What patriotism meant, 250 years ago

+ James Earl Jones' lessons on activism and art US Edition - Today's top story: To American revolutionaries, patriotism meant fair dealing with one another [View in browser]( US Edition | 18 September 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [How Israel’s settler movement became mainstream]( - [40% of US presidents have had attempts on their lives]( - [Tech-accustomed young adults struggle to connect with co-workers]( Lead story The meaning of the word “patriotism” can vary, depending on whom you ask. But at a crucial point in the lead-up to the American Revolution, the American Colonists had a very specific idea of what it meant. They were among the first people to define themselves as American patriots – and not British patriots who lived in the North American Colonies. When 56 delegates met in Philadelphia in the autumn of 1774, they forged a sweeping cross-Colony alliance in what would become the United States. Barbara Clark Smith, a political history curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, studies early U.S. history, including the Colonial period. She details the document that spelled out the alliance, and how people across all the Colonies interpreted it, followed it and enforced it. And she explains how it [built a shared American identity]( among the inhabitants of the 13 Colonies, and how that paved the way for American independence. [ [Science from the scientists themselves. Sign up for our weekly science email newsletter.]( ] Jeff Inglis Politics + Society Editor Today's newsletter supported by [readers like you.]( A 1782 engraving depicts the First Continental Congress, held in 1774. François Godefroy engraving from Library of Congress [To American revolutionaries, patriotism meant fair dealing with one another]( Barbara Clark Smith, Smithsonian Institution The first widespread agreement across the American Colonies dealt with economic independence from British trade and taxation. Arts + Culture - [What James Earl Jones can teach us about the activism of art in times of crisis]( Dominic Taylor, University of California, Los Angeles In the heat of the Civil Rights Movement, Jones didn’t give rousing speeches or lead marches. Instead, he doubled down on his art. Environment + Energy - [What the jet stream and climate change had to do with the hottest summer on record − remember all those heat domes?]( Shuang-Ye Wu, University of Dayton As a record-hot summer comes to a close, an atmospheric scientist explains how global warming drove long periods of extreme heat. 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