The Sons of the Revolution was founded in 1876 by John Austin Stevens, a member of New York City’s Victorian society. He was a patriotic historian who descended from Ebenezer Stevens, a Revolutionary Officer in the Continental line who did not meet all of the strict requirements for membership in the Society of Cincinnati at that time. He along with the other ‘founders’, some of whom were members of Cincinnati , wished to broaden participation in preserving American Heritage of the Revolutionary War on the eve of the centennial of the Declaration of Independence. The founder’s mission was to form a new society of gentlemen, the first of its kind *, which would promote knowledge and appreciation of the achievement of American independence, and to foster fellowship amongst its members.

As a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization devoted to the principles and ideals of its founders, the modern Society maintains its headquarters, in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia with 28 societies in the United States and Europe.

* in the Late 19th century