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

What do we know about how and why England came to establish its first permanent colony at Jamestown? And what do we know about the English colony that came before it, the Colony of Roanoke? Alan Gallay, Lyndon B. Johnson chair of United States History at Texas Christian University and author of Walter Ralegh: Architect of Empire, leads us on exploration of the life and work of Sir Walter Ralegh, the man who crafted the blueprint for England’s colonization plans in the Americas. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/274 Production of this episode was made possible by a grant from the Roller-Bottimore Foundation of Richmond, Virginia. Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Virtual Public Event: Equality: A Historical Perspective Complementary Episodes Episode 132: Coll Thrush, Indigenous London Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery Episode 184: David Silverman, Thundersticks Episode 220: Margaret Ellen Newell, New England, Indians, Colonists, and the O

How did Americans learn to establish philanthropic institutions? Victoria Johnson, an Associate Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York City and author of American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, leads us on an investigation of the life of Dr. David Hosack and the many organizations he founded, including the Elgin Botanical Garden. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/273 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Ben Franklin's World Virtual Reading Group Complementary Episodes Episode 203: Joanne Freeman, Alexander Hamilton Episode 209: Considering Biography Episode 210: Considering John Marshall, Part 1 Episode 211: Considering John Marshall, Part 2 Episode 212: Researching Biography Episode 237: Nora Doyle, Motherhood in Early America Episode 263: Sari Altschuler, The Medical Imagination   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben F

What do you know about the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution? Caitlin Galante-DeAngelis Hopkins, a Lecturer in the History Department at Harvard University and a former research associate for the Harvard and Slavery Project, joins us to explore the origins of the Eleventh Amendment and why the United States added it to its Constitution. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/272 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Ben Franklin’s World Virtual Reading Group The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention Episode 143: Michael Klarman, The Making of the United States Constitution Episode 259: American Legal History & the Bill of Rights Episode 260: Creating the First Ten Amendments Episode 261: Creating the Fourth Amendment Episode 262: Interpreting the Fourth Amendment   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World

On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere rode to Lexington, Massachusetts to spread the alarm that the Regulars were marching. Revere made several important rides between 1774 and 1775, including one in September 1774 that brought the Suffolk Resolves to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. So why is it that we remember Paul Revere’s ride to Lexington and not any of his other rides? Why is it that we remember Paul Revere on the night of April 18, 1775 and nothing about his life either before or after that famous ride? Why is it that Paul Revere seems to ride quickly into history and then just as quickly out of it? In this episode we speak with four scholars to explore Paul Revere’s ride through history. This episode originally posted as Episode 130. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/271 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 075: Peter Drummey, How Archives Work (History of Paul Revere’s Accounts of his Ride) Episode 106:

How do you uncover the life of an enslaved person who left no paper trail? What can the everyday life of an enslaved person tell us about slavery, how it was practiced, and how some enslaved people made the transition from slavery to freedom? We explore the life of Charity Folks, an enslaved woman from Maryland who gained her freedom in the late-18th century. Our guide through Charity’s life is Jessica Millward, an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine and author of Finding Charity’s Folk. This episode originally posted as Episode 089. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/270 Complementary Episodes

What was everyday life like for average men and women in early America? Listeners ask this question more than any other question and today we continue to try to answer it. Michelle Marchetti Coughlin, author of One Colonial Woman's World: The Life and Writings of Mehetabel Chandler Coit, joins us to explore the life of an average woman who lived in early New England. This episode originally posted as Episode 032. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/269 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 022: Vivian Bruce Conger, Deborah Read Franklin & Sally Franklin Bache Episode 145: Rosemarie Zaggari, Mercy Otis Warren & the American Revolution Episode 150: Woody Holton, Abigail Adams, Revolutionary Speculator Episode 223: Susan Sleeper-Smith, A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes Region Episode 237: Nora Doyle, Motherhood in Early America Episode 244: Kimberly Alexander, Shoe Stories from Early America Li

What in the first 40 years of his life made Benjamin Franklin the genius he became? Benjamin Franklin serves as a great window on to the early American past because as a man of “variety” he pursued many interests: literature, poetry, science, business, philosophy, philanthropy, and politics. But one aspect of Franklin’s life has gone largely unstudied: his childhood and early life. Nick Bunker, author of Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity, joins us to explore Benjamin Franklin’s early life and how family, childhood, and youthful experiences shaped him as a scientist and diplomat. This episode originally posted as Episode 207. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/268 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Bombas, save 20 percent on your first order   Complementary Episodes Episode 086: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London Episode 112: Mary Beth North, The Tea Crisis of 1773 Episode 160: The Politics of Tea Episode 169: Thomas Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Frank

