Hi, I'm Jeff Sickinga, executive director of the Ashbrook Center, and this is the American

idea, where we discuss the ideas, people, and events that have made America what it is today.

We believe that by understanding our history and our principles, we can better

live up to the promise of the American founding and preserve our ongoing experiment in self-government.

Welcome to the American Idea. Well, I want to welcome everyone to this episode of the American idea. Today we're

going to be talking about an important topic for understanding America and America's

founding, and of course, the American Revolution. We're going to talk about causes of the American

Revolution. It's part of our series

looking at America 250, the Declaration of Independence and its legacy in American history and for

today. For this conversation, I'm joined by an old friend of mine, an old friend of the

Ashbrook Center, and a really terrific historian, Professor Robert McDonald.

Rob is professor of history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, my alma mater, a master's degree from Oxford University, and his PhD from the University of North Carolina. He teaches

court on the American Revolution and on the American founding extensively. And he is the author of,

I've counted at least six books, Rob. Well, you're giving me too much credit. I'm author of one, an editor of five or six.

Okay.

Well, he has been involved in the creation, let's say that way, of a number of really

terrific books, including one that I want to highly recommend to our readers titled

Confounding Father, Thomas Jefferson's Image in His Own Time.

And I also want to point out this

wonderful collection that he has assembled for Ashbrook's core documents collection entitled

the American Revolution core documents. For those who are maybe listening who are teachers,

...