America’s 250th

The People

Voices of 1776

Generals, diplomats, a poet, a pamphleteer, a political counselor, and a sovereign nation. The Revolution was not one story. It was many, told by people who risked everything.

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In Their Words

“The once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with Blood, or Inhabited by Slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous Man hesitate in his choice?”

Letter to John Augustine Washington, May 31, 1776

In 1776

In 1776, Washington commanded the siege that drove the British from Boston in March, suffered devastating defeats in New York through the summer and fall, and on Christmas night led a desperate crossing of the Delaware River that saved the Revolution from collapse. He held a disintegrating army together through sheer force of will.

Founders Online: Washington to John Augustine Washington, 31 May 1776

In Their Words

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

In 1776

In 1776, Jefferson was thirty-three years old and a delegate from Virginia. Appointed to a five-member committee, he became the principal drafter of the Declaration of Independence, working from a rented room in Philadelphia. His words transformed a colonial tax dispute into a universal statement of human rights.

National Archives: Declaration of Independence

In Their Words

“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.”

Letter to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776

In 1776

In 1776, Adams was the fiercest advocate for independence in Congress, earning the nickname “Atlas of Independence” from Richard Stockton. He argued relentlessly against hesitation, served on the committee that produced the Declaration, and helped select Washington as commander. He predicted the wrong date for the national holiday by two days.

Founders Online: John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776

In Their Words

“I long to hear that you have declared an independancy — and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could.”

Letter to John Adams, March 31, 1776

In 1776

In 1776, Abigail Adams managed the family farm in Braintree while raising four children, all during a smallpox epidemic. Her letters to John were not domestic small talk: they were sharp political counsel. Her “Remember the Ladies” letter of March 31, 1776, is one of the earliest American arguments for women’s political rights, written three months before independence was declared.

Founders Online: Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776

In Their Words

“Long did I endeavour, with unfeigned and unwearied Zeal, to preserve from breaking, that fine and noble China Vase the British Empire: for I knew that being once broken, the separate Parts could not retain even their Share of the Strength or Value that existed in the Whole, and that a perfect Re-Union of those Parts could scarce even be hoped for.”

Letter to Lord Howe, July 20, 1776

In 1776

In 1776, Franklin was seventy years old and the most famous American in the world. He served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, edited Jefferson’s text, and prepared to sail for France as America’s envoy. His letter to Lord Howe, a former friend now commanding the British fleet, captured the sorrow and resolve of a man who had tried every alternative before choosing revolution.

Founders Online: Franklin to Lord Howe, 20 July 1776

In Their Words

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

The American Crisis, No. 1, December 19, 1776

In 1776

In 1776, Paine wrote the two most consequential pamphlets of the Revolution. Common Sense, published in January, sold roughly 100,000 copies in three months and made independence thinkable. The American Crisis, published in December as the army faced collapse, was read aloud to freezing troops days before Washington’s crossing of the Delaware. He had arrived in America from England only two years earlier.

Library of Congress: The American Crisis by Thomas Paine

In Their Words

“Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side, / Thy ev’ry action let the goddess guide. / A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine, / With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! be thine.”

Poem enclosed in letter to George Washington, October 26, 1775 (published in periodicals, 1776)

In 1776

In 1776, Phillis Wheatley was the most widely known Black poet in the English-speaking world. Enslaved as a child and brought to Boston, she published her book of poems in London in 1773, the first by an African American. In late 1775 she sent a poem to Washington praising his command. Washington wrote back in February 1776, calling her work a “great poetical Genius” and inviting her to visit him at his Cambridge headquarters. She accepted. Her very existence as a published poet challenged the era’s assumptions about race and intellect.

Founders Online: Phillis Wheatley to George Washington, 26 October 1775

Historical Record

While the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy formally declared neutrality in the conflict between Britain and the colonies, the Oneida Nation, influenced in part by missionary Samuel Kirkland, chose a different path. They provided critical intelligence about British troop movements, sent warriors to support Continental forces, and supplied food to the American army. Their choice to break with the Confederacy’s consensus carried enormous consequences: in retaliation, British-allied forces destroyed Oneida villages in 1780.

Documented in the Papers of the Continental Congress and correspondence of the Continental Army

In 1776

In 1776, the Oneida Nation navigated impossible pressures. The great Haudenosaunee Confederacy sought to remain neutral, but the Oneida chose to support the American cause. They relayed intelligence about British and Loyalist movements along the frontier and declared their willingness to aid the colonies. Their alliance was not abstract: Oneida warriors would fight and die alongside Continental soldiers, and their homeland would be destroyed for it. Their story is a reminder that the Revolution’s outcome depended on alliances that the standard narrative often omits.

Library of Congress: Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789

Eight voices, one year. Commanders and poets, diplomats and nations. The Revolution belonged to all of them.

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