As we look ahead to the 250th anniversary—the semiquincentennial—of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, communities and commissions across the United States are asking big questions:

To explore these questions, I’ve invited my friend, colleague, and Clio Digital Media co-founder Karin Wulf to guest-host a special conversation with two people who are leading the way:

Together, they reveal how their states are planning commemorative programs that center civic engagement, local storytelling, and inclusive history—and how the 250th can be more than a moment. It can be a spark.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Karin Wulf serves as guest host as we explore the work and activities of Revolution 250 state commissions. Her guests include Carly Fiorina, National Honorary Chair of the Virginia 250 Commission and Chair of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Board, and Gregg Amore, Secretary of State of Rhode Island and Chair of the Rhode Island 250 Commission.

During our conversation, Karin, Carly, and Gregg reveal

Episode 250: Virginia, 1619

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 427: How States Are Planning the 250th: Commemorating the American Revolution in 2026 appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.

As Thanksgiving approaches, many Americans are gathering to reflect on gratitude, family—and of course—food.

It's the time of year when we may think about the so-called “First Thanksgiving” and imagine scenes of Pilgrims and Native peoples gathering in Massachusetts to share in the bounty of their fall harvests.

But how much do we really know about the food systems and agricultural knowledge of the Indigenous peoples of North America? In what ways were the Wampanoag people able to contribute to this harvest celebration—and what have we gotten wrong about their story?

Michael Wise, Associate Professor of History at the University of North Texas and author of Native Foods: Agriculture, Indigeneity, and Settler Colonialism in American History, joins us to challenge four persistent myths about Indigenous food practices. Discover how Native communities shaped and stewarded the land and its agriculture long before European colonists arrived, and why this history matters more than we might think.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Michael Wise is an Associate Professor of History at the University of North Texas. His research expertise is in environmental history, food and agricultural history, animal-human relationships, and the history of the American West. He’s the author of two books, Producing Predators: Wolves, Work, and Conquest in the Northern Rockies, and his second book, Native Foods: Agriculture, Indigeneity, and Settler Colonialism in American History.

During our exploration, Michael reveals:

1. How Indigenous agricultural systems like those of the Wampanoag and Cherokee sustained communities for generations.

2. Why early American landscapes looked and functioned very differently than we’ve been taught.

3. How myths about Native people being “hunters” rather than “farmers” served to justify White dispossession and erasure of Indigenous peoples from Native lands and our histories.

Michael, how do you think your research into Indigenous agriculture and foodways helps us better understand the American Revolution and its impact?

Episode 131: Thomas Jefferson’s Empire of Liberty

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 426: Michael Wise, Beyond the First Thanksgiving: Indigenous Agriculture and the Hidden Science of Native Foodways appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.

What does it take to bring the American Revolution to life?

How can an event that took place 250 years ago be conveyed to us through modern-day film?

Ken Burns and his team worked to answer these questions in their new, epic six-part documentary, Ken Burns’s The American Revolution. Their work promises to deepen, complicate, and transform our understanding of the Revolution over 12 hours of film.

But how did Burns and his team make this film? What stories did they choose to tell? And what challenges did they face in telling those stories?

Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, the two co-directors of The American Revolution, join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of their film and how they made it.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Filmmakers Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt join us to take a behind-the-scenes look at their co-directed documentary film The American Revolution: A Film by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, & David Schmidt. Sarah and David are filmmakers at Florentine Films and have worked on projects such as Jazz (2001), The Vietnam War (2017), and Benjamin Franklin (2022).

During our conversation about their latest project, Ken Burns’ The American Revolution, Sarah and David reveal:

2. The inclusive and ever-evolving process they used to uncover lesser-known voices of the Revolution, from Native Americans to women and free and enslaved African Americans.

3. Why they believe history—and the history of the Revolution in particular—can inspire civic engagement in our present movement.

In your opinion, what if we were living in more united times? How might a more united American populace have changed the story in the documentary, The American Revolution?

Episode 307: History and the American Revolution

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 425: Ken Burns’s The American Revolution appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.

In November 1775, as tensions between the British Empire and its rebellious colonies continued to escalate, Virginia’s royal governor made a radical—and to some, terrifying—proclamation: Any enslaved person who fled a revolutionary enslaver and joined the British Army would gain their freedom.

Known to history as Dunmore’s Proclamation, this single decree changed the course of the American Revolution in the South. It offered a lifeline to thousands of enslaved men, women, and their families, ignited fierce debates about loyalty and liberty, and revealed deep contradictions at the heart of a revolution that claimed to fight for freedom.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, we’re taking a deeper look at the man behind it: John Murray, Fourth Earl of Dunmore, and at the Revolution in Virginia, which he helped fuel.

