“The thirteen colonies that became the United States were not even half of the British colonies that existed in the eighteenth century. We need to think about why some colonies rebelled and others did not.” — Sarah Pearsall

Earlier today, the historian Dominic Erdozain came on the show to argue that American patriotism has the same exceptionalist Puritan roots as British imperialism. But not all historians of the American revolution would agree. Take, for example, Sarah Pearsall, author of Freedom Round the Globe, who turns 1776 inside out to present the American rebellion as a kind of world revolution. 1776 as 1917. American patriotism as an explosion of borderless humanity.

Pearsall argues that 1776 was as globally significant in its revolutionary promise as 1789, 1848 or 1917. She reminds us that there were at least 26, possibly as many as 32 British colonies in existence in 1775 — in the Caribbean, in Canada, in East and West Florida. And the radical ideas that drove the Declaration of Independence — security, happiness, respect — were being asserted simultaneously all over the world. So in Edinburgh debating clubs, Caribbean sugar plantations and West African castles, the American revolution was welcomed as a global revolution. Universal rather than exceptional. The Tea Party as the Storming of the Winter Palace.

Five Takeaways

• 32 British Colonies, Not 13. At least 26, possibly 32 British colonies in 1775. In the Caribbean. In Canada. In East and West Florida. Why did some rebel and others not? That question opens the global story.

• The Caribbean Undermines the Slavery Thesis. If the revolution was primarily about preserving slavery, the Caribbean colonies would have been first to join. They were far more dependent on it. They did not join. The relationship between slavery and the revolution is genuinely complicated.

• From St Kitts to Kolkata. Pearsall takes thirteen key words from the Declaration — security, happiness, respect — and finds the spark of each in a far-flung place. Edinburgh debating clubs. A castle in Ghana. The streets of Kolkata. The Declaration as a global document.

• Americans Were Already Thinking Globally in 1776. They were reading about India. The Boston Tea Party requires knowing that tea was Asian. Colonists compared themselves to Indians under the East India Company. The isolation of American history is a modern academic choice, not an eighteenth-century reality.

• Read the Declaration, Not the Constitution. Andrew says ‘read the constitution.’ Pearsall gently corrects him: the Declaration of Independence. Two very different documents. The Declaration is short, bold, and universal. The Constitution is a compromise about governance. On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration: read the Declaration.

About the Guest

Sarah Pearsall is a prize-winning historian at Johns Hopkins University and the author of Freedom Round the Globe (Knopf, May 2026). She previously taught at Cambridge.

References

Freedom Round the Globe by Sarah M. S. Pearsall (Knopf, May 2026): penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707010
Christopher Clark, Revolutionary Spring

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.

Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Chapters:

00:00:31 Introduction: Erdozain this morning, Pearsall this afternoon
00:01:57 Turning the revolution inside out
00:02:29 Responding to Erdozain’s To Love a Country
00:02:52 Exceptionalism requires revising, not rejecting
00:05:05 What the world looked like in 1776
00:05:21 32 British colonies, not 13
00:07:01 Was there such a thing as the globe?
00:09:18 How bad were the British?
00:15:00 Why the Caribbean didn’t join
00:20:00 The Declaration’s thirteen keywords
00:43:29 Christopher Clark and the 1848 revolutions
00:46:04 July 4 plans: IndyCar, UFC, or under the bed?
00:48:32 Read the Declaration, not the Constitution
00:49:29 Final advice