American Revolution Story Briefs

Britain's colonists in America were upset when Parliament passed laws interfering with their way of life. The colonies declared themselves independent and fought a war to end British control as the stories in this collection reveal.

Learn about John Hancock through the Library of Congress records.

John Hancock's signature is about the only signature still legible on the highly faded document. Is the story about its signing true or legend?

John Hancock was 39 years old, in 1776, when he was President of the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. He helped to fun...

Who was John Locke, the British philosopher who was so influential on America’s “Founding Fathers?” Meet Locke and read some of his most-famous...

Benjamin Franklin uses this political cartoon in 1754, urging American Colonials to band together against threats posed by the French and by Native Am...

The story of America's first-published African-American poet takes us to Long Island during a time of slavery.

On the 7th of June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee proposed a resolution to assert the independence of Britain's "United Colonies" in America.

In his own country, Cornwallis came to be known as "the man who lost America." Learn why.

Born Hugh Smithson, Lord Percy was the 2nd Duke of Northumberland and a Member of Parliament. His half-brother willed funds to America which the gover...

The man whom Thomas Jefferson later described as "the principal hope of America's future efforts on the ocean" was born in a gardener's cottage on the...

On the fourth Monday of May, Americans honor those who have died for their country. Hear a bugler playing "Taps," and learn about the history of this ...

The president himself designed the landscaped grounds where thirteen trees, from his lifetime, still survive.

Show tooltips