How did the people of early America experience and feel about winter? Thomas Wickman, an Associate Professor of History and American Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and author of Snowshoe Country: An Environmental and Cultural Winter in the Early American Northeast, joins us to investigate how Native Americans and early Americans experienced and felt about winter during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/267 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 067: John Ryan Fischer, An Environmental History of Early California & Hawaii Episode 108: Ann Little, The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelwright Episode 168: Andrea Smalley, Wild By Nature  Episode 189: Sam White, The Little Ice Age Episode 191: Lisa Brooks, A New History of King Philip’s War   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Lin

How did early Americans educate their children? How and when did Americans create a formal system of public education? You sent me these questions for Episode 200: Everyday Life in Early America. You also said you wanted to know more about how early American boys and girls learned the trades they would practice later in life. Johann Neem, a Professor of History at Western Washington University and author of Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America, joins us to further explore how early Americans educated their children and how early American children learned the trades they would practice later in life. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/266 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 050: Marla Miller, Betsy Ross Episode 083: Jared Hardesty, Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial Boston Episode 169: Thomas Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin Episode 200: Everyday Life in Early America Episode 207: Nick Bunk

On July 1, 1790, Congress passed “An Act for Establishing the temporary and permanent Seat of the Government of the United States.” This act formalized a plan to move the capital of the United States from New York City to Philadelphia, for a period of 10 years, and then from Philadelphia to Washington D.C., where the United States government would make its permanent home. What buildings did Congress have erected to house the government? Lindsay Chervinsky works for the White House Historical Association as the White House Historian and she joins us to explore the history of one of the earliest buildings in Washington D.C., the White House. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/265 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Bombas Save 20 percent on your order! Complementary Episodes Episode 137: Erica Dunbar, The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave, Ona Judge Episode 150: Woody Holton, Abigail Adams: Revolutionary Speculator  Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship & Rivalry of Adams & Jefferson Episod

The Treaty of Paris 1783 ended the American War for Independence, but it did not bring peace to North America. After 1783, warfare and violence continued between Americans and Native Americans. So how did the early United States attempt to create peace for itsnew nation?  Michael Oberg, a Distinguished Professor of History at the State University of New York-Geneseo and the author of Peacemakers: The Iroquois, the United States, and the Treaty of Canandaigua, joins us to investigate how the United States worked with the Haudenosaunee or Six Nations peoples to create peace through the Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/264 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 029: Colin Calloway, The Victory With No Name Episode 163: The American Revolution in North America Episode 184: David J. Silverman, Thundersticks Episode 179: George Van Cleve, After the Revolution  Episode 223: Susan Sleeper-Smith, A Native

Did you know that imagination once played a key role in the way Americans understood and practiced medicine? Sari Altschuler, an Assistant Professor of English at Northeastern University and author of The Medical Imagination: Literature and Health in the Early United States, joins us to investigate the ways early American doctors used imagination in their practice and learning of medicine. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/263 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 005: Jeanne Abrams, Revolutionary Medicine Episode 116: Erica Charters, Disease & the Seven Years War Episode 127: Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments Episode 133: Patrick Breen, The Nat Turner Revolt Episode 174: Thomas Apel, Yellow Fever in the Early Republic Episode 251: Cameron Strang, Frontiers of Science   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join

History is an important tool when it comes to understanding American law. History is what the justices of the United States Supreme Court use when they want to ascertain what the framers meant when they drafted the Constitution of 1787 and its first ten amendments in 1789. History is also the tool we use when we want to know how and why the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution and its amendments have changed over time.
 Sarah Seo, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Iowa, Fourth Amendment expert, and the author of Policing the Open Road: How Cars Transformed American Freedom, joins us to investigate how and why the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Fourth Amendment has changed over time and how that change has impacted the way the Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable search and seizures. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/262 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 098: Gautham Rao, Birth

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution doesn’t always make headlines, but it’s an amendment that undergirds foundational rights. It’s also an amendment that can show us a lot about the intertwined nature between history and American law.  
 In this 3rd episode of our 4th Doing History series, we explore the early American origins of the Fourth Amendment with Thomas Clancy, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Mississippi School of Law and an expert on the Fourth Amendment. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/261 Series Resources Lauren Duval, "Domestic Tranquility: Privacy and the Household in Revolutionary America" Joseph Adelman, "Articles of Amendment: Copying "The" Bill of Rights" Gautham Rao, Friends in All the Right Places: The Newest Legal History Doing History 4 Legal Lexicon; or A Useful List of Terms You Might Not Know"  "Doing History 4: Bibliography"    Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episo

