An Unfinished Revolution at 250

In celebration of the nation’s semi quincentennial, historian and author Michael D. Hattem will present “An Unfinished Revolution at 250” at the New Haven Museum on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at 6 p.m. Hattem will discuss the unique role that the Revolution has had in American life and the longstanding tradition in American history of remembering the nation’s founding as an “unfinished revolution.” The free event will be preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m.

Hattem notes that the principles of the Revolution have been constantly redefined to fit the needs of the times. “Countless social movements —including abolitionists, suffragists, and the civil-rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s—have tried to win popular support by depicting their causes as attempts to fulfill the ideals of the American Revolution,” he says. He notes that abolitionists were the first Americans to celebrate the Declaration of Independence specifically for its preamble and the statement that “all men are created equal.”

image: Postcard showing a woman kissing the Liberty Bell in Seattle on July 14, 1915.

You may also like the following events from New Haven Museum:

• Next Thursday, 15th January, 06:00 pm, Curator’s Tour of ‘Pronounced Ah-Beetz’ Exhibit in New Haven
• This month, 29th January, 05:30 pm, Whitney Literary Society Debuts at New Haven Museum in New Haven
• Next month, 7th February, 02:00 pm, 9 to 5: The Story of a Movement in New Haven

Also check out other Arts events in New Haven, Literary Art events in New Haven.