The American Revolution was not only a colonial independence movement but also a long, wrenching and destructive civil war. The violence divided communities and pushed many people to declare loyalties — out of principle or strategy, hope or desperation. Through a deep dive into a handful of artifacts featured in Princeton University Library’s spring 2026 exhibition, “Nursery of Rebellion,” this talk uses the stories of several 18th-century Princetonians to explore the politics of allegiance and the profound costs and consequences of being forced to choose sides during the American Revolution.

Michael A. Blaakman,  associate professor and director of Graduate Studies in Princeton’s Department of History, is a historian of revolutionary and early national America. His scholarship focuses on politics, empires and North American borderlands during the age of revolutions. 

Register and submit questions here.

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