Questions about the meaning of the American Revolution and the nation’s founding ideals are still being debated today, the host of a West Virginia Public Broadcasting podcast told a Marshall University audience Thursday, March 5.

“We’re here to talk about the myths and the realities of our nation’s origin story and to consider the debates that surrounded the revolution then and the debates that continue now,” podcast host Trey Kay said during a live recording of “Us & Them” at Marshall University’s Brad D. Smith Center for Business and Innovation. 

The event featured excerpts from Ken Burns’ documentary, “The American Revolution,” and was followed by a panel conversation with Marshall University professors and students, who examined how the nation’s founding continues to influence modern discussions about democracy, citizenship, liberty and the interpretation of history.

The program was hosted by West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and the podcast explores political and cultural divisions in American society.

Throughout the discussion, Kay encouraged audience participation. At several points during the event, he asked attendees to close their eyes and raise their hands to answer questions about topics such as civic responsibility and whether the nation’s constitutional system could endure for another 250 years.

Kay said the purpose of the event was to encourage thoughtful conversation about the nation’s founding and how its ideals are interpreted today.

“Our goal tonight is not to settle arguments,” Kay said. “It’s to deepen understanding and to share perspectives.” 

The panel included Marshall history professor Kevin Barksdale and political science professor George Davis along with several Marshall students who participated in the conversation.

Barksdale said the American Revolution created a new political system, but early democracy in the United States was limited in who could participate.

“Many of the founders did not want full-blown democracies,” Barksdale said, noting political power in the early republic was largely limited to property-owning men. 

Barksdale also said the nation’s founding had significant consequences for Native American communities as the United States expanded westward. 

“There is no United States without the dispossession of Native Americans,” Barksdale said.

Davis said the history of the American Revolution is often simplified even though it involved competing ideas about government, power and citizenship.

“There’s not a simple story,” Davis said while discussing how historians and political scientists interpret the nation’s founding. 

Marshall students participating in the panel also reflected on how the documentary challenged their understanding of the country’s founding.

Political science major Adriana Raymore said the documentary highlighted perspectives that are often overlooked in traditional history lessons.

“Being a young Black American woman, it’s definitely hard to see where we would fit into the nation’s origin story,” Raymore said. 

William Harrison said the documentary changed the way he understood the American Revolution compared with how it was taught in school.

“Growing up here in West Virginia, they romanticized the American Revolution very heavily,” Harrison said. 

Audience questions continued the discussion after the panel.

Lio Frye, fourth-year student studying classics, classical languages and English literature, said events like the podcast give students a chance to think more deeply about historical debates outside the classroom.

“I would hope that when students come to these types of events, they remain curious more than anything,” Frye said after the event.

Frye said the conversation also underscored how many perspectives from the Revolutionary period were never recorded.

“A lot of undocumented voices like the enslaved and Native Americans we may never truly uncover because we don’t have those records,” Frye said, “but that’s a part of our history we cannot escape.”

Debbie Harless traveled from Putnam County to attend the recording and said the event gave her an opportunity to hear historians and students discuss the nation’s founding.

“I did enjoy it. I had a good time,” Harless said.

As the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, panelists said conversations like the one at the Center for Business and Innovation remain important for understanding how the nation’s founding ideals continue to influence the American experiment today.

Walter Hendrick, native New Yorker who attended the event with Harless, said hearing a range of viewpoints was one of the most valuable parts of the discussion.

“I do believe that the government and the country works because we’re so different and we have the checks and balances to work it all out,” Hendrick said.