Our guide for this exploration is Andrew Lawler, an award-winning journalist and author of A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis that Spurred the American Revolution.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Andrew Lawler is an award-winning journalist and a writer of history books. He's published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, and Smithsonian. He's a contributing writer for Science and a contributing editor for Archaeology. He is the author of four books, including A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution.

During our investigation of Dunmore's Proclamation and the American Revolution in Virginia, Andrew reveals:

In your opinion, what do you think Dunmore’s Proclamation reveals about the American Revolution and its ideas about slavery, loyalties, and governance, and how those ideas took shape in the emerging United States?

Episode 109: The American Enlightenment & Cadwallader Colden

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 424: Andrew Lawler, Dunmore’s Proclamation & the American Revolution in Virginia appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.

Have you ever noticed how conversations about the American Revolution often center on great battles, founding documents, and famous statesmen?

What if, instead, we explored that world through the eyes—and the hands—of everyday people who shaped it through art?

Zara Anishanslin, Associate Professor of History and Art History at the University of Delaware and Director of its Museum Studies and Public Engagement Program, joins us to uncover the hidden world of artists, artisans, and makers who painted, stitched, and crafted the Revolution into being. Drawing from her book The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution, Zara helps us see how creativity and craftsmanship tell a fuller—and more human—story of America’s founding.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Zara Anishanslin is an Associate Professor of History and Art History and the Director of Museum Studies and Public Engagement Program at the University of Delaware. Her research expertise is in the history of the eighteenth-century Atlantic World and in the material culture, or things, of that period. She joins us explore the lives and work of the everyday artists who championed the American Revolution with details from her book, The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution.

During our exploration, Zara reveals:

How do the paintings of Benjamin West, John Trumbull, Charles Willson Peale, and others portray the Revolution, and what their paintings don’t show us about the Revolution?

Episode 084: How Historians Read Historical Sources

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 423: Zara Anishanslin, The Forgotten Artists of the American Revolution appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.

When we talk about slavery in Early America, we often focus on plantations: their large, fertile fields, their cash crops, and the people who labored on those fields to produce those cash crops under conditions of enslavement.

But what about the ordinary objects that made slavery work? The shoes, axes, cloth, and hoes? What can these everyday objects reveal about the economic and social systems that sustained slavery in the early United States?

Seth Rockman, a Professor of History at Brown University and author of Plantation Goods: A Material History of Slavery, which was a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History, joins us to rethink how Northern manufacturing, labor, and commerce were entangled with the southern slave economy.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Seth Rockman is a Professor of History at Brown University where he studies the period between the American Revolution and the United States Civil War. His research focuses on the intersection of slavery studies, labor history, the history of capitalism, and material culture studies. He’s known for his award-winning book, Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore, and his new book, Plantation Goods: A Material History of Slavery, a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History.

During our investigation, Seth reveals:

1. How New England Manufacturers produced the clothing, tools, and textiles used by enslaved people in the South.

2. The surprising ways Northern laborers and Southern plantations were connected through everyday goods.

3. What everyday objects like hoes, shoes, and axes can teach us about resistance, race-making, and the economics of slavery in the early United States.

In your opinion, what role did the American Revolution play in the development of slavery in the early United States and the economic infrastructure that early Americans built to support it?

Bonus: Lonnie Bunch: History & Historians in the Public

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 422: Seth Rockman, Plantation Goods: How Northern Factories Fueled the Plantation Economy appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.

What if loyalty, not rebellion, was the default position in British North America?

It’s easy to forget that before 1776, most colonists identified as proud Britons. They didn’t see themselves as future Americans or revolutionaries; they saw themselves as subjects of a global empire. And in the colony of Georgia, many clung to that identity longer than we might expect.

We’re exploring the American Revolution in Georgia, a colony often left out of our histories of the American Revolution until the Siege of Savannah in 1779. Yet Georgia’s experience in the Revolution offers rich insight into Loyalism, imperial politics, and how personal conviction and local conditions shaped the course of the American Revolution’s events.

Greg Brooking, a historian of the American Revolution in the South and a high school history teacher, joins us to explore the American Revolution in Georgia with details from his book From Empire to Revolution: Sir James Wright and the Price of Loyalty in Georgia.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Greg Brooking is a historian of the American Revolution in the South. He earned his Ph.D. from Georgia State University, and he teaches social studies at North Springs High School outside of Atlanta. He joins us today so we can explore Loyalism in Georgia with details from his book, From Empire to Revolution: Sir James Wright and the Price of Loyalty in Georgia.

