Ben Franklin's World

On March 17, 1776, the British evacuated Boston, driven out by cannon hauled 300 miles through winter wilderness from a crumbling fort in upstate New York.

Join Matthew Keagle, Curator at Fort Ticonderoga, as we trace the fort's dramatic history from its French origins in the Seven Years' War, its chaotic capture by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold in May 1775, and Henry Knox's legendary expedition to move nearly 60 tons of artillery to George Washington's army. Discover the logistics, rivalries, and resourcefulness behind one of the Revolution's most remarkable feats.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/436
 
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00  Introduction
00:06:26 British Withdrawl from Boston
00:07:55 Fort Ticonderoga's Origins
00:25:05 British Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, 1756
00:28:04 British Improvements to Fort Ticonderoga
00:32:44 American Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, 1775
00:49:06 Henry Knox's Expedition
01:04:46 Cannon on Dorchester Heights
01:10:36 British Evacuation of Boston
01:13:43 Legacy of Knox's Noble Train of Artillery
01:17:36 Visiting Fort Ticonderoga
01:24:65 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 130: Paul Revere's Ride Through History
🎧 Episode 194: Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters, NHS
🎧 Episode 238: Benedict Arnold
🎧 Episode 296: The Boston Massacre: A Family History
🎧 Episode 409: The Battles of Lexington & Concord
🎧 Episode 413: Dr. Joseph Warren & the Battle of Bunker Hill
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In January 1776, Thomas Paine told the American colonies to break free from their king. But what was supposed to come next? 250 years later, that question still doesn't have a good answer.
To mark the anniversary of *Common Sense*, we traveled to Lewes, England, the town where Paine lived before he ever set foot in America, and recorded our first-ever LIVE episode inside Bull House, the building where Paine honed his ideas about citizens and their government.

Joseph Adelman chairs a panel with scholars Leanne O'Boyle, Nicole Mahoney, and Jeanne Sheehan Zaino as they dig into the legacy of *Common Sense*: democracy's "day two problem," the women Paine wrote out of his own story, why "the law is king" keeps showing up on protest signs, and what a 15th-century building in a small English town can teach us about where democratic ideas actually take root.
Recorded live in partnership with the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies at Iona University.
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/435
 
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:06 What Happened After the Revolution?
00:02:59 Live from the Bull House in Lewes, England
00:04:49 A Template for Common Sense and Civic Life
00:07:12 Thomas Paine's Legacy in Lewes, England
00:10:24 Thomas Paine's Legacy in New Rochelle, New York
00:16:04 Democracy's "Day Two Problem"
00:22:50 Local Civic Engagement in Lewes
00:27:46 Women and Common Sense
00:34:54 Paine's Family Life in Lewes
00:35:31 Reconstituting Government
00:42:44 Violence and Change
00:49:31 "No Kings" Protest and 'The Law is King'
00:56:29 Thomas Paine's Legacy
00:58:10 Audience Q&A
01:18:20 Episode Wrap-Up
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 144: The Common Cause of the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 156: The Power of the Press in the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 243: Revolutionary Print Networks
🎧 Episode 287: Elections in Early America: Presidential Elections & the Electoral College
🎧 Episode 431: Thomas Paine's Common Sense at 250
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What would you fight for if you were free but still not equal? In 1777, brothers William and Benjamin Frank answered that question by enlisting in the Second Rhode Island Regiment of the Continental Army. Freeborn men of color, they gambled that military service would earn them what freedom alone had not: equality, land, and a better future.

Historian Shirley Green, author of Revolutionary Blacks: Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence, joins us to tell their story. Drawing on genealogical research rooted in her own family history, Green reveals what daily life looked like for free Black families in Revolutionary Rhode Island, how the Frank Brothers fought at the Battles of Red Bank, Monmouth, and Rhode Island, and how the Revolution ultimately divided them—one brother serving through Yorktown, the other crossing to the British side and resettling in Nova Scotia as a Black Loyalist.

Their story is a window into the full range of Black experiences during the Revolution, and a reminder that for men like William and Benjamin Frank, choosing a side was never simple. It was a calculated gamble, shaped by promises made—and promises broken.

