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The names of German Americans do not often come to mind when we think about the founding of the United States. In fact, some of the “Founding Fathers” held negative views of German communities. However, immigrants and people of German descent were deeply involved in the war against Great Britain, the establishment of new governments, and the securing of rights for all Americans. This lecture will examine the roles of military leaders, early officeholders, and supporters on the home front, including members of the Muhlenberg family (Peter, Frederick, and Catherine); Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben; Michael Hillegas; Mary Ludwig Hays—better remembered as Molly Pitcher—and other men and women whose influence can still be felt today.
Dr. Emily Sneff is a scholar of early American history and a leading expert on the Declaration of Independence. She is the consulting curator for exhibitions planned for the country’s Semiquincentennial including The Declaration’s Journey at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Window to Revolution: Pennsylvania Germans and the War for Independence at Historic Trappe, Pennsylvania. Her book When the Declaration of Independence Was News will be published in April 2026 with Oxford University Press.
The lectures are cosponsored by the Max Kade Institute for German American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Friends of the Max Kade Institute, the German Society of Pennsylvania’s Horner Library, and the German Historical Institute-Washington, D.C.
This lecture is sponsored by the Max Kade Institute for German American Studies
with co-sponsorship by the Friends of the Max Kade Institute.