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When did people begin seeking anonymous advice for their most profound personal dilemmas? What can the answers to their early questions tell us about the emotional lives of people in the past? 

We’re traveling back in time to 1690s England to explore the world’s first personal advice column, The Athenian Mercury. This two-sided broadsheet publication invited readers to send in questions about anything–from science and religion to love and marriage– and its creators, a small group of Londoners who dubbed themselves the “Athenian Society,” answered these queries with a surprising blend of wit, morality, and insight.

Joining us for this investigation is Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emerita at Cornell University and award-winning historian who is a trailblazer in the field of early American women's history.

Mary Beth's Bio | Book

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/410
 
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
🎧 Episode 094: Founding Friendships
🎧 Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773
🎧 Episode 155: Pauline Maier's American Revolution
🎧 Episode 294: 1774, The Long Year of Revolution

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Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride is one of the most famous events in American history. On the night of April 18, 1775, Revere set out to warn the Massachusetts countryside that British regulars were marching to seize rebel supplies in Concord. Revere’s name has become legendary, immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

But how much do we really know about Paul Revere beyond that single night?

In this revisited episode, we’ll explore the history and memory of Paul Revere. Why has he endured as a national icon, while other revolutionary couriers and figures have faded from public consciousness? How does the story of Revere’s ride illustrate the power of historical memory? And what does Revere’s real life—beyond that one night—tell us about the American Revolution and the ways we remember it?

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/130

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April 19, 2025 marked the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord—the moment the American Revolution turned from protest to war.

What do we really know about that fateful day? How did the people of Concord prepare for what they faced in April 1775?

David Wood, the longtime curator of the Concord Museum and the author of Eyewitness to Revolution: The American Revolution in the Concord Museum, joins us to explore answers to these questions.

Concord Museum Website | Book |

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/409

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773

🎧 Episode 129: The Road to Concord

🎧 Episode 130: Paul Revere's Ride Through History

🎧 Episode 158: The Revolutionaries' Army

🎧 Episode 229: The Townshend Moment

🎧 Episode 401: Tea, Boycotts, and Revolution

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April 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

One of the lesser-known catalysts for these battles was the hunt for artillery. The British military, under General Thomas Gage, sought to seize weapons stockpiled by colonial militias, while Massachusetts Patriots scrambled to secure and hide weapons. This tug-of-war over firepower played a crucial role in pushing Massachusetts from political resistance to armed conflict.

To better understand how Massachusetts got to this point, we’re revisiting Episode 129: The Road to Concord, with historian J.L. Bell. John is the author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War and the prolific blogger behind Boston 1775.net.

John’s Website | Book 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/129

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 039: The Royalist Revolution

🎧 Episode 046: The American Revolution & The War That Won It

🎧 Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773

🎧 Episode 130: Paul Revere's Ride Through History

🎧 Bonus: Stamp Act of 1765

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The American Revolution was more than just a series of events that unfolded between 1763 and 1783, the American Revolution is our national origin story–one we’ve passed down, shaped, and reshaped for the last 250 years. 

But what do we really mean when we talk about “the Revolution?” Whose Revolution are we remembering? And how has the meaning of 1776 shifted from generation to generation?

Michael Hattem, a scholar of the American Revolution and historical memory, joins us to discuss the American Revolution and its memory, drawing on details from his new book, The Memory of ‘76: The Revolution in American History.

Michael’s Website | Book 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/408

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 145: Mercy Otis Warren

🎧 Episode 193: Partisans: The Friendship & Rivalry of Adams and Jefferson

🎧 Episode 259: American Legal History & the Bill of Rights

🎧 Episode 261: Creating the Fourth Amendment

🎧 Episode 307: History and the American Revolution

🎧 Episode 313: Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette

🎧 Episode 401: Tea, Boycotts, and Revolution

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This month, we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the “shot heard round the world” that ignited the Revolutionary War.

But before those battles, and before the Revolution became a war for independence, it was a movement—a fight to secure more local control over government. And no one worked harder to transform that movement into a revolution than Samuel Adams.

To help us investigate, we’re revisiting our conversation from Episode 350 with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Stacy Schiff, author of The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams.

Stacy's Website | Book

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/350

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 130: Paul Revere's Ride Through History

🎧 Episode 145: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution

🎧 Episode 152: Origins of the American Revolution

🎧 Episode 153: Governments of the American Revolution

🎧 Episode 228: The Boston Massacre

🎧 Episode 296: The Boston Massacre: A Family History

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Patrick Henry is one of the most famous voices of the American Revolution. He was known in his own time for his powerful speeches and his unwavering commitment to liberty.

But did you know that later in life, Patrick Henry opposed the United States Constitution? Did you know that during the political crisis of 1798/99, George Washington wrote to Patrick Henry and asked him to save the nation?

In honor of the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s most famous speech, “Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death,” award-winning historian John Ragosta joins us to investigate the life and work of Patrick Henry.

John's Website | Book

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 102: George Rogers Clark & the Fight for the Illinois Country

🎧 Episode 152: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

🎧 Episode 188: The Alien & Sedition Acts of 1798

🎧 Episode 348: Valley Forge

🎧 Episode 350: The Revolutionary, Samuel Adams

🎧 Episode 374: The American Revolutionary War in the West

🎧 Episode 403: Re-evaluating the Presidency of John Adams

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What precisely is the work that mothers do to raise children? Has the nature of mothers, motherhood, and the work mothers do changed over time?

Nora Doyle, an Associate Professor of History at Western Carolina University, has combed through the historical record to find answers to these questions. Specifically, she’s sought to better understand the lived and imagined experiences of mothers and motherhood between the 1750s and 1850s.

Nora’s Webpage | Book 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/237

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 027: A History of Stepfamilies in Early America

🎧 Episode 120: A History of Mail Order Brides in Early America

🎧 Episode 150: Abigail Adams: Revolutionary Spectator

🎧 Episode 205: First Ladies of the Republic

🎧 Episode 339: Women and the Constitutional Moment of 1787

🎧 Episode 379: Women Healers in Early America

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Historians use a lot of different sources when they research the past. Many rely on primary source documents, documents that were written by official government bodies or those written by the people who witnessed the events or changes historians are studying.

But how do you uncover the voices and stories of people who didn’t know how to write or whose families didn’t preserve much of their writing? 

Maeve Kane, an Associate Professor of History at the University at Albany and author of Shirts Powdered Red: Gender, Trade, and Exchange Across Three Centuries, ran into this very problem as she sought to recover the lives of Haudenosaunee women. Maeve overcame this challenge by researching a different type of historical source—the cloth Haudenosaunee women traded for and the clothing they made and wore.

Maeve’s Website | Book 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 021: Smuggling in Colonial America & Living History

🎧 Episode 163: The American Revolution in North America

🎧 Episode 223: A Native American History of the Ohio River Valley & Great Lakes Region

🎧 Episode 264: The Treaty of Canandaigua

🎧 Episode 353: Women and the Making of Catawba Identity

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