Historian Joseph Ellis on the Revolutionary Summer of 1776

GUEST: JOSEPH ELLIS

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian JOSEPH ELLIS returns to the legacy of the American Founding Fathers by telling two parallel stories of the political and military battles of the history-changing months of the summer of 1776. As the Continental Congress debated how to secede from King George III’s reign, George Washington’s Continental Army was defending New York City and its 12 cousin colonies from the British Navy and British Army. Ellis reminds us many of the principals involved in creating the Declaration of Independence weren’t interested in created a nation at that time – they were against the British Government – the Constitution of the United States wasn’t ratified until 1787. We’ll relive those warm summer months of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, George Washington, Admiral Howe and General Howe with “Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence.”