Beginning with Thomas Jefferson's rough draft for the Declaration of Independence, events in the years around 1776 saw the struggle for the United State's freedom as a new country. In Year of Independence, 1776, Genevieve Foster uses a horizontal history to write for the younger reader a history of this explosive, important period. She deals with events in America—sometimes presented to children in other history books as though they were all that was taking place—in a perspective with events in other countries across the globe.

The world was becoming intertwined, Benjamin Franklin was in France to watch the first men to ride in a balloon—the real start of aviation. During this era British and U.S. attempts to establish friendly trade relations with China meet with some success. And these were the years of Captain James Cook's explorations in the Pacific.

As a world history book, 1776 imparts a broad international picture of the times—its leaders, its culture, its science and politics.