Ben Franklin's World

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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In 1738, a cooper named Benedict Arnold petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly for a divorce from his wife Mary Ward Arnold. Benedict claimed that Mary had taken a lover and together they had attempted to murder him with poison.

How did this story of love, divorce, and attempted murder unfold? What does it reveal about the larger world of colonial America and the experiences of colonial American men and women?

Elaine Forman Crane, a Distinguished Professor of History at Fordham University, takes us through the Arnolds’ story with details from her book, The Poison Plot: A Tale of Adultery and Murder in Colonial Newport.

Elaine's Webpage | Book 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/225

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 110: How Genealogists Research

🎧 Episode 114: The History of Genealogy

🎧 Episode 118: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island

🎧 Episode 157: The Revolution's African American Soldiers

🎧 Episode 208: Nathaniel Philbrick, Turning Points of the American Revolution

🎧 Episode 373: Adrian Weimer, The Gaspee Affair

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When we think of slavery in Early America, we often think about the plantations and economies of the South. But did you know that slavery was also deeply entrenched in New York City?

Did you know that Africans and African Americans helped New York City confront slavery, freedom, and racism in the Early American Republic and Antebellum periods?

Leslie M. Harris, a professor at Northwestern University and author of In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863, joins us to explore the history of Africans and African Americans in early New York City.

Leslie’s Website | Book 

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/405

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 306: The Horse's Tale

🎧 Episode 324: New Netherland and Slavery

🎧 Episode 351: Wealth and Slavery in New Netherland

🎧 Episode 371: Archive of Indigenous Slavery

🎧 Episode 387: California and Slavery

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What does freedom mean when the deck is stacked against you?

In commemoration of Black History Month, we’re revisiting a story that is too often overlooked, but critical to our understanding of Early America.

Join Warren Milteer, Jr., an Associate Professor of History at George Washington University, as we uncover the lives of free people of color in Early America.

Warren’s Faculty Page | Book

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/328

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 118: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island

🎧 Episode 142: A History of Abolition

🎧 Episode 176: The Value of the Enslaved from Womb to Grave

🎧 Episode 289: Maroonage and the Great Dismal Swamp

🎧 Episode 312: The Domestic Slave Trade

🎧 Episode 352: James Forten and the Making of the United States

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Did you know that many of the food traditions that define cuisine in the United States today have roots in African culinary traditions and history?

Diane Spviey, a culinary historian and author of three culinary history books, joins us to uncover the rich and complex legacy of African and African American foodways and how those foodways helped establish the United States.

Diane’s Website | Book |

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/404

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES

🎧 Episode 137: The Washingtons’ Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

🎧 Episode 170: New England Bound

🎧 Episode 222: Early History of Washington, D.C.

🎧 Episode 226: Making the State of South Carolina

🎧 Episode 250: Virginia, 1619

🎧 Episode 348: Valley Forge

🎧 Episode 395: The Great New York Fire of 1776

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What would you risk for freedom?

Would you risk your safety? You family? Your life?

During the American Revolution, enslaved women faced these impossible choices when the British Army promised freedom to those who dared to escape. In honor of Black History Month, we’re revisiting an extraordinary chapter of resilience and bravery: the stories of enslaved women who seized the chance to chart their own destinies amid the chaos of war.

Join Karen Cook-Bell for an exploration of enslaved women who self-emancipated during the American Revolution.

Karen's Website | Book

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/322  

Complementary Episodes

🎧 Episode 137: The Washingtons' Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

🎧 Episode 142: A History of Abolition

🎧 Episode 157: The Revolution's African American Soldiers

🎧 Episode 162: Dunmore's New World

🎧 Episode 352: James Forten and the Making of the United States

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WHEN YOU'RE READY

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