History: Beyond the Textbook

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It was an event that we as a nation helped inspire and was seen as an extension, maybe even a culmination, of the application of Enlightenment ideals to an entire nation.  But while the American Revolution centered on a colonial break from their mother country, the French Revolution sought to undue centuries of political, social, and economic entrenchment in a matter of years.  From its earliest stages, it became abundantly clear that this Revolution was going to unfold in a much bloodier manner than its sister revolution across the pond. At the center of it all was  a man who sailed to America as a teenager, served as Washington’s aide-de-camp and as a general, and took the ideas he absorbed back with him to France.   In this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, our second episode to focus on “Divisions” in America’s Federalist Era, we examine the French Revolution, and the resulting American Proclamation of Neutrality using the experiences of Marquis de Lafayette.

Key People

Marquis de Lafayette

George Washington

King Louis XVI

Marie Antoinette

Thomas Jefferson

Edmund Charles Genet

Key Events/Ideas

French Revolution

Estates-General

National Assembly

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Women's March on Versailles

Proclamation of Neutrality

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

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Borrowing a host of ideas from his elder financier Robert Morris, Alexander Hamilton would accept the position of Secretary of the Treasury and metaphorically hit the ground running.  He issued four reports on the state of the American economy with accompanying suggestions on how to fix these issues, with two of these solutions being internal excise taxes, meaning a tax on something specific, and the creation of the First Bank of the United States.  One revealed deep dissension between North and South, while the other would reveal fissures between East and West.  On this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, the first in which we examine Divisions during America’s Federalist Era, we’ll explore the First Bank of the United States and the Whiskey Rebellion through the eyes of Alexander Hamilton.

Key People

Alexander Hamilton

Thomas Jefferson

James Madison

George Washington

Key Events/Ideas

First Bank of the United States

Whiskey Rebellion

Implied powers

"Necessary and Proper" Clause

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

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It was a decision that came about during a dinner party…allegedly.  Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson invited Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, along with Congressman James Madison, to his quarters in New York City for an evening of food, drink, and conversation, the end result of which was the decision to place the nation’s capital in the geographic south on the Potomac River.  This scenario has become more widely known due to the success of Hamilton!  Not so well-known, although probably familiar to a few who have explored the issue, is the name “Benjamin Banneker,” a man who also assisted in surveying this land.  His talents didn’t stop there: he gained fame as a mathematician, astronomer, and publisher of almanacs prior to his surveying experience. In our final episode of season three, we’ll explore the fascinating story of Benjamin Banneker: Unsung Renaissance Man of America’s Crucial Years.

Key People
Benjamin Banneker
Robert Banneker
Martha Ellicott Tyson
Thomas Jefferson
George Ellicott
Pierre Charles L’Enfant

Key Events/Ideas
Compromise of 1790/Dinner Table Bargain

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello was his home, his castle, and in a way, his personal fiefdom: he had legal control over the happenings at this place, over the lives of its inhabitants.  This included the hundreds of individuals who were held in bondage during Jefferson’s lifetime, although one particular family name stands out as being more prominent than others.  Historically, the Hemings family and the Jefferson family are forever intertwined due to the complex relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson, but her brother, James, is also noteworthy.  In this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, we’ll examine the shifting dynamics of American slavery using the experiences of Sally and James Hemmings.

Key People
Sally Hemings
James Hemings
Thomas Jefferson

Key Events/Ideas
Three-Fifths Compromise
Emancipation
France's "Freedom Principle"

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

“Culture.”  It’s a word that means something different depending on who you ask; to some, it means an element that is “popular” and can serve as a common frame of reference for a large group of people.  To others, “culture” refers to how an individual lives their life based on a specific belief system that is similar to a larger group.  Both are correct, and both get to the heart of today’s episode as we explore the emergence of a new "American" culture.  On this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, we’ll focus on  Charles Wilson Peale and William Hill Brown: the Curator and the Novelist of America’s Crucial Years.

