Primary Source Spotlight: American Revolution
Primary sources
U.S. History Primary Source Timeline: American Revolution
American Revolution primary source set
The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts collection
Mapping the American Revolution and Its Era
Battle maps and charts of the American Revolution (1881)
- A broadside titled “No Stamped Paper to be had” reports a variety of colonial efforts intended to force the repeal of the hated Stamp Act of 1765
- An account of the Boston Massacre printed in 1770
- A copy of the Boston Port Act as passed by the British Parliament in March 1774, which closed Boston Harbor
- American Revolution teaching ideas
Revolutionary war texts 1763-1783
American Revolution images 1764-1784
Revolutionary war era images & broadsides to 1799
Songs and Ballads of the American Revolution (1905)
Additions to Chronicling America Highlight the Revolutionary War Teaching with the Library of Congress
Words & Deeds in American History 1775-1799
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
- Army on June 15, 1775.
- The Continental Congress adopting the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
- A copy of the Treaty of Alliance with France dated February 6, 1778.
- A copy of the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the Revolutionary War, dated September 3, 1783.
Documents from the Continental Congress & Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789
Primary source sets: people
- John Adams
- John André & Benedict Arnold
- Benjamin Franklin
- Nathanael Greene
- Nathan Hale
- Alexander Hamilton
- Thomas Jefferson
- John Paul Jones
- Robert R. Livingston
- James Madison
- Thomas Paine
- John Parker & the Minutemen
- John Trumbull
- George Washington
- Revolutionary Women
Primary source sets: events
- Boston Massacre 1770
- Battle of Bunker Hill 1775
- The Call for Independence 1776
- Battles of Saratoga 1777
- Valley Forge 1777
- Surrender at Yorktown 1781
- Preliminary Articles of Peace Ratified 1783
More related primary source sets
- Yankee Doodle 1775
- Franco-American Alliance 1778
- Washington’s Continental Congress Correspondence 1775-1784
- Treaty of Paris 1783, ratified 1784
Online exhibitions
The American Revolution – John Bull and Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations
Creating the United States: Revolution of the Mind
Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents
Teaching resources
Primary Source Learning: American Revolution
Secondary Sources
Stories About the Revolutionary Period from America’s Library
Young People’s History of the American Revolution (1921)
The pictorial history of the American revolution; with a sketch of the early history of the country (1846)
“The cause and effect of the American revolution, and the example of Washington” (1885)