Hillsdale College Launches New Online Course ‘Revolutionary America: From Subjects to Citizens’
The documentary series expands on Hillsdale’s feature-length documentary, exploring the Revolution through the eyes of early Americans.
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Hillsdale College has launched a new online course, “Revolutionary America: From Subjects to Citizens.” The documentary series, which is being released on Constitution Day, Sept. 17, expands on Hillsdale’s feature-length documentary, highlighting the experiences and principles that animated early Americans’ fight for independence, self-government, and a lasting republic.
“The American Revolution is a dispute over the fundamental political question of ‘who rules’ and the accompanying question of ‘for the benefit of whom do they rule,’” said Jeremiah Regan, executive director of online learning. “The documentary series ‘Revolutionary America’ examines the revolutionary period from 1763 to 1789, during which Americans raised those fundamental political questions, risked their ‘Lives, Fortunes, and sacred Honor’ to throw off British rule, and established a new nation.”
“The American Revolution is a dispute over the fundamental political question of ‘who rules.’”
The course features insights from Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn; Hillsdale faculty members John Grant, Wilfred McClay, Paul Moreno, Kevin Slack, and Thomas West; and select public thought leaders — Michael J. Knowles, John Lovell, and Eric Metaxas.
“The Americans were fighting the biggest world power in existence at that time,” West said. “And it felt like America against the world.”
The course includes six 30-minute episodes, built from the same interviews as the feature-length film but including significant new material and topics:
- A Severe Controversy: After the French and Indian War, Britain limited colonial expansion, taxed the colonists, and restricted the Americans’ right to govern themselves.
- Tea and Taxes: The American colonists boycotted and destroyed the taxed British goods, united in a Continental Congresses, and appealed to Britain to redress their grievances.
- A Call to Arms: While still hopeful to secure their rights as Englishmen, the Patriots began to defend their natural rights even at the cost of their own lives.
- We Hold These Truths: To secure their rights and effect their safety and happiness, our ancestors declared their independence in the greatest political document ever written.
- War: Our Founders fought a bloody war against the greatest military power on earth to make the words on paper a reality.
- Peace: After the war, the weaknesses of the temporary government under the Articles of Confederation became very apparent, so the Framers structured a stable republic under the Constitution.
The course is a sequel to Hillsdale’s online course “Colonial America: Wilderness to Civilization,” released last year.
To watch the trailer and register for the course, click here. For photos from the course, click here. For photos of Hillsdale College, click here. For a high-resolution copy of the Hillsdale College clocktower logo, click here.
About Hillsdale College Online Courses
Hillsdale College’s free, not-for-credit online courses feature lectures from the College’s faculty members across various disciplines, including politics, history, economics, religion, and literature. More than 2.1 million students have enrolled in an online course with Hillsdale College. For more information on Hillsdale College’s online courses, visit online.hillsdale.edu.
DATE: Sept. 17, 2026