The 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is a good time to reflect on what it meant then and means today. This course will look beyond the battlefields to see the tensions between the colonies and the United Kingdom that sparked a conflict that created a new country and changed the world. We will focus on the social, political, and economic roots of the American Revolution and see how those ideas and events became the foundation of the story of American history. What happened in 1776 is still alive today.

Subject: history

Robert Schoone-Jongen is a professor of history emeritus at Calvin University who continues to research and teach about the topics of immigration and the American presidency. He has published articles on the history of American immigration, especially Dutch immigration to New Jersey and Minnesota. His most recent courses for CALL include Descent into Darkness: Why Germans Embraced the Nazis; First-Class, Second-Class Steerage: Three Voyages from Rotterdam to Hoboken and Beyond; American Robber Barons: Income, Influence, and Inheritance; and America’s Most Famous Address: The Life of the White House.