Ben Franklin's World: A Podcast About Early American History

Thomas Jefferson wrote about liberty and freedom and yet owned over six hundred slaves during his lifetime. He’s a founder who many of us have a hard time understanding. This why we need an expert to lead us through his life, so we can better understand who Jefferson was and how he came to his seemingly paradoxical ideas about slavery and freedom. Annette Gordon-Reed, a professor of history and legal history at Harvard University and the winner of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for her work on Thomas Jefferson and the Hemings Family, leads us on an exploration through the life and ideas of Thomas Jefferson.
 Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/117   Sponsor Links Cornell University Press Margaret Newell, Brethren by Nature   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Andr

When we think of the French and Indian, or Seven Years’ War, we often think of battles: The Monongahela, Ticonderoga, Québec. Yet, wars aren’t just about battles. They’re about people and governments too. In this episode, we explore a very different aspect of the French and Indian or Seven Years’ War. We explore the war through the lens of disease and medicine and how disease prompted the British government to take steps to keep its soldiers healthy. Our guide for this investigation is Erica Charters, an Associate Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Oxford and author of Disease, War, and the Imperial State: The Welfare of British Armed Forces during the Seven Years’ War. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/048   Sponsor Links Cornell University Press Episode 109: John Dixon, The Enlightenment of Cadwallader Colden   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community

Like many states in the south and west, Texas has an interesting early American past that begins with Native American settlement followed by Spanish colonization. It's also a state that was an independent nation before being admitted to the United States. Today we explore Texas’ intriguing early American history with Andrew Torget, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Texas and author of Seeds of Empire: Cotton, Slavery, and the Transformation of the Texas Borderlands, 1800-1850. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/115   Sponsor Links Cornell University Press Episode 046: Ken Miller, Dangerous Guests Episode 047: Emily Conroy-Krutz, Christian Imperialism   Complementary Episodes Episode 067: John Ryan Fischer, Environmental History of Early California & Hawaii Episode 075: Rinker Buck, The Oregon Trail Episode 090: Caitlin Fitz, Age of Revolutions     Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for

Throughout the “Doing History: How Historians Work” series we’ve explored how historians find and research historical topics, how they identify and read historical sources for information, and how they publish their findings so others can know what they know about the past. But not all historians work to publish their findings about history in books and articles. Some historians work to convey knowledge about history to the public in public spaces and in public ways. Therefore, we conclude the “Doing History: How Historians Work” series with a look at how historians do history for the public with guest historian Lonnie Bunch, the Founding Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.   About the Series “Doing History” episodes will introduce you to historians who will tell you what they know about the past and reveal how they came to their knowledge. Each episode will air on the last Tuesday of each month in 2016. This series is part of a partnership between Ben

History has a history and genealogy has a history. And the histories of both affect how and why we study the past and how we understand and view it. Today, we explore why it’s important for us to understand that the practices and processes of history and genealogy have histories by exploring what the history of genealogy reveals about the early American past. Our guide for this exploration is Karin Wulf, a Professor of History at the College of William & Mary and the Director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.   About the Series “Doing History” episodes will introduce you to historians who will tell you what they know about the past and reveal how they came to their knowledge. Each episode will air on the last Tuesday of each month in 2016. This series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.   Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/114   Partner Links Omohundro Institute OI Reade

After seven, long years of occupation, Americans found New York City in shambles after the British evacuation on November 25, 1783. Ten to twenty-five percent of the city had burned in 1776. The British used just about every building that remained to billet officers, soldiers, refugees, and their horses. Plus more refugees and animals crammed into vacant lots, streets, and alleyways. New York City stood in need of a lot of repair. Which raises the question: How did New Yorkers rebuild New York City? Where did they get the money to rebuild, improve, and encourage the economic development that would transform the city into the thriving metropolis and economic hub that it would be come? Brian Murphy, an Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University-Newark, takes us through part of this amazing story with details from his book Building the Empire State: Political Economy in the Early Republic. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/113   Episode Sponsor Cornell University Press     Helpful

