Ben Franklin's World

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moved that the Second Continental Congress resolve “that these United Colonies are, and of right out to be, free and independent States…”

The Second Continental Congress adopted Lee’s motion and on June 11, 1776, it appointed a committee to draft a declaration of independence.

Today, Steve Pincus, the Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University and author of The Heart of the Declaration: The Founders’ Case for an Activist Government, leads us on an investigation of the Declaration of Independence and the context in which the founders drafted it.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/119

Episode Sponsor Links

• Cornell University Press
• Julie Fisher and David Silverman, Ninigret, Sachem of the Niantics and Narragansetts

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 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration
• Episode 062: Carol Berkin, The Bill of Rights
• Episode 113: Brian Murphy, Building the Empire State (Political Economy)
• Episode 117: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Life and Ideas of Thomas Jefferson

*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did the smallest colony and smallest state in the union became the largest American participant in the slave trade?

Christy Clark-Pujara, an Assistant Professor in the Department of African-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island, joins us to explore the history of Rhode Island and New England’s involvement with slavery.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/118

Sponsor Links

• Cornell University Press
• Episode 040: Kathleen Bartoloni-Tuazon, For Fear of an Elective King

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 008: Greg O'Malley, Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America
• Episode 036: Abby Swingen, Competing Visions of Empire
• Episode 064: Brett Rushforth, Native American Slavery in New France
• Episode 083: Jared Hardesty, Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial Boston
• Bonus: Lonnie Bunch, History & Historians in the Public (National Museum of African American History and Culture)

*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Android App

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 027: Lisa Wilson, A History of Stepfamilies in Early America
• Episode 026: Robert Middlekauff, George Washington's Revolution
• Episode 033: Douglas Bradburn, George Washington and His Library
• Episode 061: Edward Larson, George Washington in Retirement
• Episode 096: Nicholas Guyatt, The Origins of Racial Segregation in the United States
• Episode 107: Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison's Hand

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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
• Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter
• Ben Franklin's World iOS App
• Ben Franklin's World Android App

Complementary Episodes

• Episode 060: David Preston, Braddock’s Defeat

• Episode 086: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London

• Episode 091: Gregory Dowd, Rumors, Legends, and Hoaxes in Early America

• Episode 108: Ann Little, The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelwright

*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 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 Franklin's World.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Franklin’s World and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

Partner Links

• Omohundro Institute
• OI Reader
• Doing History series

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/museums

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 011: Jessica Baumert, The Woodlands Historic Site of Philadelphia

• Episode 028: Janice Fontanella, The Erie Canal (Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site)

• Episode 033: Douglas Bradburn, George Washington & His Library

• Episode 035: Michael Lord, Historic Hudson Valley & Washington Irving

• Episode 041: Bruno Paul Stenson, Canada & the American Revolution (Château Ramesay)

• Episode 079: Jim Horn, What is a Historical Source? (Historic Jamestown)

• Episode 103: Sara Bon-Harper, James Monroe and His Highland Estate

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Reader
• Doing History series
• Karin's article "Bible, King, and Common Law" is available on the OI Reader

Helpful Show Links

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 070: Jennifer Morgan, How Historians Research

• Episode 084, Zara Anishanslin, How Historians Read Historical Sources

• Episode 110: Joshua Taylor, How Genealogists Research

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Show Links

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 028: Janice Fontanella, The Erie Canal

• Episode 088: Michael McDonnell, The History of History Writing (What is Historiography)

• Episode 111: Jonathan Eacott, India in the Making of Britain and America

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 guides

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 088: Michael McDonnell, The History of History Writing

• Episode 098: Gautham Rao, Brith of the American Tax Man

• Episode 105: Joshua Piker, How Historians Publish History

• Episode 106: Jane Kamensky, The World of John Singleton Copley

• Episode 111: Jonathan Eacott, India in the Making of Britain and America, 1700-1830

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 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 012: Dane Morrison, True Yankees

• Episode 015: Joyce Chaplin, Voyage Round the Earth

• Episode 049: Malcolm Gaskill, Between Two Worlds

• Episode 079: James Horn, What is a Historical Source? (Jamestown)

• Episode 095: Rose Doherty, A Tale of Two Bostons

*Books purchased through this link will help support the production of Ben Franklin's World.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices