*Originally published in 2022 and preserved as part of our archive project.Get E-International Relations delivered to your inbox, free of charge. As you sign up, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support our work.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, there is deep polarization in the United States about what sort of nation America is and should be. This current polarization, though, largely stems from how the American Revolution itself can be (and has been) viewed in contradictory ways. Just what kind of revolution was it? How one answers this question very much informs how one regards what kind of country America has been, is now, and should be in the future.

On the one hand, the American Revolution can be seen as a democratic revolution similar to—indeed, serving to inspire—other such revolutions elsewhere. This democratic vision of the American revolution is one of a secular republic enshrining the rule of law and guaranteed rights enjoyed equally by all individual citizens and thus allowing for protection of minorities against the “tyranny of the majority.”

On the other hand, the American Revolution can also be seen as a European settler revolution which threw off colonial rule and established democracy for the European settlers, their descendants, and even subsequent European immigrants, but did not do so for non-European populations in their midst who were often regarded not just as unequal but as a threat, and who were ruled over in an all too often forceful, discriminatory manner. In this European settler (or White nationalist) vision, the American........

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