During our exploration, Greg reveals

In your opinion, how do you think using the 250th anniversary of the Revolution as a reason to look more closely at the Loyalist point of view of the Revolution can help us better understand this event and major period of early American history?

Episode 126: The Reintegration of American Loyalists

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 421: Greg Brooking, Loyalism and Revolution in Georgia appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.

When we think about the founding of the United States, we often focus on the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and those first landmark elections.

But how did the United States actually build its federal government, the entire apparatus of state that could collect revenue, manage international diplomacy, provide law and order, and extend its reach across a rapidly expanding nation?

Who were the people who made that government work? And how did their service to the nation shape what it meant to be an American citizen?

Peter Kastor, a Professor of History and American Cultural Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Founder of the Creating a Federal Government, 1789-1829 digital project, joins us to explore the remarkable and often overlooked story of how the United States built its federal government between 1789 and 1829.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Peter Kastor is a Professor of History and American Cultural Studies and the Associate Vice Dean of Research at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a scholar of the Early American Republic, and he also studies the American Presidency from its origins in the eighteenth century through the present day. Peter has written eight books, including William Clark’s World: Describing America in an Age of Unknowns. He joins us to discuss his digital project, Creating a Federal Government, 1789-1829.

During our exploration of the early federal government, Peter reveals:

In your opinion, what if the Founding Fathers had been more cautious or focused on limiting the size of the nation’s new government? What would the development of the United States have looked like between 1789 and 1829?

Episode 098: Birth of the American Tax Man

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 420: Peter Kastor, Creating the U.S. Federal Government appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.

What happens when the very people meant to uphold justice become the ones exploiting it?

In the 1760s, North Carolina farmers watched sheriffs pocket their tax payments, judges rule in favor of corrupt land speculators, and government officials literally steal their land all while claiming to represent the Crown’s interests.

Nathan Schultz, a public historian and the Site Manager at the Alamance Battleground State Historic Site in North Carolina, joins us to explore the North Carolina Regulator Movement.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Nathan Schultz is a public historian and the Site Manager of the Alamance Battleground State Historic Site in North Carolina. Nathan has a deep knowledge of early America and has worked extensively in living history interpretation, a field in which he is well known as an ox-driving specialist.

Nathan joins us to explore why farmers in North Carolina’s Piedmont region organized against corrupt officials and land speculators in the 1760s. How those Regulators built their own democratic, agrarian resistance movement while still claiming loyalty to the British Crown. And, how the Regulator Movement culminated in a deadly confrontation at the Battle of Alamance in May 1771.

In your opinion, how did the Regulator Movement contribute to North Carolinians' thoughts and feelings about the American Revolution and its War for Independence? 

Episode 330: Loyalism in the British Atlantic World

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 419: Nathan Schultz, The North Carolina Regulator Movement appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.

We often learn about slavery in early America through broad economic or political terms—cotton, sugar, markets, revolutions. But what happens when we turn our focus to the lived experiences of enslaved people themselves?

What did slavery feel and look like on the ground? What did survival look like day to day? And what do we make of the enslaved people who were forced into positions of authority over others, like the plantation drivers who were tasked with extracting labor from their fellow enslaved workers?

Randy Browne, an award-winning historian and Professor of History at Xavier University, joins us to investigate plantation slavery and its driving system with details from his book The Driver’s Story: Labor and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery.

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Randy Browne is an award-winning historian and a Professor of History at Xavier University. He’s a historian of Atlantic slavery with research expertise in the British Caribbean. He’s written two books, Surviving Slavery in the British Caribbean and The Driver’s Story: Labor and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery.

During our investigation of plantation slavery and its driver system, Randy reveals how the labor regime of plantation slavery developed and how it functioned from the bottom up, especially through the system of enslaved drivers. Why enslavers placed such high demands—and brutal expectations—on drivers to control and punish their fellow enslaved people. And, how drivers negotiated impossible choices as they tried to survive within, and sometimes subvert, a system designed to dehumanize them.

In your opinion, how do you think your research helps us better understand the American Revolution and its broader impact?

Episode 281: The Business of Slavery

Love what you hear on Ben Franklin’s World? Support the show and help us keep history accessible, independent, and deeply researched. Make a tax-deductible donation at benfranklinsworld.com/donate.

Topic Request Form

BFW Gazette Newsletter

Liz on Bluesky

Enjoy the Podcast? Follow it!

|

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts

* All book links are for the Ben Franklin’s World Bookshop, the official affiliate bookstore of Bookshop.org. By purchasing a book with our affiliate links, you help support this podcast.

Ben Franklin’s World is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. To advertise on Ben Franklin's World contact [email protected].

The post Episode 418: Randy Browne, The Slave Driver’s Story appeared first on Ben Franklin's World.