Our Mission

To engage, educate and excite people of all ages, to understand and celebrate the American struggle for freedom and self-governance and to preserve and share our buildings, grounds and collection so they will be an inspiration for generations to come.

A Republic, If We Can Keep It



Our independence, our shared heritage of self-governance, of democracy, is not a static and dusty thing that happened a quarter of a millennium ago. It is not a thing foreordained and forever promised. The struggle for independence only began with Washington and Jefferson and Adams, with merchants and minutemen, students and statesmen. That struggle, and that story, continued for generation after generation as America and Americans wrestled with forming a more perfect union and fulfilling the promise of We the People. Suffrage for women and the abolition of slavery. Two world wars against dictatorship and fascism. The clamoring of people around the world for the blessings of liberty. Independence is a work in progress, work that continues today as each succeeding generation takes its turn preserving democracy.

The American Independence Museum honors and examines that ongoing work with festivals and special exhibits and civic engagement that looks back with pride but also forward with a commitment to telling the whole story of our independence, from its past to its future. Our tours and programs explore not just our revolutionary origins but also the ongoing revolution that is America, and what independence means today.