King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity

Jill Lepore, Professor of Early American History at Harvard University, speaks about her book, The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity, and traces the meanings attached to this brutally destructive war. Lepore examines early colonial accounts that depict King Philip's men as savages and interpret the war as a punishment from God, discusses how the narrative of the war is retold a century later to rouse anti-British sentiment during the Revolution and finally describes how the story of King Philip is transformed yet again in the early nineteenth century to portray him as a proud ancestor and American patriot.

Jill Lepore: The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity from The Gilder Lehrman Institute on Vimeo.