Part 2/14:
Burns begins by reflecting on the American Revolution, describing it not as the sanitized, heroic tale often told—about brave men in Philadelphia engaging in lofty thoughts—but as a profoundly brutal conflict. He emphasizes that the revolution was a bloody civil war involving martial combat, civilian casualties, and internal strife, with loyalists and patriots fighting each other passionately. He notes that, far from the bloodless ideal often portrayed, the revolution and subsequent civil conflict resulted in significant civilian deaths, some as low as one at Gettysburg, illustrating the war’s devastating human toll.