England and its colonies from 1607 to 1783. We examine how cycles of British neglect fostered colonial self-governance and how reassertions of control provoked resistance. The lecture details how the post-1763 imperial grand design to subordinate the colonies set the stage for revolution, emphasizing that ideas are the driving force of history and central to understanding why American revolutionaries acted as they did.
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  2. The Sugar Act Crisis

  In lecture two, we learn about John Locke's profound influence on the American Revolution through his Second Treatise of Government and its core arguments about natural rights, the social contract, limited government, and the right of revolution. We then profile the American colonies in 1763, highlighting their freedom, prosperity, and frontier individualism. Finally, we trace the beginning of the imperial crisis through the Proclamation of 1763 and the Sugar Act of 1764, analyzing colonial responses—including James Otis Jr.'s landmark pamphlet—which framed British taxation as a violation of natural law and English constitutional rights, setting the stage for a revolutionary battle of ideas.
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  3. The Stamp Act Crisis

  In lecture three, Dr. Thompson explains the Stamp Act of 1765 and its role in igniting the American Revolution. We examine the Act's provisions, its threat to colonial commerce, and how it violated the principle of no taxation without representation. The lecture covers colonial resistance, including the Sons of Liberty and Patrick Henry's resolutions, and analyzes competing arguments between British and American thinkers—including Whately versus Dulany on virtual versus actual representation, and Hopkins versus Howard Jr. on the nature and source of rights. We conclude with Parliament's 1766 debates, revealing the widening divide between British authority and colonial liberty.
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  4. Imperial Power, Colonial Liberty

  In lecture four, we study the constitutional crisis underlying the American Revolution, beginning with Benjamin Franklin's 1766 parliamentary testimony, the repeal of the Stamp Act, and the simultaneous passage of the Declaratory Act. We contrast British and American interpretations of the British Constitution, from Blackstone's doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty to colonial views rooted in natural rights. Through the writings of Otis, Adams, Bland, and Wilson, we trace how Americans began developing revolutionary ideas for what Dr. Thompson identifies as the single greatest achievement of the American Revolution: the invention of a written constitution as fundamental law.
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  5. The Rise of Revolution

  In lecture five, we examine the Townshend Acts of 1767 and colonial resistance to threats against natural rights, property, and self-government. Dr. Thompson analyzes the contrast between John Dickinson’s warnings against tyranny in Letters from a Farmer and Thomas Hutchinson’s defense of parliamentary sovereignty, framing their dispute as a clash over Locke’s political philosophy. By 1773, the lecture concludes, the debate had reached a decisive turning point when John Adams effectively reframed Hutchinson's binary choice between parliamentary sovereignty and colonial independence as a logical argument for independence itself, establishing the basis for revolution.
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  6. Tea & Coercion

  In lecture six, we witness escalating tensions between Britain and the American colonies following the 1773 Tea Act and Boston Tea Party, and Parliament's subsequent retaliatory Coercive Acts of 1774. We delve into the intellectual battle between patriots and loyalists through pamphlets by Alexander Hamilton, Samuel Seabury, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, examining increasingly radical patriot arguments about natural rights. We also see how contrasting thinkers like Dan Foster and Jonathan Boucher offer opposing views on liberty, government, and Parliamentary authority, as the colonies accelerate toward independence and war.
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  7. Declaring Independence

  In lecture seven, we trace the escalating Anglo-American crisis from ideological conflict in late 1774 to armed revolution and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Along the way, we explore the battles of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Second Continental Congress’s pivotal debates, alongside the clash between Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and Charles Inglis’s loyalist defense of reconciliation and the British Constitution. The lecture culminates in an analysis of the Declaration’s four self-evident truths—equality, rights, consent, and revolution—and how Enlightenment principles and Lockean philosophy shaped its justification for revolution.
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  8. Revolutionary Constitution-Making

  In our eighth and final lecture, we explore how Americans turned royal collapse into republican government, drafting state constitutions from 1776 to 1780. Facing Locke’s unanswered question—how to create legitimate government—they drew on traditions of self-rule. We follow the Berkshire Constitutionalists’ two-step solution of constitutional conventions and ratification, then compare Paine’s, Adams’s, and Braxton’s competing republican visions. Finally, we examine gradual abolition of slavery, religious disestablishment, and the Revolution’s legacy: a nation founded on shared principles rather than inherited identity.