University News

Ken Burns’ new documentary kicks off Karsh Institute’s ‘Democracy360’

With the nation set to celebrate its 250th anniversary next summer, the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy is taking us back to the tumultuous early days, when competing political factions debated what the future of the colonies should be – and then fought a war over it.

The institute’s biennial “Democracy360” event begins Oct. 15 with a panel discussing the nation’s founding and how the political ideals and principles hatched then are playing out today. A panel conversation will follow an exclusive preview of Ken Burns’ latest documentary, “The American Revolution,” based in part on a book by UVA professor Alan Taylor, who appears in the film.

Alan Taylor sitting in a library writing. Beside him is a copy of his book “American Revolutions”.

Taylor appears in the documentary and became an adviser to the producers after one of them read his book, “American Revolutions.” (Contributed photo)

The three-day event in Charlottesville will feature five mainstage programs at the Paramount Theater where national journalists, Pulitzer Prize-winning historians and bestselling authors will explore the challenges and opportunities facing democracy at this historic milestone. Democracy360 also includes participatory debates and interactive working sessions that invite attendees to engage with one another and work together on solutions to the challenges facing democracy.

The Atlantic is the event’s official media partner and VPM will distribute event video. All Democracy360 events are free and open to the public. Tickets are available through the Paramount Theater box office.

Ahead of the Democracy360 launch, Taylor chatted with UVA Today about how he came to be in the Burns’ documentary, and how the lessons of the American Revolution are still relevant today.

Q. How did you become involved with the Ken Burns documentary?

A. One of the producers, Sarah Botstein, had read my book, “American Revolutions,” and liked it, so she reached out to me about becoming one of the advisers for the film. As an admirer of Ken Burns’ films, I was honored to join that team.

Q. When the film debuts, what are you hoping modern Americans will take away from it?

A. The film offers an honest, comprehensive, sobering, yet inspiring take on a revolution that was far more contested and divisive than Americans today recognize. The film takes the Loyalist Americans seriously instead of treating them as cartoonish villains. The film also treats empathetically the plight of Native peoples caught up in that war and the contradictions of slavery in a society fighting for the freedoms for some Americans. And the film is about a revolution that generated the noblest aspirations for people to govern themselves free from kings and tyrants.

Get ready for the ride — shop the UVA Bookstore.

Q. Most school children are taught the basics about the American Revolution. But what is something most people don’t know about America’s war for independence?

A. It was a brutal civil war, not a simple contest of Americans versus the British. At least a fifth, and perhaps a third of Americans were conservatives who favored loyalty to a British Empire that had, on balance, provided prosperity, military protection and civil liberties. Even the Patriots who fought that empire balked at declaring independence until July 1776, more than a year after the war began, preferring a compromise that would preserve British overall rule. They only declared independence when it became clear that the rulers of Britain would not compromise.

Q. How did the rebellious colonists win over the Loyalists? Or did they?

A. The Patriots relied on intimidation, including tarring and feathering, to bring around Loyalists in their midst. When that did not work, they jailed and even lynched leading Loyalists. The word to “lynch” derives from Col. (Charles) Lynch (Jr.), a Patriot officer in Virginia who was especially good at that job. Patriots also repressed Loyalist newspapers. The Loyalists also suffered because the British failed to protect them and often would not heed their advice.

Toward the end of the war, many Loyalists lost confidence in the British and decided that supporting the Patriots was the best way to end a war that had brought misery to so many civilians.

Q. America is approaching its 250th anniversary. What lessons from that time are still applicable to our nation today?

A. The statesmen that we now call the Founding Fathers had a great fear of centralized power, as always hostile to liberty. Because they feared human nature as innately selfish, they designed a federal system with checks and balances to prevent one man or one small group from dominating the country.

The Founders especially dreaded what they called “a demagogue,” someone who pandered to popular prejudices in order to seize power for himself to become richer. They understood that checks and balances could slow and even stop political decisions – or compel compromises. But they felt that compromise, deliberation and consensus were far better than seeing a tyrant exercise all power in a decisive and selfish way.

Q. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, didn’t found UVA until more than 40 years after the American Revolution. How did the revolution change him and shape his vision for this University?

A. Jefferson believed devoutly that human beings could improve their minds and principles through advanced education. By the 1810s, he felt frustrated that Virginia still clung to a conservative constitution that favored county oligarchies rather than democracy. Jefferson believed that the true spirit of the revolution could prevail in Virginia if a new university educated the next generation of leaders in principles that would lead them to reform the state’s constitution.