How and why did Congress draft the First Ten Amendments to the Constitution? In the United States, we use the Constitution and Bill of Rights to understand and define ourselves culturally. Americans are a people with laws and rights that are protected by the Constitution because they are defined in the Constitution. And the place where the Constitution defines and outlines our rights is within its First Ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights. In this second episode of our 4th Doing History series, we’re investigating how and why Congress drafted the First Ten Amendments to the Constitution. Our guide for this investigation is Kenneth Bowling, a member of the First Federal Congress Project and a co-editor of A Documentary History of the First Federal Congress.
 Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/260 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Production of this episode was made possible by a grant from the Roller-Bottimore Foundation of Richmond, Virginia.   Series Resources Joseph Adelman, "Articl

Law is all around us. And the basis of American Law comes not only from our early American past, but from our founding documents. This episode begins our 4th Doing History series. Over the next four episodes, we’ll explore the early American origins of the Bill of Rights as well as the history of the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment will serve as our case study so we can see where our rights come from and how they developed from the early American past. In this episode we go inside the United States National Archives to investigate the Constitution and Bill of Rights. During our visit we’ll speak with Jessie Kratz, First Historian of the National Archives, and Mary Sarah Bilder, the Founders Professor of Law at Boston College, to better understand our founding documents and the laws they established. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/259   About the Series Law is all around us. The Doing History: Why the 4th? series uses the Bill of Rights and the Fourth Amendment as case studies to e

The Second Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776 with 12 colonies and one abstention. The delegation from New York abstained from the vote. And Pennsylvania voted in favor of independence because two of its delegates were persuaded not to attend the vote given their opposition. John Dickinson was one of the two delegates who absented himself from the vote. Later, he would refuse to sign the Declaration of Independence. But why?  
 Jane Calvert, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky and the Director/Editor of The John Dickinson Writings Project, joins us to explore the life, religion, and political views of John Dickinson. 
 Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/258   Listener Meet Up Atlanta, Georgia October 12, 4pm  Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 088: Michael McDonnell, The History of History Writing Episode 145: Rosemarie Zagarri, Mercy Otis Warren and the American Rev

What was it like to live as a woman of faith in early republic America? What was it like to live as a Catholic in the early United States? Catherine O’Donnell, an Associate Professor of History at Arizona State University and author of Elizabeth Seton: American Saint, helps us investigate answers to these questions by taking us through the life of the United States’ first saint: Elizabeth Ann Seton.
 Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/257   Atlanta Meet Up October 12, 4pm at Atkins Park Restaurant. RSVP Here Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Babbel.com Try learning a new language for Free!   Complementary Episodes Episode 108: Ann Little, The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelright Episode 116: Erica Charters, Disease & the Seven Years’ War Episode 174: Thomas Apel, Yellow Fever in the Early American Republic Episode 209: Considering Biography Episode 212: Researching Biography Episode 214: Christopher Grasso, Skepticism & American Faith Listen

How do empires come to be? How are empires made and who makes them? What role do maps play in making empires? Christian Koot is a Professor of History at Towson University and the author of A Biography of a Map in Motion: Augustine Herrman’s Chesapeake. Christian has researched and written two books about the seventeenth-century Anglo-Dutch World to better understand empires and how they are made. Today, he joins us to take us through his research and to share what one specific map, Augustine Herrman’s 1673 map Virginia and Maryland, reveals about empire and empire making. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/256 Augustine Herrman’s Map, Virginia and Maryland as it is planted and inhabited Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Babbel--Try learning a new language for Free! Production of this episode was made possible by a grant from the Roller-Bottimore Foundation of Richmond, Virginia.   Complementary Episodes Episode 138: Patrick Spero, Frontier Politics in Early America Episode 161: Sm

Who gets to be a citizen of the United States? How does the United States define who belongs to the nation? Early Americans asked and grappled with these questions during the earliest days of the early republic. Martha S. Jones is a Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University and a former public interest litigator. Using details from her book, Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America, Martha joins us to investigate how early Americans thought about citizenship and how they defined who could and couldn’t belong to the United States. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/255 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute The Ben Franklin's World Shop Complementary Episodes Episode 076: Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, Becoming American in the Age of Revolution   Episode 096: Nichoals Guyatt, The Origins of Racial Segregation in the United States Episode 142: Manisha Sinha, A History of Abolition Episode 143: Michael Klarman, The Making of the United States Constitution Epi