Jan/Feb 2026 (Volume 18, Issue 1)

 

By Michael Swanger

 

As we turn the calendar to a new year that marks the 250th anniversary of the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopting the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776—the founding document of the United States—reminders of our nation’s origin sparked by the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) abound. 

 

From articles, books and exhibitions, to Ken Burns’ six-part 2025 television documentary miniseries “The American Revolution” and online resources like America250.org—the nonprofit, bipartisan, supporting organization to the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission established by Congress in 2016—there is no shortage of material to be consumed by those who are interested in learning myriad stories about our nation’s birth. Where there is a will, there is a way. 

 

One such resource that I found to be an educational and entertaining introduction to some of the people and places that shaped the birth of our nation is “The American Revolution Experience.” I visited its pop-up exhibition last October during its brief stay at the State Historical Museum of Iowa in Des Moines and enjoyed reading its 12 panels as well as interacting with its digital kiosks that told the stories of “everyday” citizens who participated in the Revolutionary War. The exhibition was sponsored by the Abigail Adams Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution that was organized in Des Moines in 1893. 

 

A collaborative project of the American Battlefield Trust and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), “The American Revolution Experience” not only is a pop-up exhibition that will travel to libraries, museums and historical societies in every state through 2027, it is a website that introduces visitors to “a cast of historical characters with diverse experiences throughout the conflict” rather than focusing on well-known military figures and politicians. They include a socialite, a Spanish soldier, a French mapmaker, a shoemaker, a drummer boy, a wife whose diary chronicled the war, and Black and Native Patriots. 

 

The exhibition also addresses the complexity of communities and families divided by Patriots and Loyalists as they contemplated risking their lives in pursuit of liberty, or remaining loyal to the British crown in spite of over taxation and a lack of parliamentary representation. It also offers brief overviews of roles in the army, post-war life, freedom and slavery, and a visitor’s guide to the vestiges of the American Revolution that can still be seen today. Additional downloadable resources include PDFs of the exhibition’s panels and a Spanish language version of the exhibition. Links to the American Battlefield Trust’s website offer a multitude of resources including a timeline of the war, an animated map, classroom materials for middle and high school lesson plans (complete with videos, biographies and primary sources) and a “crash course” of the war for learners of all ages that ranges from 15 minutes to one week. 

 

Ultimately, it reminds us that our nation’s independence was won on the battlefield by volunteer Patriots who lived within and outside the 13 colonies. 

 

“The American Revolution would not have happened without the decisions, sacrifices, and valor of ordinary people,” said DAR President Gen. Pamela Rouse Wright in a joint statement with the American Battlefield Trust. 

 

“Independence may have been declared in Philadelphia by the Declaration’s 56 signers, but it was hard-won on the battlefields we protect by the thousands of Patriot soldiers from whom today’s Daughters trace descent,” said Trust President David Duncan. “Together, our organizations bear witness to the fact that we are not so far removed from those impactful events, that there are meaningful ways to bridge those 250 years.”

 

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