“The Declaration’s Journey: A Convening on the International Legacy” Reading List

Scholars from Europe, South America, and across the United States are set to gather at the Museum of the American Revolution on Sept. 25-26 to explore the 250-year global impact of the United States Declaration of Independence. Since 1776, over 100 nations, from Haiti to Mexico to Korea to Ireland, have issued a declaration of independence. The Declaration’s Journey: A Convening on the International Legacy – inspired by our current special exhibition – will provide an opportunity to reflect upon international efforts for liberty, equality, and self-government. Check out this list featuring 10 recent works by some of the distinguished historians who will be speaking at the conference.

Freedom Round the Globe: A World History of the American Revolution
Written by Sarah M.S. Pearsall

Dr. Pearsall’s latest book, published in 2026, expands the geography of the effort for liberty at the end of the 18th century. Her work takes readers to Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas to show how ideas often associated with the United States were not uniquely American.

Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire
Written by Eliga H. Gould

Recently featured in Read the Revolution, Dr. Gould’s book from 2014 emphasizes that the United States Declaration was written with the “candid world” as an intended audience. Forming foreign treaties and alliances — and therefore gaining recognition of the legitimacy of the United States — was one of the chief goals of the young nation.

When the Declaration of Independence Was News
Written by Emily Sneff

A groundbreaking book published for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, Dr. Sneff’s work tells the compelling story of the early days of the revolutionary document. Who read and responded to it? How was it disseminated? What were the Declaration’s first travels like? When the Declaration of Independence Was News, a recent Read the Revolution feature, has answers to those questions and more. Dr. Sneff served as a Guest Curator and Historian for The Declaration’s Journey.

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Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution
Written by Ronald Angelo Johnson

Dr. Johnson will be delivering an exciting lunchtime lecture about his latest book at the convening. Entangled Alliances shares the important relationship between the American Revolution and the free and enslaved people of African descent of Saint-Domingue (a French Caribbean colony, later the independent nation of Haiti) during the second half of the 18th century. What Dr. Johnson presents is the intertwined early histories of the United States and Haiti, two nations that issued early declarations of independence.

I Have Avenged America: Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti's Fight for Freedom
Written by Julia Gaffield

Dr. Gaffield, who was recently featured in the Read the Revolution Speaker Series, shares the story of Jean-Jacques Dessalines in her latest book. Dessalines was the driver of Haiti’s effort to declare both independence and an end to slavery in the new nation, but he is not well known in the United States today. At the time of his efforts, critics and observers beyond Haiti degraded and admonished Dessalines, often turning him into a caricature. Dr. Gaffield, though, digs deeper into his story to reveal more of the truth about this fascinating figure of the Age of Revolutions.

Fear of a Black Republic: Haiti and the Birth of Black Internationalism in the United States
Written by Leslie M. Alexander

Haiti, a nation born out of a revolt against colonialism by free and enslaved people of African descent, did not receive official recognition by the United States until the outbreak of the American Civil War, decades after declaring independence. Racial prejudice and fears of additional revolts by enslaved people fueled this delayed recognition. With her book, Dr. Alexander shows that Haiti’s independence garnered support from Black Americans who saw the Caribbean nation’s achievement as a sign of hope for those working to end slavery, combat prejudice, and confront racial violence.

Our Sister Republics: The United States in an Age of American Revolutions
Written by Caitlin Fitz

In their later years, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams eagerly awaited the news as South and Central American nations fought for independence and upended Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule in the early 1800s. Dr. Fitz, whose work was featured in Read the Revolution in 2020, shares the story of those people in the United States who celebrated the Age of Revolutions and the spreading influence of the Declaration of Independence.   

The Age of Atlantic Revolution: The Fall and Rise of a Connected World
Written by Patrick Griffin

To gain a deeper understanding of the people, events, geographies, and lasting impact of the Age of Revolutions, Dr. Griffin’s book is an essential read. This transformative age, from the late 18th century to the mid 19th century, has deeply shaped our modern world, as Dr. Griffin’s analysis illuminates.

Met by the Love of Liberty: History and Identity in Americo-Liberian Memory
Edited by Andrew N. Wegmann, James Andrew Whitaker, and Shawn P. Lambert

Available now for pre-order, this edited volume of scholarly essays explores the relationship between Liberia and the United States, particularly the stories of Black settlers who came from the United States to Liberia. Convening participant Andrew N. Wegmann co-edited this book, and it features an essay by fellow convening participant Marie Stango. Among the topics covered in this volume are stories about the formation of a national identity for Liberia, which declared its independence from the United States in 1847

The Allure of Empire: American Encounters with Asians in the Age of Transpacific Expansion and Exclusion
Written by Chris Suh

The story of Korea’s 1919 declaration of independence is featured in The Declaration’s Journey. Dr. Suh’s book shows how Korea’s effort for independence helped to shape the relationship between the United States and Asian countries such as Japan in the years before the Second World War. These international relationships, as Dr. Suh shares, also influenced United States immigration policy in the early 20th century.