On December 16, 1773, the colonists of Boston threw 342 chests of English East India Company tea into Boston Harbor, an act we remember as the “Boston Tea Party.” Have you ever wondered what drove the Bostonians to destroy the tea? Or whether they considered any other less destructive options for their protest? Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlon Alger Professor of American History at Cornell University, takes us through the Tea Crisis of 1773.   About the Series Episodes in the “Doing History: To the Revolution” series explore the American Revolution and how what we know about it and how our view of it has changed over time. Episodes will air in 2017. The “Doing History” series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. Be sure to check out season 1, “Doing History: How Historians Work.”   Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/048   Helpful Show Links OI Reader Tablet app for extra "Doing History" articles and guid

Neither colonial North America nor the United States developed apart from the rest of the world. Since their founding, both the colonies and the United States have participated in the politics, economics, and cultures of the Atlantic World. And every so often, the politics, economics, and cultures of lands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans intersected with and influenced those of the Atlantic World. That’s why today, we’re going to explore the origins of the English trade with India and how that trade connected and intersected with the English North American colonies. Our guide for this investigation is Jonathan Eacott, an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside and author of Selling Empire: India in the Making of Britain and America, 1700-1830. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/111   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign   Episode Sponsor Cornell University Press   Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Fran

History tells us who we are and how we came to be who we are. Like history, genealogy studies people. It’s a field of study that can tell us who we are in a more exact sense by showing us how our ancestral lines connect from one generation to the next. In this episode of the “Doing History: How Historians Work” seres, we investigate the world of genealogical research with Joshua Taylor, President of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society and a professional genealogist.   Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/110 Genealogy Resources PDF   About the Series “Doing History” episodes will introduce you to historians who will tell you what they know about the past and reveal how they came to their knowledge. Each episode will air on the last Tuesday of each month in 2016. This series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign  

We’ve heard that the American Revolution took place during a period called “the Enlightenment.” But what was the Enlightenment? Was it an intellectual movement? A social movement? A scientific movement? Today, John Dixon, an Assistant Professor of History at CUNY-College of Staten Island, leads us on an exploration of the Enlightenment by taking us through the life of Cadwallader Colden, the subject of his book The Enlightenment of Cadwallader Colden: Empire, Science, and Intellectual Culture in British New York. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/109   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign   Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Episode Sponsor Cornell University Press   Complementary Episodes Episode 021: Eugene Tesdahl, Smuggling in Colonial America & Living History   Episode 051: Catherine Ca

Colonial America comprised many different cultural and political worlds. Most colonial Americans inhabited just one world, but today, we’re going to explore the life of a woman who lived in THREE colonial American worlds: Frontier New England, Northeastern Wabanaki, and Catholic New France. Ann Little, an Associate Professor of History at Colorado State University and the author of The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelwright, leads us through the remarkable life of Esther Wheelwright, a woman who experienced colonial America as a Puritan New English girl, Wabanaki daughter, and Ursuline nun in Catholic New France. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/108   Episode Sponsor Cornell University Press   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign   Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Complementary Episodes Episode

When politicians, lawyers, and historians discuss the Constitutional Convention of 1787, they often rely on two sources: The promotional tracts collectively known as the Federalist Papers and James Madison’s Notes of the Constitutional Convention. But what do we really know about Madison’s Notes? Did Madison draft them to serve as a definitive account of the Constitutional Convention? Today, we explore James Madison’s Notes on the Constitutional Convention with award-winning legal historian Mary Sarah Bilder, the Founders Professor of Law at Boston College and author of Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/107   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign   Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Complementary Episodes Episode 055: Robb Haberman, John Jay: F