*Note: some of this episode refers to some complex and emotional topics, so be advised.  A warning is provided at the start of the Act in which these issues are discussed.*

Key People
Charles Willson Peale
William Hill Brown

Key Events/Ideas
Publication of The Power of Sympathy
Opening of Philadelphia Museum

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

It’s tough to say what most history classrooms emphasize when they cover Constitutional ratification, but our focus will be on its opponents...those individuals who heard about, and often read the results, of what happened in Philadelphia in summer 1787 and were displeased with what they saw.  Keep in mind that the document that emerged from Philadelphia still needed the blessing of the states, hence the process of ratification, so this is what our focus will be today.  In this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, our last in our arc on transition during this time period, we’ll highlight Mercy Otis Warren and Patrick Henry: the Anti-Federalist Antagonists of Constitutional Ratification.

Key People
Mercy Otis Warren
Patrick Henry
John Adams
Abigail Adams
George Washington
James Madison
George Mason

Key Events/Ideas
Ratification of the U.S. Constitution
Virginia Resolves
Observations on the New Constitution 

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

The first formal meeting to reassess the Articles of Confederation was held in Annapolis, Maryland in September 1786, at about the same time as Shays’ Rebellion.  Only five states bothered to send any delegates, and there was really only one thing that was accomplished: they decided to try again the following May in Philadelphia.  That one would enjoy better attendance, and produce a much different result: the U.S. Constitution.   Many famous names were counted as attendees, but we intend to focus on the name most closely associated with this deal...and one who favored change, but refused to sign the Constitution.  In this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, we’ll learn about compromise and dissent at the Constitutional Convention through the lens of two men: Roger Sherman and George Mason, the self-educated Sages of the Philadelphia Convention.

Key People
Roger Sherman
George Mason
Alexander Hamilton
George Washington
Edmund Randolph

Key Events/Ideas
Philadelphia/Constitutional Convention
Annapolis Convention
Great Compromise
Mount Vernon Conference

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

What became known as “Shays' Rebellion” was put down by force, but it opened the eyes of many to the reality that the current government was not working, and it has been used as an anecdote for why the Articles of Confederation were such an inadequate government.  Our task will be to unmask the man behind the protest, as well as the general tasked with putting it down, and ascertain what the true legacy of the movement should be.  In this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, our first that focuses on transition during this time, we examine Daniel Shays, and Benjamin Lincoln, the farmer and the fighter of Shays’ Rebellion .

Key People
Daniel Shays
Benjamin Lincoln
James Madison
Henry Knox

Key Events/Ideas
Shays' Rebellion
Philadelphia Convention

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

We’ll focus on the American Midwest with this episode: specifically, the areas affected by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.  These fertile lands north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River were considered ripe for American settlement…unless you and your kin were already living there and had done so for generations.  In this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, our last in our arc of looking at “The West” during these Crucial Years, we’ll explore the Northwest Territory using the experiences of Shawnee leader Blue Jacket and Army Engineer Rufus Putnam.

Key People
Blue Jacket
Rufus Putnam
Joseph Brant
Arthur St. Clair

Key Events/Ideas
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Land Ordinance of 1785
Treaty of Fort Harmar
St. Clair's Defeat

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

The Peace of Paris would certainly anger and frustrate the many nations who held the lands that were supposedly now in American possession, and one of the most prominent was the Creek.  The Creek stand out due to the efforts of their de facto leader, Alexander McGillivray, to negotiate a treaty with the young U.S. government, and his successes, and failures, set the tone moving forward for official U.S. government policy regarding Native Americans.  In this episode of History: Beyond the Textbook, the second in our mini-series on “The West,” we’ll explore the U.S.-Creek Treaty of 1790 through the lens of skilled diplomat Alexander McGillivray.

Key People
Alexander McGillivray
Henry Knox
Haudenosaunee
George Washington

Key Events
U.S.-Creek Treaty of 1790
Treaty of Pensacola
Treaty of Augusta

We're back for Season Four of History: Beyond the Textbook!  This season will  focus on the stories of individuals who shaped "America's Federalist Era" in the years roughly 1789-1800.  The first six episodes will release every Tuesday from October 28-December 2, while the second six episodes will be released every Tuesday from February 17-March 24.   Catch up on Season One, "America's Colonial Era," Season Two, "America's Revolution," and Season Three, "America's Crucial Years," wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Feel free to contact us with feedback or questions by clicking the "Send Us a Text" link or email us at: [email protected]