Ben Franklin's World

The Declaration of Independence described “all men” as “created equal” when its authors knew they were not. So was the revolutionary idea of freedom dependent on slavery? In this last episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution series we return to the place our series began: the world of Paul Revere. We speak with Christopher Cameron, an associate professor of history at the University of Nort...

Between 1763 and 1848, revolutions took place in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe. But why is it that we only seem to remember the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution? Given that the American Revolution took place before all of these other revolutions, what was its role in influencing this larger “Age of Revolutions?” Did it influen...

The American Revolution took place within a larger period known today as the “Age of Revolutions.” What does the Revolution look like when we place it within this larger context? Did it really help foment the many other failed and successful revolutions that took place during the period? Over the next two episodes of the Doing History: To the Revolution series, we’ll explore answers to these quest...

When we think about North America during the American Revolution, most of our brains show us images of eastern Canada and the thirteen British American colonies that waged a revolution and war for independence against Great Britain. But what about the rest of the North American continent? What about the areas that we know today as the midwest, the Great Plains, the southwest, the west, and the Pac...

What did British imperial officials in London and their North America-based representatives make of the American Revolution? In this episode, we explore the American Revolution through the eyes of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, a British imperial official who served the empire in North America before, during, and after the American Revolution. James Corbett David, author of Dunmore’s New World:...

At the end of the French and Indian, or Seven Years’ War in 1763, Great Britain claimed that smuggling was a BIG problem in its North American colonies and cracked down on the practice. But just how BIG of a problem was smuggling in North America? Why did British North Americans choose to engage in the illegal importation of goods like tea? Was it really all about cheaper prices? Fabrício Prado, C...

How did early Americans go from hosting social tea parties to hosting protests like the Boston Tea Party? Tea played a central role in the economic, cultural, and political lives of early Americans. As such, tea came to serve as a powerful symbol of both early American culture and of the American Revolution. In this episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution series, Jane Merritt, Jennifer And...

How much merit do the economic factors behind the cry “No Taxation Without Representation” have when we consider the origins of the American Revolution? In this episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution series we begin a 3-episode exploration of different aspects of the early American economy and what roles these economic aspects played in causing the American Revolution. Serena Zabin, a Pro...

Between 1775 and 1783, an estimated 230,000 men served in the Continental Army with another approximately 145,000 men serving in state militia units. Who were the men who served in these military ranks? What motivated them to take up arms and join the army? And what was their military experience like? In this episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution series, we explore the development of the...

Between 1775 and 1783, an estimated 230,000 men served in the Continental Army with another approximately 145,000 men serving in state militia units. But who were the men who served in these military ranks? What motivated them to take up arms and join the army? And what was their military experience like? In this episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution series we begin a 2-episode explorati...

How did Americans find out about the Revolution? What effect did printed materials like newspapers, pamphlets, and books have on shaping the debate about independence? And just how big of a role did Thomas Paine’s Common Sense play in causing Americans to declare their independence from Great Britain? In this episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution! series, we explore these question with f...

How much can the work of one historian impact how we view and study the American Revolution? We investigate the answer to this question by exploring the life and work of Pauline Maier, a historian who spent her life researching and investigating the American Revolution. Over the course of her lifetime, Maier wrote four important books about the American Revolution: From Resistance to Revolution, T...

Declaring independence from Great Britain required the formation of new governments. But why did Americans want and need new governments? And how did their interactions and experiences with their old, colonial governments inform their decisions to create new governments? Barbara Clark Smith, a curator in the division of political history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and...

How did the American revolutionaries organize and coordinate local, provincial, and intercolonial action? How did the revolutionaries form governments? In this episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution series we explore governance and governments of the American Revolution with three scholars: Mark Boonshoft, Benjamin Irvin, and Jane Calvert. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/153...

What caused the American Revolution? Was it the issue of ‘No Taxation without Representation?’ Was it conflict and change in the social order of colonial and British society? Or, was the Revolution about differences in ideas about governance and the roles government should play in society? In this episode of the Doing History: To the Revolution series, we explore one set of ideas about the origins...

What do we mean by the American Revolution? How do we define it? Was it a war? Was it a movement? Was it a series of movements? The Doing History: To the Revolution! Series seeks to explore not just the history of the American Revolution, but the histories of the American Revolution. In this episode, we undertake the difficult task of trying to define the American Revolution by going behind-the-sc...

Abigail Adams lived through and participated in the American Revolution. As the wife of John Adams, she used her position to famously remind Adams and his colleagues to "remember the ladies" when they created laws for the new, independent United States. In this episode, Woody Holton, a Professor of History at the University of South Carolina and author of Abigail Adams: A Life, helps us explore a...

Over the course of his long life, Benjamin Franklin traveled to and lived in London on two different occasions. The first time he went as a teenager. The second, as a man and colonial agent. All told he spent nearly 18 years living in the heart of the British Empire. How did Franklin’s experiences in London shape his opportunities and view of the world? George Goodwin, author of Benjamin Franklin...

How did everyday men and women experience life in the colonial America? How did the American Revolution transform their work and personal lives? Marla Miller, a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and the author of Betsy Ross and the Making of America, guides us through the life of Betsy Ross with an aim to help us answer these questions. Show Notes: https://www.benfran...

What about the British Redcoats? When we discuss the military history of the American War for Independence, we tend to focus on specific battles or details about the men who served in George Washington’s Continental Army. Rarely do we take the opportunity to ask questions about the approximately 50,000 men who served in the British Army that opposed them. Don N. Hagist, independent scholar and aut...

What drove George Washington to become a Patriot during the American Revolution? How did he overcome the ill-trained and inexperienced troops, inadequate pay, and supply problems that plagued the Continental Army to win the War for American Independence? Robert Middlekauff, professor emeritus of colonial and early United States history at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals the answers...

Mercy Otis Warren wasn’t your typical early American woman. She was a woman with strong political viewpoints, which she wrote about and published for the world to see and consider. Did anyone take her views seriously? Did her writings sway public opinion in the direction of her political views? In this episode, Rosemarie Zagarri, a professor of history at George Mason University and author of A Wo...

How do you get people living in thirteen different colonies to come together and fight for independence? What ideas and experiences would even unite them behind the fight? Patriot leaders asked themselves these very questions, especially as the American Revolution turned from a series of political protests against imperial policies to a bloody war for independence. What’s more, Patriot leaders als...

How did the framers draft the Constitution of 1787? What powers does the Constitution provide the federal government? Why do we elect the President of the United States by an electoral system rather than by popular vote? These are some of the many questions you’ve asked since November 2016. And today we’re going to explore some answers. Michael Klarman, the Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law at Har...

Most histories of American abolitionism begin just before the Civil War, during the Antebellum period. But the movement to end chattel slavery in America began long before the United States was a nation. Manisha Sinha, a professor of history at the University of Connecticut and author of the award-winning book The Slaves Cause: A History of Abolition, takes us through the early American origins of...