1/4 of population enslaved
A quarter of the population was enslaved at the time the Founders declared that all men are created equal, exposing the founding hypocrisy.
Snapshot · Empire: World History
374. Ken Burns on the American Revolution and Empire
Explore episode
Jul 4, 2026
Where this was said
Revolution, Civil War, World War — and Empire
At 7:56 · chapter starts 6:44
Anita puts the question directly: independence from empire, or the beginning of one? Burns refuses the either/or framing. [1] — Ken Burns "The Continental Congress didn't call itself the Eastern Seaboard Congress by accident. Washington openly used the word 'empire,' warning ri…" 06:44 The Founders chose the name 'Continental Congress' and 'Continental Army' deliberately — they knew California was out there and they wanted everything between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Washington's anguish during the post-revolutionary collapse of the states is revealing: his phrase 'drowning our rising empire in blood' shows the imperial vision was never hidden. The real cause of the Revolution, Burns insists, must go beyond the textbook answer of taxes and representation — land is the missing variable. The Revolution is the fifth global war over the prize of North America, and that prize is Native American land. And at the same time, a quarter of the population is enslaved while half the population — women — is not enfranchised by the new republic's radical ideas.
The Revolution Was Always an Empire
The Continental Congress didn't call itself the Eastern Seaboard Congress by accident. Washington openly used the word 'empire,' warning rivals they were 'drowning our rising empire in blood.' From the very beginning, the Founders knew they wanted everything from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The Revolution Is a Civil War Over Native Land
A good grade in American school requires you to say the Revolution was about taxes and representation. Ken Burns says you have to add land, because at the heart of it is the fifth global war over the prize of North America — and that prize means Native American land.
1/4 to 1/5 of population were Loyalists
At least a fifth, possibly a quarter, and in some places a majority of Americans during the Revolution were Loyalists, making it fundamentally a civil war.
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