What can the life of an artist reveal about the American Revolution and how most American men and women experienced it? Today, we explore the life and times of John Singleton Copley with Jane Kamensky, a Professor of History at Harvard University and the author of A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/106   Complementary Books Karin Wulf, Not All Wives: Women of Colonial Philadelphia Alan Taylor, The Divided Ground Alan Taylor, American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804   Complementary Episodes J.L. Bell, The Boston Stamp Act Riots of 1765 016 Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 046 John Ferling, Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War that Won It 075 Peter Drummey, How Archives Work (Paul Revere) 083 Jared Hardesty, Slavery in Colonial Boston 085 Bonnie Huskins, American Loyalists in Canada 095 Rose Doherty, Tale of Two Bostons     Helpful Show Links Help Support Be

What do historians do with their research once they finish writing about it? How do historians publish the books and articles we love to read? This episode of our “Doing History: How Historians Work” series, takes us behind-the-scenes of how historians publish their writing about history. Our guide through the world of history publications is Joshua Piker, a Professor of History at the College of William and Mary, and the Editor of the William and Mary Quarterly, the leading journal of early American history and culture. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/105   About the Series “Doing History” episodes will introduce you to historians who will tell you what they know about the past and reveal how they came to their knowledge. Each episode will air on the last Tuesday of each month in 2016. This series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.   Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/048     Helpful Show

When we think of Native Americans, many of us think of inland dwellers. People adept at navigating forests and rivers and the skilled hunters and horsemen who lived and hunted on the American Plains. But did you know that Native Americans were seafaring mariners too? Today, Andrew Lipman, an Assistant Professor of History at Barnard College, Columbia University and author of The Saltwater Frontier: Indians and the Contest for the American Coast, leads us on an exploration of the northeastern coastline and of the Native American and European peoples who lived there during the seventeenth century. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/104   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign   Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Complementary Episodes Episode 082: Alejandra Dubcovsky
, Information & Communication in the

On April 30, 1789, George Washington became the first President of the United States. Between 1789 and 1825, five men would serve as president. Four of them hailed from Virginia. Many of us know details about the lives and presidencies of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. But what do we know about the life and presidency of the fourth Virginia president, James Monroe? Today, we explore the public and private life of James Monroe with Sara Bon-Harper, Executive Director of James Monroe’s Highland, the 535-acre farm and home of James Monroe. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/103   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Treaty of Paris, 1783, Great Britain offered the new United States generous terms that included lands in between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Why did the biggest empire with the greatest army and navy concede so much to a new nation? Because George Rogers Clark and his men seized the Illinois Country and held it during the American War for Independence. Today, William Nester, a Professor of Government and Politics at St. John’s University and author of George Rogers Clark: ‘I Glory in War,’ leads us on an exploration of the life and deeds of George Rogers Clark. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/102   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign   Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Complementary Episodes Episode 037: Kathleen DuVal, Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the

How do historians write about the people, places, and events they’ve studied in historical sources? We continue our “Doing History: How Historians Work” series by investigating how historians write about history. Our guide for this investigation is John Demos, the Samuel Knight Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and an award-winning historian. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/101   About the Series “Doing History” episodes will introduce you to historians who will tell you what they know about the past and reveal how they came to their knowledge. Each episode will air on the last Tuesday of each month in 2016. This series is part of a partnership between Ben Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.   Helpful Show Links How Historians Write PDF   Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App

Wow! Ben Franklin’s World has made it to episode 100. How do we celebrate and mark this special occasion? By your request, host Liz Covart answers your questions about history, podcasting, and time travel. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/100   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign   Ask the Historian Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pirates are alive and well in our popular culture. Thanks to movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and television shows like Black Sails, we see pirates as peg-legged, eye-patch wearing, rum-drinking men. But are these representations accurate? What do we really know about pirates? In this episode, Mark Hanna, an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego, and author of the award-winning book Pirate Nests and the Rise of the British Empire, 1570-1740, helps us fill in the gaps in our knowledge to better understand who pirates were and why they lived the pirate’s life. Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/099   Helpful Show Links Help Support Ben Franklin's World Crowdfunding Campaign   Ask the Historian Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App *Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Fr