The Revolutionary War is more just sitting, there's a lot of sitting weight. About 2,000 soldiers die either from starvation or exposure during Valley Forge. Washington broadens his notion of the war from a war between armies and set peace battles to a war for control of the countryside. Always thinks the big battle is going to be in New York, New York City, but it doesn't.
Joseph Ellis, of Mt. Holyoke College and author of American Creation, talks about the triumphs and tragedies of the founding of the United States. His goal in the book and in this podcast is to tell a story for grownups rather than for children, where the Founders are neither saints nor evil white, patriarchal slave-holding demons. It is a nuanced story of triumph--a military victory over a seemingly unbeatable vastly more experienced army, the creation of the first geographically large republic, a nation without a state religion, a nation that creates a party system with a loyal opposition, a Constitution with the virtues of ambiguous sovereignty, and tragedy--the failure to resolve the slavery issue, and the tragic conflict with the Native Americans. Some of these outcomes were intended by the Founders, others emerged unintended.