Shirley’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/434
 
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00  Introduction
00:01:19 The Frank Brothers' Revolutionary Choices
00:05:14 Discovering the Frank Brothers Through Family Oral History
00:09:01 Blending Genalogy and Microhistory
00:15:22 Life for Free Black Families in Early Rhode Island
00:20:50 Why Free Black Men Joined the Continental Army
00:24:00 Motivations: Land, Pay, and Equality
00:29:15 The Gamble of Military Service Amid Policy Shifts
00:41:13 Daily Life and Combat in the Integrated Regiments
00:44:46 Ben Frank's Desertion
00:52:51 The Book of Negroes
01:00:02 Postwar Outcomes: Did Promises of Land, Pay, and Equality Hold?
01:02:47 Lessons from Black Soldiers' Experiences
01:07:26 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 118: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
🎧 Episode 157: African American Soldiers in the Continental Army
🎧 Episode 301: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1
🎧 Episode 333: Disruptions in Yorktown
🎧 Episode 348: Valley Forge
🎧 Episode 413: Dr. Joseph Warren & the Battle of Bunker Hill
🎧 Episode 424: Dunmore's Proclamation & the American Revolution in Virginia
🎧 Episode 427: How States Are Planning the 250th of the American Revolution
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More than 6,000 Black men—free and enslaved—served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Yet their stories remain some of the least told of the war.
In this revisited episode, we rejoin Judith Van Buskirk, Professor Emerita of History at SUNY Cortland and author of Standing in Their Own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution, to explore what motivated African American men to fight for the Revolutionary cause, how the Continental Army's policies toward Black enlistment shifted over the course of the war, and what life and service looked like in units like the First Rhode Island Regiment.
Judy's Book 
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 016: The Internal Enemy
🎧 Episode 118: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
🎧 Episode 123: Revolutionary Allegiances
🎧 Episode 433: Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence

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What if the American Revolution was never just an American story?

Historian Ronald Angelo Johnson helps us uncover the deep connections between the American and Haitian Revolutions to reveal how both revolutions emerged from the same Atlantic imperial struggle for empire, racialized power, and war.

Using details from his book Entangled Alliances, Ron will guide us from the Treaty of Paris in 1763 to the Siege of Savannah in 1779, where hundreds of Black soldiers from French Saint Domingue landed on Georgia’s shores—not as enslaved laborers, but as uniformed volunteers ready to fight for American Independence.

Ron's Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/433
 
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00  Introduction
00:01:08  Episode Overview
00:04:50 The Treaty of Paris 1763 and its Impact
00:09:09 Consequences of the Seven Years' War for Saint Domingue
00:18:39 Saint Domingue Society Post-Seven Years' War
00:24:32 French Imperial Reaction vs. Local Resentment
00:28:36 Circulation of News Between British North America & Saint Domingue
00:39:22 France's Strategy to Assist American Revolutionaries
00:50:42 Reception of the Chasseurs Volontaires Regiment in Georgia
00:54:42 Re-evaluating the American Revolution
00:57:32 Time Warp
01:05:38 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 052: Diplomacy in Black and White
🎧 Episode 151: Defining the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 228: The Boston Massacre (King Street Riot)
🎧 Episode 325: The Everyday People of the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 361: The Fourth of July in 2026
🎧 Episode 421: Loyalism & Revolution in Georgia
🎧 Episode 432: How France & Spain Helped Win the American Revolution
SUPPORT OUR WORK
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What does it take to become a revolutionary in more than one revolution? In this revisited conversation with Mike Duncan, we explore the life of the Marquis de Lafayette—an ambitious young Frenchman who crossed the Atlantic to fight for the American cause and later carried those lessons into the political storms of France. From early idealism to a complicated role in two upheavals, Lafayette’s story reveals how ideas, alliances, and personal relationships shaped the Age of Revolutions.

You’ll hear how Lafayette became close to George Washington, what he learned in America, and why his legacy makes the most sense when you follow him across borders.

Mike’s Instagram | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/313
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Bonus: The Marquis de Lafayette & the Hermione
🎧 Episode 071: Saratoga & Hubbardton, 1777
🎧 Episode 203: Alexander Hamilton
🎧 Episode 363: Ste. Genévieve National Historical Park
🎧 Episode 365: 300 Years of French Settlment at Île Sait-Jean
🎧 Episode 432: How France & Spain Helped Win the American Revolution
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The American Revolution wasn’t just a colonial rebellion; it was a global conflict shaped by European rivalries and high-stakes diplomacy. Without the help of foreign allies like France and Spain, the United States might never have won its independence.

