Person

Ray Raphael

Bylines

Declarations Before THE Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson's declaration might be the most famous, but it wasn't the first.

by Ray Raphael via Journal of the American Revolution on June 30, 2026
When Some Americans First Lost Their Constitution

Parliament's 1774 revocation of Massachusetts's charter and the representative government it enshrined was the last straw for many colonists in Worcester.

by Ray Raphael via Journal of the American Revolution on March 3, 2026
A Kingly Government? Benjamin Franklin's Great Fear

When the founders were hashing out how they would structure the executive branch, some were concerned about placing too much authority in one person.

by Ray Raphael via Journal of the American Revolution on October 21, 2024
Was the Declaration of Independence Signed on July 4?

How memory plays tricks with history.

by Ray Raphael via Journal of the American Revolution on October 10, 2017
Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death”—Granddaddy of Revolution Mythologies

Hidden within this most pervasive mythology of the Revolution is a distortion of the Revolutionary experience.

by Ray Raphael via Journal of the American Revolution on July 13, 2015
Why Did George Washington Become a Revolutionary?

How did George Washington, one of America’s elite 1%, become its leading revolutionary? His evolution came in stages.

by Ray Raphael via Journal of the American Revolution on February 16, 2015

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Patrick Henry

Did Patrick Henry Really Say ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’?

The Virginia delegate may have spoken those words on March 23, 1775, but some historians doubt it.

by Gregory S. Schneider via Retropolis on March 21, 2025

Illustration of Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, the likely inspiration for Molly Pitcher, stoking a cannon for the U.S. Pennsylvania artillery during the Battle of Monmouth.

Molly Pitcher, the Most Famous American Hero Who Never Existed

Americans don't need to rely on legends to tell the stories of women in the Revolution.

by Cassandra A. Good via Smithsonian Magazine on March 17, 2021

The American Revolution was a Huge Victory for Equality. Liberals Should Celebrate it.

The left is turning its back on the Revolution. Here's why that's a mistake.

by Jeff Stein via Vox on July 4, 2017

Bellatrix and the American Revolution

240 years after the American Revolution, debates over how to interpret the conflict and its leaders continue.

by Alex Cacioppo via Public Books on March 9, 2015

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