Atlas of Independence: John Adams and the Revolutionary War
Schedule
Sat, 07 Mar, 2026 at 11:00 am
UTC-05:00Location
625 Biglerville Road, Gettysburg, PA, United States, Pennsylvania 17325 | Gettysburg, PA
Advertisement
Join historian Chris Mackowski as he weaves the story of President John Adams into the American Revolution. When the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, no one doubted who was responsible. Said one delegate: “The man to whom the country is most indebted for the great measure of independence is Mr. John Adams. . . . I call him the Atlas of American independence.” Born of humble means outside Boston, Massachusetts, Adams’s work ethic led him to become one of the colony’s most successful attorneys. Yet he burned with a powerful ambition and yearned for more. “I never shall shine, till some animating Occasion calls forth all my Powers,” he fretted. Festering tensions with Great Britain provided the occasion Adam longed for, and soon he found himself at the center of the storm, thrust onto the national stage where all his “Powers” transformed him into the intellectual architect of American independence. Perhaps more than any other American, he rose to the historical moment, urging his contemporaries into the unknown future. The program will be followed by a book signing.FREE/ Gettysburg History Members
$10/ General Admission
Chris Mackowski is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War and series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series published by Savas Beatie. He serves as a professor in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University, where he is also associate dean for undergraduate programs, and is historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge on the Spotsylvania battlefield in Virginia. Chris has worked as a National Park Service historian at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, leading tours at major battlefields including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania, as well as the building where Stonewall Jackson died. He has served on the boards and advisory councils of numerous preservation and historical organizations, and in 2023 was honored with the Houston Civil War Round Table’s Frank Vandiver Award and named the Copie Hill Fellow at the American Battlefield Trust.
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
625 Biglerville Road, Gettysburg, PA, United States, Pennsylvania 17325Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