Historian John Ferling joins us to explore the international dimensions of the Revolutionary War. Drawing from his new book Shots Heard Round the World, Ferling reveals how secret aid, political gambles, and naval power from Europe (especially France) influenced the outcome of the war, and nearly derailed it.

John’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/432
 
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:01:06  Introduction
00:01:52 Why European Powers Intervened
00:08:02 International Interest in the American Revolution
00:14:20 French Reaction to the Outbreak of War
00:19:28 Initiation of Foreign Aid
00:23:46 British Expectations of a Quick Victory
00:25:35 Saratoga as a Turning Point
00:31:46 French Naval and Military Support
00:37:36 Spain's Ambitions and Entry into the War
00:42:55 Britain's War Fatigue and Missed Opportunities
00:51:31 Outcomes for France and Spain
00:54:53 Time Warp
00:59:20 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 046: The American Revolution and the War that Won It
🎧 Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773
🎧 Episode 122: The Men Who Lost America
🎧 Episode 208: Turning Points of the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 313: The Marquis de Lafayette
🎧 Episode 421: Loyalism & Revolution in Georgia
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Before Common Sense could ignite a revolution, colonists had to be convinced they shared a cause worth fighting for. So how did Revolutionary leaders turn thirteen very different colonies into “Americans”—and what stories did they tell to make that unity feel real?

In this Ben Franklin’s World Revisited episode, historian Robert Parkinson returns to explore how newspapers and wartime messaging helped forge the Revolution’s “common cause”—and how that campaign leaned on fear, race, and exclusion to build a new national identity.

Rob’s Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/144
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 016: The Internal Enemy
🎧 Episode 122: The Men Who Lost America
🎧 Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft
🎧 Episode 243: Revolutionary Print Networks
🎧 Episode 375: Misinformation Nation: Fake News in Early America
🎧 Episode 431: Common Sense at 250: The Pamphlet That Sparked A Revolution
SUPPORT OUR WORK
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🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)
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Thomas Paine’s Common Sense turned a colonial rebellion into a full-blown revolution. But how did one pamphlet move so many minds in 1776—and why does it still matter 250 years later?

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of Common Sense, historian and Director of the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies at Iona University, Nora Slonimsky, joins us to explore Paine’s life, the pamphlet’s explosive impact, and what this revolutionary text still teaches us about democracy, communication, and civic life.

ITPS Website 
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403
 
EPISODE OUTLINE
00:00:00  Introduction
00:01:06 Thomas Pain's Early Life and Influences
00:05:53 The Institute for Thomas Paine Studies
00:07:51 Thomas Paine as an English Excise Man
00:13:34 Paine's Ideas for Reform of the British Government
00:19:27 Reception of Paine's First Pamphlet
00:21:48 Paine's Intellectual Life in England
00:27:30 Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin
00:31:44 Paine's Migration to Philadelphia
00:35:55 Paine's View of the American Revolution
00:39:15 The Story of Common Sense
00:50:34 Measuring the Reach of Common Sense
00:59:34 The Legacy of Common Sense and Thomas Paine
01:02:54 Time Warp
01:05:02 Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of Common Sense
01:08:17 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 127: American Enlightenments
🎧 Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft
🎧 Episode 144: The Common Cause
🎧 Episode 156: The Power of the Press in the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 243: Revolutionary Print Networks
🎧 Episode 394: The Pursuit of Happiness
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🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)
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Common Sense didn’t just make an argument for independence—it moved through a world of newspapers, pamphlets, and personal networks that carried revolutionary ideas from one doorstep to the next. So how did political news travel in 1776, and what made print such a powerful engine of persuasion?

As we approach the 250th anniversary of Common Sense, Ben Franklin’s World Revisited returns to Episode 156 to explore how early Americans shared, debated, and embraced revolutionary ideas. You’ll discover how print and networks spread the Revolution, what made Common Sense a publishing phenomenon, and how media shaped political debate and public opinion.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/156
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 091: Rumors, Legends, and Hoaxes in Early America
🎧 Episode 153: Committees and Congresses: Governments of the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 144: The Common Cause
🎧 Episode 243: Revolutionary Print Networks
🎧 Episode 375: Misinformation Nation: Fake News in Early America
🎧 Episode 428: America's Forgotten Quest to Link Two Oceans
SUPPORT OUR WORK
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WHEN YOU'RE READY
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🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)
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