Declaring Independence

Why 1776 Matters

By: Edward J. Larson

Narrated by: Mela Lee

At the beginning of 1776, virtually no one in the colonies was advocating independence: Americans based their grievances against Parliament on their rights as British subjects. By the end of 1776, independence was on every patriot's lips. The many tyrannies of a king had made an independent republic necessary. In Declaring Independence, Edward J. Larson gives us a compact, insightful history of that pivotal year. He traces a narrative arc that runs from the inspiring appeals of Paine's Common Sense in January; through the soaring ideals of midsummer, when the Continental Congress grounded independence in the self-evident truths of human equality and individual rights, and the states wove revolutionary principles of republican government and the rule of law into their new constitutions; to Paine's urgent pleas of December, when "the times that try men's souls" required Americans not "to shrink from the service of their country." Dramatic military clashes also punctuate the year: the British evacuation of Boston forced by the brilliant maneuvers of Washington's Army; the Battle of Long Island, a costly defeat that opened New York to British occupation; and the desperate year-end victory of the American army at Trenton.

Combined, these ideals and the sacrifices remind us why, on this anniversary and at this political moment, 1776 matters to all of us.

©2026 Edward J. Larson (P)2026 Highbridge Audio

A Cogent Examination of 1776

Dr. Larson thoroughly examines all aspects of the pivotal year 1776. I loved the way in which he analyzed the political arguments and the emergence of a revolutionary political doctrine to support the cause of independence (especially striking to me were Larson's use of the writings and arguments of Thomas Paine, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson). Brilliantly written, this book is a must read for understanding the founding of our nation.